To examine the effects of solvent exposure on hearing function, through an audiological test battery, in a population not occupationally exposed to high levels of noise. 

One hundred ten workers from a coating factory were studied. Jobs at the factory were divided into three different levels of solvent exposure. Hearing status was assessed with a test battery including pure-tone hearing thresholds (0.5-8 kHz), high-frequency hearing thresholds (12 and 16 kHz), and dichotic listening measured through dichotic digits test. Multiple linear regression models were created to explore possible association between solvent exposure and each of the hearing outcomes. 

Significant associations between solvent exposure and the three hearing outcomes were found. Covariates such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity were also significantly associated with the studied hearing outcomes. 

Occupational exposure to solvents may induce both peripheral and central auditory dysfunction. The dichotic digits test seems as a sensible tool to detect central auditory dysfunction associated with solvent exposure. Hearing loss prevention programs may use this tool to monitor hearing in solvent-exposed workers. 

Reference:   Fuente A, Slade MD, Taylor T, Morata TC, Keith RW, Sparer J, Rabinowitz PM., Peripheral and Central Auditory Dysfunction Induced by Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents, J Occup Environ Med. 2009 Sep 25 

From the Escuela de Fonoaudiologia [School of Speech and Hearing Sciences] (Dr Fuente), Medical Faculty, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program (Mr Slade, Dr Taylor, Ms Sparer, and Dr Rabinowitz), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn; Division of Applied Research and Technology (Dr Morata), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; and Division of Audiology (Dr Keith), University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Studies show chemicals act as toxicants in causing cases of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity; genes that metabolize these chemicals into other forms influence, therefore, susceptibility to getting MCS.

Guest post at Canary Report by Martin L. Pall, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences, Washington State University and Research Director, the Tenth Paradigm Research Group.

Martin Pall: I have emailed the following as an open letter to the Denver Post in response to the article on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) that was published this weekend. I think the published article was generally a step forward in terms of public understanding of MCS. But the article left out a number of important things and this letter is an attempt to deal with some of those. I have asked them to consider publishing this as an Op-Ed piece, but wanted to make it available regardless of whether or not they opt to do so.

Thank you for writing this article on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), the term that is used in most of the scientific literature on this disease. There are vast numbers of people who have been afflicted in this epidemic of chemical sensitivity and I am sure that they are all thanking you. I also thank you for mentioning a bit of my work on this disease.

Some of your readers have already made quite a number of important points about MCS so I can focus here on just a few remaining issues. How do chemicals act in MCS? We know now that the seven classes of chemicals implicated in MCS all produce a common toxic response in the body, excessive activity of a receptor in the body called the NMDA receptor. So even though we have a vast array of such chemicals, we know how they can produce similar responses in people.

There is compelling genetic evidence that these chemicals act as toxic agents (toxicants) in the body. Four such studies have been published by three research groups in three countries. Collectively they implicate six genes as influencing susceptibility to MCS, such that people carrying some forms of each of these genes are more susceptible to becoming chemically sensitive than are people carrying other forms of the same genes. All of these genes control the activity of enzymes that metabolize these chemicals into other forms. Most of these studies show a high level of what is called statistical significance. In the Schnakenberg and colleagues studies, the chances of getting their results by chance are less than one in a million billion. So obviously, these are not chance results. What these studies show is that chemicals are acting as toxicants in causing cases of MCS and that genes that metabolize these chemicals into other forms influence, therefore, susceptibility to getting MCS. These studies, then, provide compelling evidence that cases of MCS are caused by toxic chemical exposure. Clearly they also show that MCS is a real disease, otherwise one would not be able to do such studies clearly linking the chance of becoming ill with MCS to the action of chemicals acting as toxicants.

