Spanish government moves closer to fully recognizing Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Posted on Apr 30, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Eva Caballé, Guest Bloggers, MCS
In collaboration with Spain’s Ministry of Health, thirteen MCS associations set up the Comité para el Reconocimiento del Síndrome de Sensibilidad Química Múltiple (Committee for the Recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) to have a unanimous voice in the process of full recognition of MCS in Spain.
By guestblogger Eva Caballé, Spain.
“I’m your fan.” This was the title of the post in the blog of Carne Cruda, Spanish radio program, on October 22 where they asked people about their favorites songs. José Luís Aparicio posted a comment with his 10 favorite’s songs and the last one he chose was “No Fun” by The Stooges. But his choice went beyond the music, and, as he explained, he chose “No Fun” because my my blog was named after this song. He also explained what MCS is (illness that he also suffers) and he asked Carne Cruda to talk about MCS and he also mentioned the interview that Salvador L. Arnal did me for Rebelión.
Four days later, I received an invitation from Carne Cruda through the editorial El Viejo Topo to interview me to talk about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
On November 4, 2009, I was interviewed on Carne Cruda and I met José Luís Aparicio. They were so shocked by MCS that next day the show’s director explained during the radio show that they would contact the Ministry of Health because they wanted to interview the Minister of Health on their show and talk about MCS to explain to them the terrible situation of the MCS sufferers.
This is how all this started: After a lot of calls to the Ministry of Health without receiving any response, last December they did a live phone call during the radio show and the Ministry finally had to accept. On January 15, 2010, José Martínez Olmos, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, was interviewed on Carne Cruda, in a special show devoted to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity with Miguel Jara, Dr. Pablo Arnold, José Luís Aparicio and David Palma on behalf of me. He made the public commitment to meet with associations that deal with MCS between ten and twenty days after the show.
On February 4, 2010 was held the meeting with Ministry of Health to state the situation of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity sufferers in Spain. A petitions document done by MCS associations under David Palma coordination was submitted. One person by each MCS association attended to the meeting and also Jaume Cortés, lawyer of Colectivo Ronda, and Dr. Pablo Arnold. Also a copy of my book, Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la Sensibilidad Química Múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity), was hand delivered on behalf of me, as an example of what MCS sufferers have to go through in Spain. Representatives of Ministry of Health committed to contact MCS associations to jointly agree on experts to form a Scientific Committee to create a document of consensus on the MCS.
Thirteen Spanish MCS associations set up the Comité para el Reconocimiento del Síndrome de Sensibilidad Química Múltiple (Committee for the Recognition of MCS) to have an unanimous voice for this process. The committee compiled a list of doctors and the Ministry of Health invited all the 11 doctors nominated by the associations, plus 16 people from the Ministry of Health, including doctors and consultants, to attend a meeting on April 21, 2010.
The first impression is positive. The working group elaborated the schedule and agreed to create a draft of the document of consensus on MCS to be reviewed by MCS associations in September and October 2010. The reviewed document will be published by the Ministry of Health in December. They stated that this is the first step to make possible the inclusion of the MCS in ICD-10, i.e. its official recognition as a disease in Spain.
It will be published an official press release but the day after the meeting, Carne Cruda gave the scoop. Thanks to Carne Cruda, we are in this process and we want to give them our gratitude. David and I gave this great news during the program and Javier Gallego, the director and host of Carne Cruda, was really moved.
Thanks to José Luís Aparicio and special thanks to all the team of Carne Cruda, led by Javier Gallego, because if they hadn’t been interested in MCS, this would never have happened. I told them during the program, but I want to repeat again here:
Thanks in the name of all people with MCS!
Eva blogs about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity at NO FUN. English section here.
If you enjoyed this post, please read these related stories:
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity associations in Spain meet with Ministry of Health officials Eva Caballé reports on the meeting between Multiple Chemical Sensitivity associations and Ministry of Health...
- MCS groups in Spain to meet with Secretary of Health A coalition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Groups in Spain will meet with the Secretary General...
- Metamorphosis inside Multiple Chemical Sensitivity By guestblogger Eva Caballe. My most radical metamorphosis was when I fell ill with Multiple...
- How to become an MCS activist in less than 365 days By guestblogger Eva Caballé, Spain. This is a summary of all my articles, collaborations and...
- Please sign Italian petition for recognition of Multiple Chemcial Sensitivity Please sign this petition for the recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in Italy....
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
















linda
30. Apr, 2010
Thank you Eva, and many thanks to everyone else who is also participating.
Eva
01. May, 2010
Thank you Susie for your support!
And thank you, Linda! It’s so terrible our situation that we have to share any good new to give us strength.
Jeanne
01. May, 2010
Go, Eva, go!!!
Jeanne
Monica
04. May, 2010
Hola Eva,
Soy periodista Sueca. También sofro de MCS, pera en Suecia no hay todavia un grupo que lucha por nuestros derechos (sole un rete contra los profumos, etc). Yo escrivi un libro en 2009. Se llama (traducido) La matratsa de Impotenza, los encuentros toxicos de la detectiva quimica. Tengo un blog en sueco. Pienso crear una seccsion international.
He investigado materiales dentales toxicos desde 1991.
Vede il sito (www.kemikaliedetektiven.se/hmb) Lo que se mete en la boca y en el cuerpo puede peggiorar la condicion de SQM, sobre todo los compositos plasticos.
Si quires te cuento mas
Felicidades a tu importante trabajo.
Monica
Eva
05. Jun, 2010
Thanks Jeanne!
Hola Monica. Gracias por tus palabras. Muy interesante toda tu información.
Del tema de los materiales dentales, en España está la asociación MERCURIADOS con la que quizás te interesaría contactar porque son muy activos. Esta es su web http://www.mercuriados.org/es/pag106, donde encontrarás los datos de contacto.
Aquí tenemos muchas asociaciones dedicadas a MCS y todas se han implicado en el proceso en el que estamos. Por si quieres contactar con alguna de ellas, aquí tienes los enlaces: http://nofun-eva.blogspot.com/2010/02/comunicado-resumen-reunion-ministerio.html
Un abrazo,
Eva