The Canary Report

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity researcher launches website

Posted on Apr 13, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research, Susie Collins

Professor Martin Pall launches website explaining his groundbreaking research into a common cause for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Fibromyalgia and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Martin Pall, professor emeritus of biochemistry and basis medical sciences at Washington State University, started looking into ME/CFS after he was diagnosed with it. The essence of his theory is that short-term stressors cause a build up of naturally occurring nitric oxide, which starts a vicious cycle and leads to long-term illness. He calls this the NO/ONOO cycle.

I had the pleasure of a long conversation on the phone with Professor Pall in February, where he explained his research into a large body of evidence showing common ties between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Fibromyalgia and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

He says his research shows this in regards to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity:

1.  There is compelling evidence showing MCS is caused by chemical exposure.

2.  He’s found common threads, evidence, that each class of chemicals that cause MCS have shown to produce the same response (this includes animal models, a big deal when citing evidence).

3.  There is genetic evidence that shows a total of six genes determining susceptibility.

A missing piece of the MCS puzzle, he says, is that there are no biomarker tests for people with MCS, hindering recognition by mainstream medicine. However, he notes, lupus and asthma did not have biomarkers either, yet those illnesses are widely recognized.

Pall’s research involved a review of existing literature, meaning he started out with a theory on certain evidence, and then sought to find other existing evidence for further support. What he found was an avalanche of evidence supporting his theories. His groundbreaking research led to an invitation to write a review on MCS in a very prestigious multi-volume set on toxicology; that review has been accepted and will be published this autumn.

This scientific toxicology review is extraordinarily important because, Pall says, MCS has been largely ignored by toxicologists, despite its high prevalence in the U.S. and in other populations, because they have felt that there was no reasonable explanation for it. Now, he says, through his research, they find there is a compelling and well-supported explanation for MCS and therefore it should be integrated into the larger framework of toxicology.

Pall’s review is the longest such review on MCS ever written, as well as the most extensively documented, having well over 400 citations in it.

On his new website, he explains:

These four illnesses, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME), multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), fibromyalgia (FM) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often occur together in the same individuals (they are comorbid) and share many symptoms in common (1,2).  They also share a common pattern of case initiation:  Each is often initiated (that is started) by a short-term stressor only to be followed by chronic illness that typically lasts for years and most often for life.  These various similarities and overlaps among these four have led many scientists to suggest that they may share a common etiology (cause), however they have been uncertain what the cause may be.  I will call these four illnesses multisystem illnesses, following the lead of some others, and will challenge here the claims they are unexplained and that even their symptoms are unexplained.  What many have called the Gulf War Syndrome is a combination of all four (3; Chapter 10, ref.1).

It is my goal for this web page, to provide a detailed explanation for their overall mechanism and provide a proposed mechanism for the many symptoms and signs that they share.  In web pages linked to this one, I will discuss some specific features of these illnesses and how each of these specific features may be generated by this same basic mechanism.  I also provide more detailed support for the NO/ONOO- cycle mechanism outlined on this main web page, in these other web pages.  My overall goal, here, is to outline the understanding of these illnesses that is documented in much greater detail in my book, “Explaining ‘Unexplained Illnesses’” (1), as well as in many other publications (2-12).

Pall also serves as research director at The Tenth Paradigm Research Group.

Link to Martin Pall’s website.

The Canary Report previously reported on Martin Pall’s theories about myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia.

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Tags: Chemicals, Environmental Illness, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research