The Canary Report

Why am I begging for clean air and water?

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Linda Sepp, MCS

Post by Linda Sepp.

It’s really hard to allow myself to think about the implications of my current situation. I’m forced to beg for un-petro-chemically-polluted air, water, food, clothing and housing.

Seems most people would rather not change their habits, both belief and practical, that they’d rather stubbornly maintain the belief that the government is protecting them, that this could never happen to them, that there must have been something bad I did to be in this position, that otherwise the safety net would be providing the help I need.

Chemical injury can happen to anyone. Some of us get cancer, or asthma, or alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or MS, autism, ADD, or ADHD. Others develop Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (sensitivities is a misnomer – multiple chemical hells would be more apt) or Environmental Sensitivities, as it is more commonly called in Canada (MCS/ES).

What this means is that our bodies are negatively affected by minute quantities of chemicals. Sometimes it’s more of an annoyance on par with seasonal allergies, but often, when the body cannot escape exposures, the symptoms become completely debilitating and life threatening. Think being drugged and unable to think or function, in pain for weeks, and the only things that help are clean air, food and water. Things that are in short supply now, things we have no control over unless we are wealthy enough to buy 100 acres in the middle of no-where, so that someone’s dryer vent or pesticides don’t blow toxic chemicals our way, a place to have our own safe home with air and water filtration systems… things most people don’t notice because they are themselves covered in so many chemicals, living and working in neuro-toxic environments, finding it harder and harder to get by themselves, even begrudging our need for those things as frivolous.

So we become the hidden and often homeless. Invisibly disabled, abandoned, ignored and ridiculed. How is it possible that inhaling anyone’s laundry product or body spray could disable someone for over a week? That there are no clothes that are chemical free? That all housing has been allowed to be completely contaminated by useless chemical residues allowed into fragranced personal care or cleaning products, or worse yet, those so called air-fresheners? How could a few inches of some simple caulk render someone semi-comatose for 4 months? How are neuro-toxic, carcinogenic, endocrine disrupting chemicals allowed into things we slather onto our bodies, wash our clothes with, rinse into our water supplies, in our foods, and in building materials? Synthetic petro-chemicals that will injure people’s brains and central nervous systems? How indeed.

Protecting industry is more important than protecting public health. It is that simple. The same chemical industry that creates all the toxins that cause so many chronic or otherwise debilitating illnesses, also supplies the pharmaceutical companies with synthetic petro-chemical ingredients to make drugs that will hopefully alleviate some of the symptoms of our damaged bodies without killing us completely in the process. This is called making a killing financially and keeping the economy growing.

Any of us who cannot be “treated” with these toxic substances are abandoned and left to fend for ourselves, rarely for better, usually for much worse, because by the time we discover we need fresh air, clean water, unpolluted food, chemical free clothing and housing, we are too broke to take care of ourselves. Our health care requires chemical free housing, air, water, food and clothing. We are more “sensitive” than the canaries miners used to take with them to warn of bad air. Yet no-one wants to listen to us. People don’t want to believe they’ve been duped by governments who were supposed to be looking out for our best interests instead of allowing industries to pollute our brains and bodies, so much so that babies are being born pre-contaminated with a slew of chemicals known to be toxic to human and environmental health. How indeed.

The government still shows no interest in providing a safety net for anyone obviously injured by everyday chemicals. Industries get bailouts, not the children who develop autism and need help, not the people who develop MCS/ES. If you develop MCS/ES and can no longer work, don’t expect workplace accommodations or your disability pension to kick in. Don’t expect Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP) to cover any of your health-care needs. Don’t expect to find a doctor’s office or hospital with air quality good enough to not leave you suffering for weeks to come if you make it out alive. Don’t expect to find a place to live where the house itself or the neighbors won’t further poison you on a daily basis. Expecting any of these would mean someone has to admit they aren’t looking after our best interests in the first place. That they have allowed our air, water, food, and consumer products to become so toxic that few if any will be left unscathed. That industry would have to pay more tax.

That is the current reality, and it IS bleak. But, it isn’t too late yet.

Our governance bodies could have been listening since the 80’s when it was clear things were going downhill, that regulation was required to keep our air, water, food and products safe to use, and that people were already suffering devastating consequences.

They could start listening now, by banning the substances that are disabling so many of us, by creating healthy zones where people who need to avoid chemical exposures can do so safely. They could learn from us what is safe and what is not. Many of us do know.

By acting now, children would have a chance of being born and growing up without neurological disorders, asthma, and cancer. You would be able to buy safe food and effective products and not have to worry they’ll shorten your life or leave you in pain or unable to absorb nutrients properly. You wouldn’t have to worry about becoming homeless in Canada. You wouldn’t be begging for clean air to breathe, for water that doesn’t taste like laundry products, for clothing that didn’t make you want to die.

If you believe I’m crazy, that I deserve to be abandoned, then you are in fact giving up on your own future and the future of any kind of well-being for anyone on this little planet of ours. We are running out of time. But we can turn things around if we act now. We just have to remember how to care. To care about life again. Not just money. But each other. And then demand that our elected representatives act to protect and care for us all.

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Recomended reading: Amputated Lives: Coping with Chemical Sensitivity

The condition of multiple chemical sensitivity has been rapidly growing with the proliferation of new, untested chemicals in our environment. In recent decades, people from many walks of life have developed a new intolerance for the chemicals found in perfume, air fresheners, cleaning products, fabric softeners, diesel and auto exhaust, new carpet, paint, and other products. Their ranks include large numbers of Exxon Valdez cleanup workers, Gulf War veterans, 9/11 First Responders, and FEMA trailer residents.

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Tags: Environmental Illness, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity