The challenge of finding a nontoxic recreational vehicle

Posted on Jul 19, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: An Inconvenient Reality

Post by Keith Carlson

keithAs my wife and I shop for a recreational vehicle in which to spend the next year or two as we live, work and play, our Multiple Chemical Sensitivity has become even more of an inconvenient reality.

We all know that new car smell, and many people equate that smell with freshness and newness. We also know the particular smell of a new shower curtain which is now widely understood to be the off-gassing of pthalates and other very unhealthy chemicals. These are modern realities, and they’re making us sick.

Recreational vehicles (RVs) are manufactured just like homes and cars—they are filled with particle board, formaldehyde-based materials and nasty chemical-laden furnishings that off-gas for years. In our meanderings, we have entered several newish RVs and the chemical aura has hit us both like a brick wall, driving us out the door in seconds. One wonders about all of the retirees out there who buy brand new RVs and then hit the road. Do they develop cancers, memory loss or early-onset dementia more quickly than others? After all, they are living in a small area which is often sealed tight—a literal chemical soup.

Many people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity end up homeless because they can’t find safe housing. Small homespun businesses (like Taylor Designs) have indeed sprung up in an effort to fill a niche, creating “safe rooms,” MCS trailers, and other spaces designed to make living and sleeping healthy for those with environmental illnesses. Publications like “Our Toxic Times” and “The Canary Report” offer resources, advertisements and classifieds for those seeking safety and healthy alternatives, and many do-it-yourselfers take a shot at retrofitting trailers, homes and other structures to suit their needs.

For us, our only alternative may be a refurbished Airstream trailer, gutted and professionally retrofitted by Taylor Designs several years ago and now available through a private seller. However, what we really want is an all-in-one RV in which we can live, work, sleep, eat and drive, but every vehicle we look at or consider has been treated with, or is constructed with, materials that can put our health at risk.

Yesterday, after combing through Craig’s List, Mary found an RV that sounded great, and she called the owner. After a long and detailed discussion during which she patiently explained our MCS, the owner finally acknowledged that he has put Bounce dryer sheets in all of the storage compartments of the rig in order to ward off mice and “freshen” the air. That potential sale is going nowhere, of course.

So, we continue in our search, narrowing it down, looking under every rock, and may end up spending more than we care to on the retrofitted Airstream and a diesel pickup truck with which to tow it. This is another consequence of MCS—we can often end up spending more to get what we need because so much of the world is stacked against us. It’s a chemical soup out there, and we simply want to remove ourselves from the broth.

This post was originally published at Digital Doorway, my blog on creative expression, nursing adventures, reflections on healthcare, thoughtful reverie, thoughtless repose, and other flotsam and jetsam.

Related Articles:

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

10 Responses to “The challenge of finding a nontoxic recreational vehicle”

  1. Susie Collins

    19. Jul, 2009

    Keith, thanks for the plug in this post!

    Every time I read something about people using Bounce dryer sheets as a pesticide or rodenticide, I am flabbergasted. Do they not wonder WHY the creatures are repelled? Do they think the creatures just don’t like the lovely fresh scent? I mean, get a clue people! It’s TOXIC, that’s why the creatures are repelled. D’oh.

    All best to you, Keith and Mary, in finding or creating your safe RV quickly and with as little hassle as possible.

    Reply to this comment

  2. linda

    19. Jul, 2009

    Just don’t sell the house until you find the safe enough RV!

    Keith, alarm bells went off when you mentioned “diesel” pick-up truck. Diesel fumes and particulates are particularily nasty for us. If there is any way they can get into the RV, they could contaminate your new home.

    Reply to this comment

  3. Susie Collins

    19. Jul, 2009

    Linda, you are absolutely right! Excellent point. I cannot be around diesel fumes! Here’s a post on diesel http://www.thecanaryreport.org/index.php?s=deisel

    Reply to this comment

  4. Mokihana

    19. Jul, 2009

    Hi Keith,

    Your search is a challenging one. My husband and I began that search more than two years ago and discovered the concentrated reality of a damagingly dangerous R.V. world. Retrofitting the Airstream was my first thought … actually my thought was to go to the Airstream factory and TRY to get them to sell me the shell. That is a no-go. When I learned how R.V.s are manufactured and saw the use of foam insulation and formald/based materials we had to re-assemble our approach. Tad Taylor and his legacy is a great form of seeing that to re-make a more sensible and safe environment we must invoke SLOWNESS. Undoing junk will take consciousness and diligent choices.

