Eva Caballé | The Canary Report

Irish blog sponsors art exhibit about Myalgic Encephalopathy and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity; the work of Canary Report contributor Eva Caballé featured

Posted by Susie

Sep 262011

The online exhibit, which also will be shown at the ME and Fibromyalgia International Conference in Ireland this October, is designed to raise awareness about the hidden suffering caused by severe Myalgic Encephalopathy and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Eva Caballé

Greg Crowhurst, a nurse in Ireland who runs Stonebird, a blog about Myalgic Encephalopathy, announces the launch of Stonebird’s online 2011 Autumn Art Exhibition designed to raise awareness of the hidden suffering of severe ME and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. The exhibit features works by Crowhurst and his wife Linda, and also Eva Caballé, who blogs at No Fun and is a contributor at the Canary Report. She also is the author of the book Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

A sampling of Eva’s contributions to Stonebird’s art exhibit:

Metamorphosis inside MCS

By Eva Caballé

During our lives we suffer several metamorphoses, some are painful, others are positive, chosen or not. The experience, the life itself, makes us change and evolve. My story is not different, although my most radical metamorphosis was when I fell ill with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. And surprisingly, when I thought that my life couldn’t be more foreseeable and monotonous, from the prison that my house has become, another metamorphosis started, this time deeper and visceral. This time my metamorphosis was chosen.

The need to communicate, to let the world know that I’m still alive, to cry out for my own rights and the rights of millions of people who suffer MCS in the whole world, led me to write. The extremely reserved person that I used to be has disappeared, in order to be able to tell my story to the world, as I dig into the deepest places of my being. It’s my metamorphosis inside the metamorphosis of living with MCS.

The exhibit also will be on display at the ME and Fibromyalgia International Conference in Ireland on Oct 9th, 2011, hosted by the Academy of Nutritional Medicine (AONM) and the Midlands Fibromyalgia Group.

Eva Caballé is an economist from Barcelona, Spain, author of the book Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la Sensibilidad Química Múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) published in Spanish by El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, Spain, 2009. She authors NO FUN, a Spanish blog with an English section about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, with information and advice for people who are sick or who want to live a healthier life free of toxics. She is a regular contributor at The Canary Report and at the art magazine Delirio (Delirium).

No fear of fear

Posted by Contributor

Sep 132011

With Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, the here and now is all that matters and the fear of the fear is simply ridiculous against the real problems that force you to push on tirelessly, to carry on and just survive.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

"No Fear of Fear," published in Spanish in the online magazine Delirio. Photo by David Palma.

No Fear of Fear

Eva Caballé

Fear is a very useful coercive intimidating tool to silence and control people. A silent threat subtly reminds you that you can lose what you have. Do not complain, do not make any noise, because this might make your life even worse and turn it into a nightmare. They frighten the masses so that they don’t dare to revolt. They censor and distort reality.

But fear is a double-edged sword when used on people who have little to lose. When your day consists on struggling to survive, when you live in a parallel reality that no one around you can even imagine, you lose the fear of this abstract fear that they want to instill in you.

The harsh and heartbreaking reality prevails. The conditional and future tenses disappear against a present that overwhelms and leaves no room for anything else. The here and now is all that matters and the fear of the fear is simply ridiculous against the real problems that force you to push on tirelessly, to carry on and just survive. When every day is a real battle that tests your physical and mental strength, the fear of fear is nothing more than a fallacy, a ridiculous threat compared to the undeniable obstacles of the underworld in which you have been doomed to live.

Sometimes you dare to lean out the window, in a risky game to see how the supposedly fortunate people live, and you are impressed to see that they are paralyzed by an unreal fear that keeps them lethargic and living without feeling. It’s almost tragic to see how they tiptoe through their lives, afraid, anesthetized and controlled, and without even being aware of it.

Those of us who live extreme situations every day, such as those of us affected by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity; those of us who have been relegated overnight to being second class citizens without rights but still with all the responsibilities; those of us who have become nomads because a poisoned and dying world steals our health, our life, our dreams… we are not afraid of fear, because there is no room for cowardice when you face a reality that exceeds any fear that they want to instill in us to intimidate us, to dominate us and simply to destroy us. What we feared has come true. We have nothing left to fear anymore.

