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"And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but overacuteness of the senses?"  Edgar Allan Poe.  The Tell-Tale Heart.  1843

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1.  A SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: identifying key research needs)

Note the following quotes from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: identifying key research needs (A SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY: IDENTIFYING KEY RESEARCH NEEDS.  Draft Report prepared by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) and the Office of Chemical Safety and Environmental Health (OCSEH) February 2010):

6.3 CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety notes MCS and SBS as important
issues with respect to indoor air quality (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and
Safety, 2008).


Many municipalities across Canada including Halifax and Toronto and in the United States
have passed by-laws and/or federal laws restricting the cosmetic/non-essential use of
pesticides. Other communities are limiting the use of pesticides through voluntary measures
such as public education and social marketing. In Quebec, by-laws are complemented by
provincial legislation that prohibits the sale of pesticides and fertilizers containing banned
ingredients (Kassirer et al., 2004). The province of Nova Scotia has established an
environmental medicine clinic, the Nova Scotia Environmental Health Centre, for the
treatment and care of people who identify themselves as suffering from chemical
sensitivities.

[p.73]

6.4 GERMAN GOVERNMENT
Germany is often reported to be the only country to “officially recognise” MCS, since it is
included in the alphabetical index of the German version of the International Statistical
Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10-SGB-V) published in
November 2000 by the German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information
(DIMDI).

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6.5 UNITED KINGDOM PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS
In the United Kingdom, position statements have been issued by both proponents and
opponents of MCS being classified as a discrete clinical disorder.


6.5.1 Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists
In the UK, the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists have also
published reports detailing the non-scientific basis for MCS (The Royal College of
Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists, 1995).


6.5.2 British Society for Allergy, Environmental and Nutritional Medicine
(BSAENM)
In 2000, the BSAENM issued a lengthy report on MCS (Eaton et al., 2000) which included
discussion on individuals at risk, eliciting agents, possible mechanisms, patient management
and research priorities. In summary, the report concluded that:
• There is increasing disquiet about the safety of chemical exposures and there should
be efforts generally to reduce exposures;
• Environmental exposures to triggering agents should be kept below that which has
been ‘shown’ to initiate sensitivity in susceptible individuals. Suggested levels for
ambient VOCs should be kept below about 5 ppb, a value derived from unpublished
data reported to provoke symptoms of SBS in the USA;
• The priorities for clinicians are to halt a perceived increase in prevalence of MCS,
improve recognition and management of MCS, and increase awareness of the
difficulties faced by MCS patients to avoid extreme avoidance behaviours by those
with MCS;
• Government should enact the precautionary principle, including restricting exposures
to chemicals with the greatest potential for public exposures and with any history of
long term adverse effects;
• Independent, adequately funded research needs to be conducted to improve
prevalence monitoring and to establish effective diagnosis and treatment;
• Medical education regarding environmental exposures needs to be improved.

[p.74]

Downloaded from: http://www.nicnas.gov.au/Current_Issues/MCS/MCS_Draft_Report_Feb_2010_PDF.pdf; accessed: 13th May 2010.

 

My legal case against the New South Wales Department of Housing will go to trial soon in November 2010 at the New South Wales Supreme Court in Sydney (the file number of my case is 2003/00091442 and the hearing is listed for 15/11/10 in the Supreme Court, Civil List [unfortunately you cannot see a listing months in advance]).  Come to my trial & find out: HOW EASY IT IS FOR YOU TO BE POISONED (& HOW I WAS POISONED BY A NORMAL TERMITE TREATMENT), and exactly WHAT THE SYMPTOMS OF PESTICIDE POISONING ARE!  Tell your friends in public housing about this trial, & ask them if they became sick any time after their Housing residence was treated with pesticides.  THERE WILL BE MYSPACE, FACEBOOK AND TWITTER UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE LEGAL CASE!

