Evidence for the causes of environmental diseases have been around for a long time

The doctor and scientist Doris Rapp is one of those who not only practice environmental medicine, but has also made environmental medicine the most important thing in her life. The American spent two weeks in Germany. The reunion with Prof. Rapp was very productive and we were lucky enough to spend a beautiful day on the Moselle. Here is a small summary.

Researcher documented environmental disease

I met Prof. Rapp for the first time at a congress in Bad Emstal about 18 years ago. It was a crucial experience. In her presentation, she showed a video about a teacher who became ill from contaminated carpeting in the school. The teacher was filmed during a reaction to contaminated dust from the carpet. This video vividly conveys to the viewer what MCS is and what a reaction can look like. At that time I was at the very beginning of my own illness and had had similar reactions to certain pesticides. The teacher experienced convulsions and fell unconscious. I thought “my goodness, that’s me, that’s exactly like me, that’s what you have…“ After the lecture I spoke with Prof. Rapp and that was the beginning of an ongoing exchange of information and an interesting friendship. We met again at conferences in Germany, Holland and in the U.S., visited each other in Germany and the United States and exchanged e-mails. When I visited her in Scottsdale, she showed me one of her video archives. She had stored thousands of videos of children whom she had treated. They showed the patients during and after therapy and during testing of foods, mold, pollen, dust mites or chemicals. They displayed impressive evidence that can remove any last doubts as to the existence of environmental illnesses and allergies.

We can no longer ignore environmental illnesses

Dr. Binz and his wife invited the environmental doctor for this most recent visit to Germany. We had actually arranged to meet for a trip along the Moselle, which would start before lunch. We had a warm reunion and before we knew it we had already exchanged information and ideas and were in the midst of planning for future projects.

“I’m over 80 years old now and have no children, I don’t really need to be doing all this and I could be enjoying my peace at this age, but I see what’s going on, and I simply cannot remain silent. We have so many chemicals in our environment, in the food we eat, in the water we drink and the air that we are constantly breathing. They affect each of our body systems and we can no longer ignore this. Almost every second person in my country has cancer and that is just not acceptable”, says Doris Rapp.

“The politicians and the public must realize the impact the flood of chemicals has on us and no one should keep insisting that we do not know where all the increasing diseases that occur are coming from. The evidence is there. We have animal testing to prove it. That’s why, as a doctor, I ask: How much more has to happen before we admit to the real causes? I won’t accept hearing when one says, “Yes, but there’s nothing we can do about it.” Yes, there is, because you can educate yourself and there’s a hell of a lot you can do,” says Prof Rapp, who is enraged about the current situation.

Solutions are often very simple

Prof. Rapp is no one who can be at odds with the world and ignore the solutions. She is in the process of writing another book. “It will be a small book, only 30 pages. Every reader can easily understand how he/she can shape his environment in order to stay healthy. The tips in this book will not cost anyone a fortune, they can easily be implemented without major expense. It will help anyone who wants to change something and wants to improve his health. The doctor cites two examples:

“Many people react to foods, but are not sure towards which foods. Expensive tests are not necessary. I advise people to think about what they eat most, foods that they downright crave. Experience has shown that these are the foods that are eaten every day and most likely those which cause reactions. The solution: omit the suspected food for a week. You can test one food after another. This costs nothing! ”

“Some people live in a house that is contaminated with pollutants or contaminated by mold. My experience is that five out of seven people can improve their health by 70% if they obtain a high quality air cleaner that is capable of filtering hundreds of chemicals from the air in your home. Such a device may cost a bit, but I have often seen patients who got better over night. So it’s worth it if you are unable to directly move out of the apartment or house.”

The new book will be published this year, and Professor Rapp has authorized me to translate it into German. She also gave me permission to translate videos and other books into our language, contributing knowledge to allergy sufferers and chemically sensitive people in the German-speaking countries, helping them to find a way back into life.

A trip along the Moselle

During the drive to the historic Moselle wine village, Bernkastel, to Traben-Trabach and the drive back to Trier, Prof. Rapp was bursting with innovative ideas that we will begin to put into action in the next few months and they will benefit the environmentally ill in many ways.

Author: Silvia K. Müller, CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, 12 September 2011

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Dr. Martin Pall’s theory about MCS confirmed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Portland, OR – July 5, 2010 – The physiological mechanism for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity proposed by biochemist Martin L. Pall has been confirmed with the recent findings of an independent research group in Rome.

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), also known as chemical sensitivity and toxicant-induced loss of tolerance (TILT), is a disease initiated by toxic chemical exposure, leading to toxic brain injury that produces high level sensitivity to the same set of chemicals that are implicated in initiation of the disease. Sensitivity responses in other areas of the body are also often seen.