Link to the original article in Spanish

Link to download Delirio El Miedo

~~~

Eva Caballé is an economist from Barcelona, Spain, author of the book Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la Sensibilidad Química Múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) published in Spanish by El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, Spain, 2009. She authors NO FUN, a Spanish blog with an English section about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, with information and advice for people who are sick or who want to live a healthier life free of toxics. She is a regular contributor at The Canary Report and at the art magazine Delirio (Delirium).

Manifesto for International Day of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Awareness, May 12

Posted by Contributor

May 102011

May 12th is International Day of Central Sensitivity Syndromes: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

Eva Caballé

This year Clara Valverde, the president of Liga SFC, and I have again written a Manifesto for International Day of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Awareness on May 12 (here is last year’s Anti-Toxic Manifesto). My husband, David, has taken the picture (broken crystals on a carbon fleece under the sun) and I’ve done the layouts in Spanish, Catalan and English.

Download the pdf of the English version.

The Spanish manifesto is published on my blog No Fun.

I hope you like it!

Eva

THE VULNERABLE MANIFESTO

One more year. Yet another year. Nothing has changed.

Today, May 12th, I have woken up locked up in the same place, and I can still see that:

Society continues to poison me with its toxins; this cruel, unjust society that is so comfortable in its greediness.

Society rejects me for not producing and not consuming as those with healthier bodies do, while the owners of the toxic industries mock me and get richer.

Society has abandoned me and says that it is my fault that I live with this illness, as though it is a whim, as though I do not want to make an effort, as though it is something I made up, to avoid going to work.

My body, my bed and my walls have become a prison, with only my window and my thoughts as company, with no chance of parole in sight.

Condemned to live in the shadows, I am what society wants to hide. My part of the narrative will never make it into the history books.

After years of working hard and paying taxes, I have no rights and I am excluded from the Welfare State. It is assumed that I am malingering, while in truth I am disabled.

My exile is imposed on me by administrators, politicians and doctors, the same ones who promised me they would be there to help me. They betrayed me when I most needed them. Now they pretend I don’t exist. They act as though I am a nuisance and make fun of me, while hiding the fact that every day there are more and more of us.

Although I can barely move, I have decided, once more, to be determined and brave. Visible despite being housebound. Weak and vulnerable but never a coward.

I have decided I will continue to live, to fight, despite my vulnerability; because of my vulnerability. I will not be silenced, although they want to shut me up.

This is what I have decided, again this year. Once again, because nothing has changed.

I hope that you will do the same. Yes, you who are also vulnerable, although you may not realize it. We need to continue to fight without giving up, to shake society’s comfortable thoughts and question how we live as a society. To question all of the “development” which is killing us slowly. Until those of us who are vulnerable are no longer defenceless. Until there is justice, respect and compassion for all.

No Fun and Liga SFC (CFS/ME League)
Spain, May 12, 2011

May 12th, International Day of Central Sensitivity Syndromes
(Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity)

http://nofun-eva.blogspot.com & www.ligasfc.org

~~~

What is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Posted by Contributor

Apr 252011

When you have MCS and you are exposed to certain toxic chemical agents, a series of symptoms are initiated automatically like irritation of the respiratory tract, tachycardia, headaches, mental confusion, dizziness, nausea, extreme fatigue or pain. These symptoms don’t get better until you cease contact with the chemical agent that produced it. The symptoms can last days or even weeks.

Eva Caballé

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

What is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is an acquired chronic illness, not a psychological one, which manifests itself with multisystemic symptoms as a reaction to a very small exposure to chemical products, normal everyday chemicals but unnecessary ones, like perfumes, air fresheners or laundry softeners.

The symptoms, which are chronic and they become acute in a crisis, include fatigue and respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, dermatological and neurological problems.

MCS is a syndrome with four grades of severity, so not all of us who are sick suffer the same level of disability and isolation.

It is important to note that MCS is not an allergy.

It is an illness which has been known since the 1950s, but it has yet to be recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), despite that there are more than 100 research articles that support the organic basis of MCS, that the number of people affected is increasing rapidly, at a younger age, and that the European Parliament includes MCS in the growing number of illnesses related to environmental factors. MCS has already recognized as a physical disease in Germany, Austria and Japan.

What percentage of the population has MCS?