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2.  MCS Recognition in US: MCS Referral & Resources (Recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity / Recognition of MCS in Medical Literature / Recognition of MCS by 25 Federal Authorities / Recognition of MCS by 10 Canadian Authorities / Recognition of MCS by 14 U.S. Local Authorities / Recognition of MCS in 21 U.S. State Court Decisions /  Recognition of MCS in 14 Workers' Compensation Board Decisions / Recognition of MCS by 33 Independent Organizations / Recognition of MCS in 11 Federally-Sponsored Conferences)

(Recognition of MCS is edited by Albert Donnay, MHS, and published quarterly without copyright by MCS Referral & Resources, Inc., 508 Westgate Road, Baltimore MD 21229-2343,410-362-6400, www.mcsrr.org. MCS R&R verifies new and revised entries to the best of its abilities but cannot be held responsible for omissions or subsequent changes.  MCS R&R also disclaims all liability for any claims made based on this information.  None of these entries should be construed as offering medical or legal advice, which should be obtained only from qualified professionals.  Please inform MCS Referral & Resources of any corrections or additions.)

Published by: MCS Referral and Resources, 15 August 1998 Edition.

Downloaded from: http://www.mcsrr.org/factsheets/MCSrecogn.pdf; accessed 13th May 2010.

3.  Research on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)

Compiled by Professor Anne C. Steinemann and Amy L. Davis University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-2700

This document lists citations for peer-reviewed journal articles that support a physiological basis for MCS (there are hundreds).

 

Viewable at and downloaded from: http://www.thecanaryreport.org/2009/05/21/research-on-multiple-chemical-sensitivity-mcs/; accessed 13th May 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.  On the Recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in Medical Literature and Government Policy by Albert H. Donnay, MCS Referral and Resources, Baltimore, Maryland,  USA.

Executive Summary

The history of chemical sensitivity in America is reviewed from the first description

published by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839, to its first medical definition as a symptom of

neurasthenia in 1869, its rediscovery as allergic toxemia in 1945, its redefinition in

1987 as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), and its overlap in the 1990s with
chronic fatigue syndrom, fibromyalgia syndrome, and Gulf War syndrome (GWS).
More than half of the over 500 peer-reviewed articles of MCS support an organic

basis for MCS, whereas less than one-quarter support a psychiatric basis.  The same

2:1 difference is seen in the numbers of MCS researchers writing these articles
and the number of Journals publishing them.  A psychogenic interpretation of MCS
also is specifically rejected in the latest formal position statement on the subject,

a 1994 consensus of the American Lung Association, American Medical Association

(AMA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), and U.S.Consumer Product

Safety Commission (US CPSC) (U.S. Government Printing Office 1994-523-217/81322).

This and other government recognition of MCS in policy, research, and scientific

conferences are summarized.  Dozens of federal, state, and local authorities accept

MCS as a legitimate disease and/or disability that deserves reasonable accommodation

in housing, employment, and public facilities.  Official recognition is expected later

in 1999 when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces a

formal definition of MCS and the Federal lnteragency Workgroup on MCS releases its

long-awaited final report, 4 years in the making.  Given that epidemiological data from

three states puts the prevalence of chemical sensitivity at 16 to 33% of the general

population, 2 to 6% of whom have alreadt been diagnosed with MCS, this truly is a

hidden epidemic that deserves the priority attention of public health researchers and

policy makers.  Industrial toxicologists are encouraged to work on reducing and

eliminating the use of synthetic fragrances, chemical sensitizers, and other irritants in

consumer products and occupational settings.

 

Downloaded from: http://www.mcsrr.org/factsheets/ADrecogn.pdf; accessed 13th May 2010.

 

5.  Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Dr Deborah Read, public health physician, for ERMA New Zealand.

A comprehensive review undertaken by Graveling et al (1999) concluded that there is some
evidence to suggest that in some people chemical exposure can initiate a clinical response that recurs with subsequent exposures to very low levels of that chemical and structurally
unrelated chemicals.  These levels are below those known to cause toxicity in the general
population.  However there is a lack of objective evidence and no agreed battery of
investigations.


Pesticides and solvents are the two major classes of chemicals most frequently reported as
having initiated MCS.  The list of chemicals that then elicit symptoms is almost limitless and
they are usually, although not always, identified by odour.  People with MCS may be
significantly disabled in terms of their physical, occupational, and social functioning.

[p.2]

Downloaded from: http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/resources/publications/pdfs/er-gi-02-1.pdf; accessed 13th May 2010.

 

6.  Perceived Treatment Efficacy for Conventional and Alternative Therapies
Reported by Persons with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Pamela Reed Gibson, Amy Nicole-Marie Elms, and Lisa Ann Ruding
School of Psychology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.

VOLUME 111 | NUMBER 12 | September 2003 • Environmental Health Perspectives

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a condition in which persons experience negative health effects in multiple organ systems from exposure to low levels of common chemicals. Although symptoms experienced from particular chemicals vary across persons, they are generally stable within persons. The sensitivities often spread over time, first to related chemicals and then to other classes of chemicals. This study examined self-reported perceived treatment efficacy of 101 treatments used by 917 persons with self-reported MCS. Treatments examined included environmental medicine techniques, holistic therapies, individual nutritional supplements, detoxification techniques, body therapies, Eastern-origin techniques, newer therapies, prescription items, and others. The three most highly rated treatments were creating a chemical-free living space, chemical avoidance, and prayer. Both creating a chemical-free living space and chemical avoidance were rated by 95% of respondents as helpful.

[p.1498]

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241653/pdf/ehp0111-001498.pdf; accessed: 13 May 2010.

7.1  US CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION ESTABLISHES FRAGRANCE-FREE POLICY IN ALL ITS OFFICES

The following paraphrase in blue font (with my emphasis) is taken from the American Chronicle (May 01, 2010, Christiane Tourtet B.A.), and represents a phenomenal recognition of the fact of MCS.

The CDC has instituted a fragrance-free policy in line with its "Indoor Environmental Quality Policy", in all its offices throughout the US.  With more than 15.000 employees, the CDC has done this to enhance safe indoor environmental quality.  The Agency for Toxic substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has also apparently followed suit.

The promotion and protection of the health of CDC personnel, contractors, and visitors, the prevention of work-related injury and illness, and the minimization of pollution and harm to the environment are major goals, along with insuring compliance with all federal, state and local regulations.  The policy wholly accommodates people suffering from MCS.

 The policy includes the use of Integrated Pest Management, with least-toxic chemicals being used overall.  All chemicals must be documented, with the MSDS made available for building occupants.

The policy goes so far that soaps, cleaning products, paints, etc, must be safe and odor-free, or at least emit only low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).  Green cleaning products only are specified to be used within CDC facilities.  As well, vacuuming must be done with HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters, and carpet cleaning must use steam or least-toxic, non-petroleum based, fragrance-free cleaners.

Read the full article at the sources below.

Sources:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/154089; accessed: 13 May 2010.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/blog/nsb040909_indoorenv.html; accessed:4 June 2010.

http://www.thecanaryreport.org/2010/04/07/centers-for-disease-control/; accessed:4 June 2010.

 

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7.2  MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY (MCS) IS A WORLDWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Also, below, I present a further extremely abbreviated paraphrase in blue font (including one quote) of another American Chronicle article (Christiane Tourtet B.A., February 02, 2009):

MCS is an amplifying and accelerating global health catastrophe linked to worldwide pollution by chemicals.

Chemical industries have championed a global campaign of disinformation about chemical dangers for decades, affecting all levels of government and medical authorities.

These industries have leveraged powerful influence over medical research, and have harassed (and worse) doctors who have supported a physiological basis for MCS symptoms.  These are the same industries that manufacture most of the chemicals (including pesticides) implicated in MCS or Environmental Illness.

The "Chemical Manufacturing Association", a powerful lobby group in the US, has made known through a position paper submitted to numerous government agencies their absolute repudiation of MCS by emphasizing the negative impact such an official recognition of the disease would have on multiple manufacturing concerns.