“Epidemiological studies show that MCS is a stunningly common disease, even more common than diabetes,” said Pall, professor emeritus of biochemistry and basic medical sciences at Washington State University. “My review of the literature and other research I’ve conducted over the past eleven years shows the probable central mechanism of MCS is a biochemical vicious mechanism, known as the NO/ONOO- cycle.”

Pall’s work is widely published in books and articles, the most recent of which is a chapter in the authoritative international reference manual for professional toxicologists, General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition, 2009.

The NO/ONOO- cycle

The NO/ONOO- cycle, pronounced no-oh-no, is named for the chemical structures of nitric oxide (NO) and peroxynitrite (ONOO-). This biochemical vicious cycle mechanism predicts that each of the elements linked together in the cycle are elevated in patients suffering from MCS and related diseases. Most of the elements of the cycle have been shown to be elevated in such related diseases as chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia and also in animal models of MCS. However, several cycle elements have never been measured in MCS patients.

The recent study conducted by the research group in Rome is significant in regard to the NO/ONOO- cycle theory because it shows that three elements of the cycle are elevated in MCS patients (De Luca et al, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 2010, April 27 Epub ahead of print). Those elements are the inflammatory cytokines, nitric oxide, and oxidative stress. Each of these measurements provides important confirmation of the disease mechanism proposed by Pall.

The inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide elevation have never before been measured in MCS patients, although they have been shown to be elevated in animal models of MCS. Oxidative stress has been reported in two earlier studies of MCS patients, but the data provided in the De Luca et al study are much more extensive than are the earlier data. Consequently, these new data all provide important confirmation of the NO/ONOO- cycle as the central disease mechanism in MCS.

The NO/ONOO- cycle also is useful in understanding the role of toxic chemicals in MCS and the role of treatment. Each of the seven classes of chemicals implicated in MCS are thought to act indirectly to increase the activity of the NMDA receptors, which are glutamate receptors for controlling synaptic plasticity and memory function. This activity, in turn, leads to rapid increases in intracellular calcium (Ca2+), nitric oxide and peroxynitrite (ONOO-), acting to greatly stimulate the NO/ONOO- cycle.

“Many of the agents used by environmental medicine physicians to treat MCS patients can be viewed as lowering different parts of the cycle, and thus are validated in part by this mechanism,” Pall said. “Consequently, the NO/ONOO- cycle mechanism can be viewed as validating therapeutic approaches used in environmental medicine in the U.S., in Germany and some other areas of Europe and in some other countries.”

Contact:

Martin L. Pall, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences

Washington State University

(1*) 503-232-3883

martin_pall@wsu.edu

Main web site: www.thetenthparadigm.org

German Website: www.martinpall.info

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• MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, a disease caused by toxic chemical exposure
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• MCS-Multiple Chemical Sensitivity at “General and applied Toxicology 3rd Edition”

Snowflake, Arizona USA – June 7, 2010 – Re|shelter is a new non-profit organization forming to address the urgent need for housing alternatives for people with environmental intolerances, who experience mild to life-threatening physical reactions to extremely low levels of chemicals, mold, electrical fields, and other environmental factors and have great difficulty living in their conventionally built homes.

Currently applying for 501(c)3 status, the charitable organization is committed to addressing the global housing crisis and high rates of homelessness and suicide within vulnerable populations affected by disabling environmental sensitivities. Their activities will include fundraising, awarding housing aid grants, facilitating the design and construction of healthy homes and communities, and using the arts to promote awareness.

Co-founders Julie Genser and Julie Laffin formed the charity because “the need is so great, and no one else is doing it,” says Genser. Genser and Laffin are hoping to direct funding from government and the private sector to help prevent homelessness and further suffering for those unable to secure safe housing due to their own limited resources. Both Genser and Laffin were disabled by severe chemical, electrical and other environmental sensitivities within the last six years and have a firsthand understanding of the housing struggle for this population. The two met online four years ago in a group for artists with chemical sensitivities.

Genser and Laffin will comprise the Board of Directors. The Advisory Board has 16 notable members with experience working in related fields, or with the illness itself, including William J. Rea, M.D., a pioneer in environmental medicine and safer housing construction, Pamela Reed-Gibson, Ph.D., an author and researcher of the life impacts of environmental sensitivities, Magda Havas, Ph.D., an expert on the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation, Carl Grimes, President of the Indoor Air Quality Association, Bennie Howard, the former director of the Office of Disability at HUD, Susan Molloy, a long-time disability rights activist, and Paula Baker-Laporte, an architect experienced in building for those with environmental sensitivities.