There are no studies in Spain, but it is thought to be affected between 0.5% and 12% of the general population, according to the grade.

In countries where there are statistics about this illness, we see that the amount of people that have MCS is not small. According to the Environmental Health Association of Quebec, 2.4% of Canadians have MCS. According to Professor Martin L. Pall, PhD, the prevalence of severe MCS in the U.S is approximately 3.5% of the population.

So MCS is not a “rare disease,” which are the ones that affect less than 0.05% of the population. MCS is an emerging and hidden disease.

Chemical products are toxic and they affect us all. Chemical products are linked to illness like cancer, asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases or any other illness of environmental origin.

How can you know that you are developing MCS?

The most common symptom is to notice unbearable chemicals which one did not notice before. One stops tolerating various chemical agents like cleaning products, perfumes, tobacco smoke, car emissions, air fresheners, etc.

You also may stop tolerating alcohol, dairy products or gluten. You also may develop intolerance to various foods and medications.

Often there are other environmental intolerances: to heat, to cold, to noise, to vibrations, to sunlight and to electromagnetic fields (computers, high power lines, telephones, cellular phone antennas, microwaves, etc).

MCS entails the loss of tolerance of chemical products in susceptible persons and there are two ways of developing MCS: from one single exposure to toxics at a high dose (fumigation, for example) or by many exposures to small amounts over the years. In the second group there are an increasing number of people with CFS/ME and FMS who, with the years, also develop MCS.

How is MCS diagnosed?

The diagnosis is clinical, based on the symptoms. There are no tests to diagnose MCS and other medical conditions must first be ruled out.

For the diagnosis, doctors use the questionnaire QEESI (Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory) which is a sensitive and fast questionnaire instrument with five scales used to evaluate a person’s level of chemical sensitivity or intolerance.

6 consensus criteria for the definition of MCS:

A chronic condition.
Symptoms recur reproducibly.
Symptoms recur in response to low levels of chemical exposure.
Symptoms occur when exposed to multiple unrelated chemicals.
Symptoms improve or resolve when trigger chemicals are removed.
Multiple organ systems are affected.

When you have MCS and you are exposed to certain toxic chemical agents, a series of symptoms are initiated automatically like choking, irritation of the respiratory tract, tachycardia, headaches, mental confusion, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, extreme fatigue and/or pain. These symptoms don’t get better until you stop being in contact with the chemical agent that produced it. The symptoms can last days or even weeks.

How is MCS treated?

Because of the pathophysiological bases of this syndrome are still unknown, there is no specific treatment for MCS. But there are a lot of treatments that help to control MCS and improve our health (sauna, supplements, homeopathy, etc.), and it’s very important to find a specialized doctor who studies our case, because each patient is different, depending on the genetic, the associated pathologies and the MCS grade.

Besides the treatment, is very important to put into practice the Environmental Control. Environmental Control is to basically avoid, as much as possible, any exposure to toxics or chemical substances. But in spite of this, MCS is chronic and persistent and it can reduce the quality of life of the sufferers.

Environmental Control is to avoid the chemicals or foods that may trigger reactions, avoid humid environments and avoid environments that could cause irritation (smoke, gas). This requires that we substitute all beauty and cleaning products with ecological ones without aroma; eat organic and non-processed foods (eliminate those we don’t tolerate) cooked using non-toxic cookware; filter the drinking water and also the water for cooking and showering; use a carbon-filter mask in situations in which there are a high concentration of toxics; get an air purifier; use ecological clothing with organic fabrics and organic dyes; avoid or minimize exposure to electromagnetic fields and in general remove everything that that we don’t tolerate (furniture, clothing, cosmetics, etc.). Sometimes is even necessary to change our residence. The Environmental Control benefits the MCS sufferer and also his entire family and it’s recommended for people with allergies or asthma in other countries. It’s also recommended for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

Environmental Control: basic guidelines and tips (in Spanish).

Scientific evidence

In September 2008, was published the study “Is multiple chemical sensitivity a learned response? A critical evaluation of provocation studies” by Goudsmit and Howes at Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine, which concluded that MCS is related to chemicals and it’s not a psychological illness.

In May 2009, Professor Anne C. Steinemann and Amy L. Davis of the University of Washington published a compilation of research on MCS with more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles that support a physiological basis for MCS.