All this in complete disregard to the devastation caused in people's lives by exposure to chemicals and consequent MCS.

People's lives can be hijacked by MCS leaving them sick and financially compromised.
 

"People with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) can be made extremely ill, by the slightest exposure to chemicals found in every day´s life, such as, but not limited to, pesticides, insecticides, cleaning products, fumigants, fertilizers, air fresheners, carpets, emission from photocopies machines, carbon paper, gasoline, fumes from barbecue grill, automobiles exhaust, wood burning, incense, shampoos, toothpaste, beauty products, perfumes, cologne, scented products, glue, inkless pads, and an array of other things in the environment. Then, as the illness progresses, they have severe food intolerances, and many times, reactions to mold, pollen, algae, medicines, alcohol, herbal remedies, and gradually to virtually everything in the environment.

"It is for them, a gamut of debilitating symptoms, upon chemical exposures such as, severe respiratory and neurological problems, confusion, disorientation, trouble thinking, concentrating, visual changes, short term memory loss, loss of smell alternating with acute sense of smell, rhinitis, burning eyes and throat, nausea, headaches, irregular, fast heart beat, skipping beats, hypertension, flushing, severe breathing problems and food intolerances, convulsions, tingling sensations, metallic taste in the mouth, tinnitus, stuffy nose, tightening in the head, throat and chest, muscles and joint pain, foaming at the mouth, bleeding from the nose, bladder urgency, extreme weakness impairing the ability to walk, etc.. The list of symptoms is endless and the sufferings simply cannot be described!"
 

MCS victims usually end up seeing multiple physicians (many of whom side with the chemical industries) who know little or nothing of the disease and who add to the sufferer's trauma via false diagnoses.

Chemical industries pay for anti-MCS articles to be printed in the media and hire psychiatrists to deny the existence of the disease.

Read the full article at the source below.

Source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/89744; accessed: 13 May 2010.

8.1  Profile of Patients with Chemical Injury and Sensitivity

Grace Ziem1 and James McTamney2
1 Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
2 Clinical Psychologist, Lutherville, Maryland

Abstract
 Patients reporting sensitivity to multiple chemicals at levels usually tolerated by the healthy population were administered standardized questionnaires to evaluate their symptoms and the exposures that aggravated these symptoms. Many patients were referred for medical tests. It is thought that patients with chemical sensitivity have organ abnormalities involving the liver, nervous system (brain, including limbic, peripheral, autonomic), immune system, and porphyrin metabolism, probably reflecting chemical injury to these systems. Laboratory results are not consistent with a psychologic origin of chemical sensitivity. Substantial overlap between chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome exists: the latter two conditions often involve chemical sensitivity and may even be the same disorder. Other disorders commonly seen in chemical sensitivity patients include headache (often migraine), chronic fatigue, musculoskeletal aching, chronic respiratory inflammation (rhinitis, sinusitis, laryngitis, asthma), attention deficit, and hyperactivity (affected younger children). Less common disorders include tremor, seizures, and mitral valve prolapse. Patients with these overlapping disorders should be evaluated for chemical sensitivity and excluded from control groups in future research. Agents whose exposures are associated with symptoms and suspected of causing onset of chemical sensitivity with chronic illness include gasoline, kerosene, natural gas, pesticides (especially chlordane and chlorpyrifos), solvents, new carpet and other renovation materials, adhesives/glues, fiberglass, carbonless copy paper, fabric softener, formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde, carpet shampoos (lauryl sulfate) and other cleaning agents, isocyanates, combustion products (poorly vented gas heaters, overheated batteries), and medications (dinitrochlorobenzene for warts, intranasally packed neosynephrine, prolonged antibiotics, and general anesthesia with petrochemicals). Multiple mechanisms of chemical injury that magnify response to exposures in chemically sensitive patients can include neurogenic inflammation (respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary), kindling and time-dependent sensitization (neurologic), impaired porphyrin metabolism (multiple organs), and immune activation. -- Environ Health Perspect 105(Suppl 2):417-436 (1997)

Source (full article): http://www.herc.org/news/ehp/ziem.html; accessed:24 May 2010.