Some of the group’s planned projects include awarding home renovation grants to eligible individuals, construction of a clean air community as well as an emergency shelter, and an architecture school outreach program that educates students while collaborating on re|shelter’s projects.

Genser studied Design and Environmental Analysis/Interior Design at Cornell University and coordinated construction projects prior to getting ill. She had just become certified in permaculture and ecovillage design, and was enrolled in an intensive 4-month sustainable architecture semester at ECOSA Institute when she became severely disabled by environmental illness and had to drop out of the program. She has unique insight into re|shelter’s target population: the last five years she has moved seven times in search of safe housing that did not severely affect her health.

Laffin also knows the struggle of finding safe housing; she searches each summer for a place to escape the aerial crop spraying in her home county in northern Illinois. Driven by compassion and personal insight into the particular problem of housing for those with environmental illness, the two are very excited to be taking this important step, as there is no other organization in existence today that is solely focused on housing solutions for those with environmental intolerances.

Contacts: support@reshelter.org

Website: Re|shelter

Related Articles:

• Zurich targets first MCS-Housing Project in Europe and issues an invitation to tender
• The last few months of life of Angelika who was chemically sensitive
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International Appeal from Wuerzburg

The European Academy for Environmental Medicine (EUROPAEM) invited many renowned national and international scientists and health care professionals to a medical conference held in Wuerzburg, Germany from April 23 to April 25, 2010. These professionals were from the fields of environmental medicine, toxicology, immunology, neurology and genetics and other health fields as well as physicians and dentist. Also in attendance were representatives of patient initiatives. The theme of this international medical conference was Science Meets Practice. It dealt specifically with the issues of Neuro- Endocrine- Immunology and their importance in environmental medicine.

Greatly concerned, participants noted the increasing prevalence of chronic multisystem illnesses such as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CSF), fibromyalgia (FMS) as well as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, neurodegenerative diseases, auto immune diseases, and cancer.

At the conference it was impressively demonstrated that these chronic diseases are based on similar pathological mechanisms. Common mechanisms are chronic inflammatory processes influenced by environmental factors including chemical pollutants, biological infectious agents, and electromagnetic field (EMF) triggers.

Chronic diseases mean long-term patients and such patients require consecutive higher medical costs. This often leads to social exclusion of the affected people. Facing the appalling reports of Europe´s growing financial constraints, especially in public health, a further increase of chronic illnesses will accelerate the ongoing collapse of the National Health Service and medical insurance companies in Europe. Remedy is only possible with a change of priorities from today´s unilaterally symptomatic oriented medicine to causally oriented medicine focusing on cost-effective primary prevention.

Conference participants addressed an urgent appeal to the European environment and health ministers, to the European Commission, the European parliamentarians, national governments and to the directors of social and private insurance companies. They urge them to take these findings and developments into serious consideration, stressing and weighting financial investments primarily in prevention, precaution and best early detection and diagnosis of these chronic and environmentally related illnesses.

All over Europe this requires the full awareness of these research findings of the practicing physicians of environmental medicine and their integration into university research and teaching. The European governments are asked to finally implement the already ratified decisions of the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health Ministers held in Budapest in 2004.

This appeal was unanimously adopted by the congress.

Wuerzburg April 25, 2010

For the board of EUROPAEM,

Jean Huss, Vice-Chairman

Dr. Kurt Mueller, Chairman

Dr. Peter Ohnsorge, Managing Chairman

Dr. Hans-Peter Donate, Press, Responsible

• German Version – International Appeal from Wuerzburg
• Japanese Version – International Appeal from Wuerzburg / Thanks to Takeshi for translation.

It took eight years until a doctor was able to make a correct diagnosis

The German newspaper Rheinische Post, one of the most noted papers in the Lower Rhine region, published an article about a man who hopped from doctor to doctor for eight years, until he finally got the right diagnosis. He responded to nearly all chemicals, even in lowest concentrations, which are almost omnipresent in everyday life. This was dismissed as mental problem for years. Then at last, the man from Rhineland received the proper diagnosis from a South-German physician: MCS – Chemical Sensitivity. If there was more focus on environmental medicine, cases like this current from the Rheinische Post, were avoidable.

Although he had physical troubles, he was told his problem was psychological

Ralf T. did a lot of sports until he developed more and more allergies. In addition to allergies, he experienced an increasing number of troubles, but no doctor could make a correct diagnosis and find the reason. The Rheinische Post lists the symptoms: “breathing problems, chronic fatigue, burn out, nausea, headache and many more”.