    And the diesel issue is a tough one that Susie and Linda cover pretty well. We thought about the diesel too, but in the process of building our Vardo, diesel fumes made me very sick. We found that ’spending more’ time and money were part of the journey. Recreating a dream based on an old form of the dream is risky business. Good luck with your search and if you have any questions about wheelie ways send us a query.

    Reply to this comment

  5. Sandy

    19. Jul, 2009

    Diesel fumes are ghastly!

    Anyway, I can feel your pain as shopping for anything is so difficult for us. I have had my trials trying to find a car I can drive. In the meantime I am driving my husbands pickup. It seems ironic. I am driving a gas guzzler and contributing to the problem that is making me sick. What can I do?

    Reply to this comment

  6. mike badolato

    19. Jul, 2009

    concerning looking for an RV and pulling with a diesel…EPA researchers (published Veronesi et al in prof journal) found that .22 micron diesel exhaust particles go into the brain and act on the dopaminergic neurons in such way as to cause Parkinson’s symptoms…if you have MCS you sure don’t want to drive a diesel…living in a vehicle is difficult – the airspace is small so all the more you have to be careful…one hazard I was surprised to learn is that fuel hoses on cars and trucks – and even on the pump at the gas station are designed with materials such that gasoline vapor goes THROUGH the hose walls. Approx .7 to 1.2 billion gallons of fuel permeate through the hoses each year in the US. This is because the standard SAE R6 or R7 fuel hose allows 550 grams square meter per day permeation through the walls using a nitrile inner lining. Only the small hose sizes (5/16 and less) are now available with fluoroelastomer lining and are rated SAE R9 with less than 15 grams sq m day of permeation…I could go on with more detail on this but could bore someone! I had a major project on a Suburban trying to correct the vapor leakage including foil wrapping the larger size fill hose and inserting a 3/8 vent line (15 gram rated) in place of most of the 5/8 (550 gram rated) vent line. Unfortunately the smaller vent line doesn’t let air displace quickly enough so I have to manually hold the nozzle filling the tank at a slower rate. Gaskets and o-rings are usually similarly permeable – for example the fuel pump is installed in the gas tank – the 0-ring leaks vapor like a sieve and so does the gas cap gasket – again apparently the permeable nitrile rubber – baffled I got a handheld combustible gas detector which has shown the leakage. Vapor is also very prone to leaking out under the clamped ends. If a hose is disconnected and reconnected without replacing there is a high possibility it will leak vapor out from under the clamps. You have to be careful or a vehicle can be a gas chamber. Mike

    Reply to this comment

  7. Denise in Honolulu

    20. Jul, 2009

    Almost four decades ago, I was taught in school that diesel fumes were safer than regular gasoline fumes and my experience of standing next to diesel exhaust (buses) and feeling ill was anectdotal, not scientifically based, as the particles were bigger and safer!!!
    They are NOW teaching that diesel is more dangerous, DUH!!! Canaries have known this all along.

    Reply to this comment

  8. Susie Collins

    20. Jul, 2009

    Mike, thanks for all that info! I do appreciate hearing about the tech side of issues. I appreciate your attention to those details and you taking the time to share them with us.

    Denise, Isn’t is amazing how every single product that we MCSers find toxicis indeed toxic? Study after study just keeps backing us up. We are an undervalued group in our toxic modern society. Tragic.

    Reply to this comment

  9. Susie Collins

    20. Jul, 2009

    A reader sent me this link to share with you. It’s the story of her adventures using grease to power a van and then truck to pull her safe travel trailer. She has MCS and they retrofitted a travel trailer to make it safe for her.

    http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-10/2006-10-26-voa73.cfm

    Reply to this comment

  10. Beth Flaherty

    03. Oct, 2009

    Hi Kieth,

    I to have been looking for a safe trailer and came across some with dryer sheets in all the compartments. I knew they must had thought it was for fresh air (farthest thing from it)but I’d never heard it chased off mice “Intresting”… ARE MICE SMARTER THAN MOST HUMANS ???

    I wish you two the best of luck, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve done if one even exists!!!

    Beth

    Reply to this comment

Leave a Reply