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8.2  Profile of Patients with Chemical Injury and Sensitivity, Part II

Grace E. Ziem

Abstract

Exposures which can induce multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) involve symptomatic, usually repeated, exposures to pesticides, solvents, combustion products, remodeling, sick buildings, carbonless copy paper (occupational heavy use) and other irritants and petrochemicals. Accompanying toxic injury often involves the immune, endocrine and nervous systems as well as impairments in detoxification, energy and neurotransmitter metabolism, protein, mineral, and other nutrient deficiencies and gastrointestinal changes such as candida, parasites, reduced chymotrypsin (marker enzyme for reduced pancreatic enzyme function), gluten intolerance, and reduced Secretory IgA. Chronic cortisol elevation leading to adrenal insufficiency if not corrected is common. Such elevation can lead to protein and mineral deficiencies with increased osteoporosis and reduced steroid precursors for normal estrogen and testosterone production. Detoxification changes often involve reduction in one or more Phase II pathways which causes excess free radical production. Impaired digestive enzymes can reduce breakdown of foods, with larger more antigenic molecules being absorbed and consequent food intolerances. Many of these conditions are treatable. There is extensive overlap of MCS with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia which may be one condition in many cases. Current occupational exposure limits are not health based and thus may not prevent MCS and are totally inadequate to accommodate sensitive persons. Warning symptoms indicating increased risk for MCS onset include repeated headache, eye and respiratory irritation and fatigue. Eliminating exposures which cause repeated symptoms is a critical strategy for preventing sensitization and MCS. It also significantly reduces the degree of disability in persons with MCS, the single most important factor from the literature. Affected persons with disability can utilize the Americans With Disability Act to request reasonable accommodations for work, home (condo, apartment), and school.

Read the full article at the source below (requires a purchase of the full PDF text).

Source: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a713936386~frm=titlelink; accessed:24 May 2010

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8.3  Medical Evaluation and Treatment of Patients with Chemical Injury and Sensitivity

Grace Ziem, M.D., Dr. P.H.

Abstract
Medical testing was conducted on 30 consecutive toxic injury new patients seen in the author’s
medical practice. These patients typically had toxic encephalophathy with reactive airways
disease. Other abnormalities were quantified by testing, and included adrenal cortisol changes with frequent deficiency; protein deficiency with greatest deficiency in detoxification-related amino acids; changes in Phase II detoxification following challenge, with deficiency of glutathione and superoxide dismutase and increase of lipid peroxides and other free radicals; changes in cell membrane lipid composition to a proinflammatory status; Secretory IgA deficiency with frequent parasites and/or Candida; pancreatic digestive enzyme (chymotrypsin) deficiency; food intolerances; intracellular essential mineral deficiency; reduced antioxidant function; altered energy metabolism; and other nutrient defiency, the most prevalent being B12 (involved with myelin synthesis). Toxic exposures inducing illness were symptomatic (and repeated, except one patient from a massive propane leak). Other causal agents were solvents, pesticides (organophosphates, pyrethroid, chlordane, benzyl benzoate, other), vehicle exhaust in a building, “sick building” volatiles, adhesives, inorganic chlorines, formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde.

 

Source: http://www.mcsbeaconofhope.com/ziem.html; accessed: 24 May 2010.

9.  MCS in Japan – A Lecture at the House of Representatives of Japan

On October 1, 2009 in Japan, the Medical Information System Development Center (MEDIS-DC) – a subsidiary organization of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) – registered “multiple chemical sensitivity” as “ICD-10 Japanese standard disease master”. Multiple chemical sensitivity was classified in Japan into ICD-10 code T65.9 – “Toxic effect of unspecified substance, Poisoning NOS”.

Author: Ryozo Tamakoshi

Source: http://www.csn-deutschland.de/blog/en/mcs-in-japan-–-a-lecture-at-the-house-of-representatives-of-japan/; Accesssed: 15 June 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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