Dr. Herman Staudenmayer has, for some 20 years claimed just the opposite. He claims that MCS is psychogenic, caused by psychological responses and according to him, is not a toxicological phenomenon. He has maintained this claim by ignoring contrary data wherever it occurs. He has ignored all of the evidence that chemicals implicated in MCS produce a common response in the body; he has ignored the roughly two dozen studies showing that MCS patients show objectively measurable responses to low level chemical exposures, responses that differ from those of normals. He has ignored all of the evidence implicating excessive NMDA activity in MCS; he has ignored the dozens of animal model studies on MCS; he has ignored over 50 studies that show that cases of MCS typically occur following chemical exposures; he has ignored the various other measurable physiological changes reported to occur in MCS. This has all been documented in my book “Explaining – Unexplained Illnesses” and in my article on the toxicology of MCS that is coming out next month in a prestigious reference work for professional toxicologists “General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition”. It is also documented on the MCS web page of my web site: The Tenth Paradigm

Clearly you cannot do science by simply ignoring the existence of vast arrays of contrary data. However, Staudenmayer provides us with a couple of other tests of his views in his book, predictions that allow us to test his theory. He predicts that psychological factors are necessary and sufficient to account for the properties of MCS. This, of course, is contradicted by all of the evidence I referred to earlier. Therefore we should reject his hypothesis based on his own prediction. He provides a second prediction as well (the exact quotes from his book on these predictions are provided on my MCS web page). He predicts that the variation of susceptibility to MCS is not caused by variable responses to toxic chemicals. Clearly the genetic studies discussed above have shown that this is false and therefore, his hypothesis should be rejected for that reason, as well.

It is clear, from the above, that Staudenmayer’s construct was basically a house of cards. Now that it has collapsed, where does that leave us?

Firstly it leaves us with reversing the errors of the past. We need to start treating MCS sufferers as victims of unsafe chemical exposure. Many of them have previously been used, abused and discarded. If we live in a society where people are not disposable items we need to “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

We obviously need to start regulating chemical usage much more carefully, to avoid initiating new cases of MCS. It is imperative to develop tests for chemical activity in MCS, just as we have developed tests for chemical activity as carcinogens. Then we need to use these tests to effectively regulate the use of toxic chemicals.

We need to develop specific biomarker tests for MCS, tests that can be used to objectively confirm diagnoses initially based on subjective symptoms. I think we already have several very promising approaches to doing this in the scientific literature and a minimal amount of further study may be all that is needed to develop such tests.

We need to confirm that chemical avoidance is key to therapy and to develop other therapeutic approaches to work along with avoidance. The environmental medicine physicians and others have already made very important progress in this direction and I am optimistic that further progress can be made quickly. Such progress is relevant not only to the treatment of MCS patients but also to the treatment of clearly related diseases including chronic fatigue syndrome/mylagic encephalomyelitis and fibromyalgia. All of these diseases are caused by what I have called the NO/ONOO- cycle and the way to treat them, in my judgment, is to lower the activity of that vicious cycle mechanism.

Martin L. Pall

Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences, Washington State University and Research Director, the Tenth Paradigm Research Group

Reprinted with permission from the author. Dr. Pall cautions the reader that he is a PhD, not an MD, and none of this should be viewed as medical advice.

• Original Article posted by Canary Report Thank you for the permission to reprint Susie!
• Link to Martin Pall’s website: The Tenth Paradigm
• Link to an extended excerpt from Palls book Explaining “Unexplained Illnesses.”

Lead is a ubiquitous environmental toxin that is capable of causing numerous acute and chronic circulatory, neurological, hematological, gastrointestinal, reproductive and immunological pathologies.  

The mechanism of lead induced toxity is not fully understood. The prime targets to lead toxicity are the heme synthesis enzymes, thiol-containing antioxidants and enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and antioxidant molecules like GSH). The low blood lead levels are sufficient to inhibit the activity of these enzymes and induce generation of reactive oxygen species and intensification oxidative stress.  

Oxidative stress plays important role in pathogenesis of lead-induced toxity and pathogenesis of coupled disease. The primary target of lead toxicity is the central nervous system. There are different cellular, intracellular and molecular mechanisms of lead neurotoxicity: such as induction of oxidative stress, intensification of apoptosis of neurocites, interfering with Ca(2+) dependent enzyme like nitric oxide synthase.  

Population studies have demonstrated a link between lead exposure and subsequent development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The vascular endothelium is now regarded as the main target organ for the toxic effect of lead. Lead affects the vasoactive function of endothelium through the increased production of reactive oxygen species, inactivation of endogenous nitric oxide and downregulation of soluble guanylate cyclase by reactive oxygen species, leading to a limiting nitric oxide availability, impairing nitric oxide signaling.  

This review summarizes recent findings of the mechanism of the lead-induced toxity and possibilities of its prevention. 