Cause of the disease: toxic adhesive

The graduate in sport science was a trainer in a fitness studio. An adhesive which was used to glue the flooring in his apartment ruined his health. It caused gas emissions of toxic chemicals which according to the Rheinische Post injured his immune system.

No help from the German obligatory health insurance

Now Ralf T. has to live in isolation and manage without money too. He would like to arrange his living environment to be toxic free to improve his health. But the attitude of the health insurance prevents such efforts. The Rheinische Post reports that the 52 year old wasn’t granted even basic things like a special bed. The insurance just hides behind regulations. There are no considerations what is indispensable to life for this man with environmental illness. He lacks any strength to resist.

Author: Silvia K. Müller, CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, January 4, 9010

Translation: BrunO

Coretta Danzer’s guest appearance at the studio:

Finally we had to be in Huerth near Cologne on Wednesday 12-09-2009 at about 9 p.m. My husband and me, we went by our own car, because it is impossible for me to go by train. On arrival, we rang up the editorial office for someone to come for us. A pretty neat young lady led us to the backdoor of the building in order to limit my exposure to irritants to the lowest level. However and needless to say, somebody was smoking just in front of the rear entrance and this was my first trouble.

A TV-studio is not really the best place for MCS-sufferers

We reached the room that was prepared for me at the first floor through the staircase. The corridor and the room was carpeted with needle felt and my prompt reactions suggested that it probably was treated with pesticides. I came in and took my mask from my nose and with every fourth or fifth word my voice vanished, I could only caw raspy sounds and had a terrible sore throat. That’s my standard reaction to pesticides. Immediately we opened the windows and I took my oxygen, which made my voice come back after a while, but still left me the sore throat. A toilet was individually reserved for me and perhaps it was cleaned with plain hot water, but unfortunately it still smelled of “toilet chemistry”.

Nice reception

Then the kind female reporter who visited us at home also appeared and said welcome. Just for me she had washed her clothes and herself without fragrances. Again she explained the procedure to us a bit and introduced us to Mr. Runow, whom we didn’t know before. Next Mr. Jauch came to us and invited us to a dinner after the show, which I politely declined at the same moment, because I was sure, I was unable to manage that.

What MCS really is didn’t matter

Mr. Runow announced to the show master Mr. Jauch, what he intended to explain to the audience. He planed to present magic tree air fresheners and to demonstrate with an cranium cross section what’s going on in the brain if you have MCS. But Mr. Jauch didn’t like that and explained to Mr. Runow, that he is not allowed to do this. We all were somehow puzzled.

A “glass box” to guard me against chemical substances in the studio

Me and my husband, we were invited to the studio before the broadcasting, to test an ad hoc acrylic glass case. When I stepped into the studio, I though I will never get over this. I had not expected it to be so bad. Plastics and other things I could not define stank terribly. The acrylic glass box had a massive smell of synthetics, it made me cough heavily and I developed a strong headache, my head was really swimming and I felt so dizzy. I rendered my audition inside the box and after that we left as quickly as possible for the recreation room. I was glad to have my oxygen, because without it I could not have survived this.

In face of promises the MCS item was postponed

Now they told us that we were scheduled for 11:30 p.m. I already was so wiped out that I even was unable to protest, because I was promised to be the first or at least the second item, to keep me from long wait. So we sat about more than two hours in the room, with windows open and without heating, as I could not tolerate the smell of the hot radiators.

Hardly endurable physical stress

They called us to the studio on the commercial break before our turn. As I did before, I protected myself passing through the halls and stairways with my charcoal-mask and in the acrylic glass case I applied my oxygen to avoid coughing. The stink inside the box was as bad, but outside it was even worse. I allocated all my power and tried to concentrate as well as possible to answer all questions well. It was very, very straining. My head felt like it would burst, my eyes burnt like fire, as did my throat and my bronchial tubes. I felt dizzy and bad. I did not know what I was able to, not at all. I was glad when our contribution was over. But I had to wait in the box until the end of the following item, before we were allowed to leave the studio. Once again we went to the recreation room to pick up our togs and to to say goodbye and we drove home instantly.

It takes its toll to explain MCS

Two weeks after the broadcasting I am still symptomatic. Every once a while I still taste this disgusting flavor of plastics and I’m even more sensitive than I was before the show.

I received many emails and letters which I still have not answered completely, as I’m lacking the power to focus long enough on writing the answers. But I shall deal with answering them all.

To write this report took a lot out of me as well. But I will be pleased to answer more particular questions about the broadcasting.

Authors: Silvia K. Mueller and Coretta Danzer, CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, December 22, 2009

Translation: BrunO for CSN

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Subject (Betreff): About MCS Dec. 12, 2009