Reference:  Nemsadze K, Sanikidze T, Ratiani L, Gabunia L, Sharashenidze T., Mechanisms of lead-induced poisoning, Tbilisi State Medical University; National Center of child development, Georgian Med News. 2009 Jul-Aug;(172-173):92-6.

A group of chemists from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) has developed a method to quantify the fragrance allergens found in baby bathwater. The researchers have analysed real samples and detected up to 15 allergen compounds in cosmetics and personal hygiene products. 

A team of scientists from the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Bromatology at the USC has developed a method to detect and quantify the 15 most common fragrance allergens included in soap, gel, cologne and other personal hygiene products.   

“Applying the method to eight real samples obtained from the daily baths of a series of babies aged between six months and two years old, we discovered the presence of all the compounds under study in at least one of the samples,” co-author of the study published this month in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, María Llompart, explained to SINC. 

The scientists found at least six of the 15 compounds in all the samples. In some cases, concentrations were “extremely high”, exceeding 100ppm (parts per million = nanograms/millilitre). Some of the substances that appeared were benzyl salicylate, linalol, coumarin and hydroxycitronellal. 

“The presence and levels of these chemical agents in bathwater should be cause for concern,” Llompart said, “bearing in mind that babies spend up to 15 minutes or more a day playing in the bath and that they can absorb these and other chemicals not only through their skin, but also by inhalation and often ingestion, intentional or not.”

New Method to Detect Fragrances

Allergens were able to be detected due to the high level of sensitivity of the method, which for the first time applies the Solid-Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) technique to determining the ingredients of cosmetics and child hygiene products. This technique makes it possible to concentrate and isolate chemical components from a sample by absorbing them into fibres with a certain coating. 

The researchers have also employed gas chromatography to separate compounds and mass spectrometry to identify and measure the abundance of each of the fragrances. 

European regulations stipulate that the presence of such substances should be indicated on the label of the product when levels exceed a certain limit (0.1 or 0.01%, depending on the type of compound), but some associations believe these limits are excessively tolerant, particularly where child hygiene and baby and child care products are concerned. 

References: J. Pablo Lamas, Lucia Sánchez-Prado, Carmen Garcia-Jares y María Llompart. “Solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determination of fragrance allergens in baby bathwater”. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 394 (5): 1399-1411, julio de 2009.

Hope for Patients with environmental illnesses? Bill to Fund Neuroendocrine Immune Disorder Center of Excellence in New Jersey 

The New Jersey Assembly has unanimously passed Assembly Resolution 202 to fund a Center of Excellence in New Jersey for Chronic Neuroendocrine Immune Disorders – which include CFS, FM, MCS and related illnesses. The bill is now going to the New Jersey House as Senate Resolution 133. 

The Research Center would be dedicated to ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, Gulf War Illness, Lyme disease, Multiple Chemical sensitivity and other environmental illnesses 

SENATE RESOLUTION No. 133

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

213th LEGISLATURE

INTRODUCED JUNE 22, 2009

Sponsored by: 

Senator CHRISTOPHER “KIP” BATEMAN

District 16 (Morris and Somerset)

Senator LORETTA WEINBERG

District 37 (Bergen)

SYNOPSIS

Urges Governor and memorializes Congress to encourage establishment of research center in New Jersey dedicated to chronic neuroendocrine immune disorders.  

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

As introduced. 

A Senate Resolution urging the Governor and memorializing Congress to encourage the establishment of a research center in New Jersey dedicated to chronic neuroendocrine immune disorders. 

Whereas, Neuroendocrine immune disorders (NEIDs) currently include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalopathy, Fibromyalgia, Gulf War illness, Lyme disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome, and other environmental illnesses; and 

Whereas, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalopathy, Fibromyalgia, Gulf War illness, Lyme disease, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome have been characterized as being as disabling as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease, End-stage Renal failure, and Rheumatoid Arthritis; and as life-impairing as Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, and cancer chemotherapy treatments; and 

Whereas, The mechanisms of transmission of NEIDs include parasite-borne infections; and 

Whereas, The similarity of symptoms of NEIDs imply a common pathophysiology of these illnesses; therefore, discoveries and advances made in the etiology and treatment of any one of these illnesses will be applicable and beneficial to the other NEIDs because of their common pathophysiology; and 

Whereas, An estimated 20 million American adults and children suffer with NEIDs; and 

Whereas, The time from illness onset to diagnosis of NEIDs is approximately three to seven years, except for Lyme disease which may take decades to diagnose; and

Whereas, There is mounting evidence of similarities of presentation and origins of NEIDs with Autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Parkinson’s and other autoimmune diseases; and   

Whereas, Having a research center in this State is essential to: promoting research into the etiology of, and therapeutic interventions for, NEIDs; establishing treatment protocols and providing patient care for all individuals in the State of New Jersey afflicted with NEIDs; serving as a repository for NEIDs research data, patient data and research publications; serving as a resource for NEIDs researchers by sponsoring scientific meetings and encouraging discourse among researchers; serving as a tertiary resource for both physicians and patients in their efforts to manage NEIDs; and advancing both NEIDs research and patient care by disseminating the most recent advances in NEIDs research, diagnostics and treatment protocols; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

1.    This House urges the Governor to encourage the establishment of a research center in this State dedicated to chronic neuroendocrine immune disorders. 

2.    This House respectfully memorializes Congress to encourage the establishment of a research center in this State dedicated to chronic neuroendocrine immune disorders. 

3.    Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested by the Secretary thereof, shall be transmitted to: 

a.     Governor Corzine and the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services; and

b.    The Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and

Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and to every member of the United States Congress from this State.

STATEMENT

This resolution urges the Governor and respectfully memorializes Congress to encourage the establishment of a research center in New Jersey dedicated to understanding and treating chronic neuroendocrine immune illnesses (NEIDs) such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalopathy (CFS/ME), Fibromyalgia, Gulf War illness, Lyme disease and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome. 

It is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that CFS/ME affects between one and four million Americans and that 85% of individuals suffering with this debilitating and disabling illness have not been properly diagnosed.  The economic impact and loss of worker productivity in the United States due to CFS/ME, alone, is estimated to be over $9 billion per year.  Census data, and the incidence rate of CFS in the United States, projects that an estimated 28,000 to 30,000 citizens of New Jersey will suffer from CFS/ME.  The symptoms of CFS/ME include flu-like symptoms (sore throat, fever, chills, tender neck and armpit lymph nodes, unrefreshing or non-restorative sleep, headaches, and post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours), as well as body-wide muscle and joint pain, cognitive impairment, and short term memory loss. 

The CDC reports that Fibromyalgia (FM) affects five million women, men, and children in the United States.  FM is a condition characterized by body-wide muscle pain, tender points, sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment (“fibro-fog” or “brain fog”), overwhelming fatigue, swelling, joint pain, non-restorative sleep and migraine headaches. 

According to the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, Gulf War illness (GWI) is estimated to affect between 175,000 to 200,000 U.S. veterans, some of whom have been suffering for over 17 years.  GWI is characterized by multiple, diverse symptoms that include a combination of memory and concentration problems, chronic headache, unexplained fatigue, widespread pain, chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms, and skin rashes. 

The CDC has announced that Lyme disease is the fastest-spreading infectious disease in the United States, and that New Jersey ranks third in the nation for reported cases of Lyme disease. Yet, Lyme disease is seriously underreported in the United States.  Current literature suggests that co-infections associated with Lyme disease play a major role in precipitating chronic illness with symptoms that include flu-like symptoms, extreme fatigue, skin rashes, unexplained weight gain or loss, other endocrine disorders, urinary problems, sexual and reproductive dysfunction, gastrointestinal dysfunction, heart problems, joint pain or swelling, muscle twitching and muscle pain, peripheral neuropathy, vision and/or hearing problems, disorientation, psychiatric disorders, cognitive dysfunction, disturbed sleep, and poor balance. 

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome and other environmental illnesses are estimated to affect 10% of the American population.  These illnesses have a variable, and overlapping presentation with other NEIDs, and have symptoms that include any combination of extreme fatigue/lethargy, muscle/joint pain, sleep disturbances, headaches/migraine headaches, sensitivity to light and noise, dizziness/vertigo, poor memory/poor concentration, nausea/digestive problems, sore throat, constant coughing, wheezing, skin rashes or burning/stinging eyes.