After that compilation, 2 important studies have been published:

In October 2009, the Journal of the Neurological Sciences published the study “Brain dysfunction in multiple chemical sensitivity” done by the Department Of Pulmonology of the Hospital Vall Hebron of Barcelona (Spain).

And at the end of April 2010 has been published the study “Biological definition of multiple chemical sensitivity from redox state and cytokine profiling and not from polymorphisms of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes” done by the IDI Institute of Rome (Italy) at the Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology – Elsevier.

Also last year, General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition, published a chapter on MCS done by Researcher Martin Pall, PhD entitled “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological Questions and Mechanisms.”

~~~

A tribute to Alfred Hitchcock: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in the Rear Window

Posted by Contributor

Mar 112011

This is my contribution about the cinema published in the magazine Delirio. The script about toxics and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is entitled Rear Window and it’s a tribute to the great filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

Rear Window by Eva Caballé.

Now out is number 8 of the digital culture magazine Delirio, which is dedicated to The Movies. I had the pleasure to collaborate again in this wonderful magazine and the article I wrote for this edition is titled “Rear Window,” which focuses on the toxic and multiple chemical sensitivity and as usual it is accompanied by a photo taken by David. You can find it on pages 38 and 39 of Delirio – Movies. I recommend you do not miss this issue of Delirio because it is quite impressive.

I want to congratulate everyone who made this new issue of Delirio and especially to thank Aida G. Corrales and Oscar Varona for their solidarity and for being with us despite the distance.

Translated from Spanish to English:

~~~

Rear window

By Eva Caballé

The room is almost empty; nothing but a bed and an old bedside table without any decor or curtain, all in light colors. It seems calm and quiet. The woman sits on the edge of the bed in front of the window, looking at the sunlight, which is orange because of the sunset. She has a quick look out the window and then observes more carefully stretching her neck as if she is looking for something. She turns and talks to the young woman who has just entered the room with an ironic and concerned smile.

- Woman: Don’t you see how everybody is disappearing? It is no coincidence! They started to spray the park, day after day, while children were playing and parents and grandparents sat in the sun and chatting while watching them.

The young woman puts her hand to her waist with a tired look and responds, gesturing with her other hand, while she snorts implying that she is tired of talking always about the same thing.

- Young woman: You only see conspiracies, for you all is very simple. How can you be so sure if you hardly leave home? When you live through your window! Instead of spending hours writing pamphlets that I’m sure that nobody reads, and taking pictures, shouldn’t you focus on your next book?

The woman’s expression becomes serious and she turns angry replying with some indignation.

- Woman: But it’s obvious! It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes! The dog of the first floor neighbors died a few days after the first fumigation. They say that he was intoxicated by something that he ate… A few days ago an ambulance took the old woman who lives upstairs in the middle of the night and she is still hospitalized, when in the 40 years I have lived here I had never seen her having a cold! And what about the children’s of the fourth floor? (She takes a break to breathe because she speaks so fast that she is even short of breath.) Every day I see them with the bronchodilator and every other minute in the ER! Their neighbor has cancer and since she’s having chemotherapy she can no longer tolerate perfumes and now she has to wear a mask when she walks along the street. (Now almost shouting.) They say that she has Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and doctors don’t pay attention to her!

The woman makes faces parodying the young woman’s lecture that she already expects and knows by heart.

- Young woman: You are a bit alarmist! There are only a few people who suffer MCS, there is no need to worry. And today almost everyone has allergies or asthma and authorities warn us that one of each four people will have cancer throughout our lives. (Goes back and speaks from the doorway leaning on the door frame.) This is the modern life. We have to die of something!

The woman turns and answers indignant from the bed.

- Woman: And does it seem normal to you? Really? And when this affects you, will you still think the same?

The young woman finally leaves the room and her voice is heard from the hallway with a tone between weary and sarcastic.

- Young woman: Well, see you next week. Do not keep on spying on your neighbors because you will end up crazy. You should amuse yourself and don’t fantasize anymore.

The woman answers raising her voice while the young woman closes the front door and leaves the house.

- Woman: Don’t worry, my attitude has no solution. (And finishes angry talking to herself.) And neither does your stupidity.

The woman is still staring out the window with indignation and with a worried face and thinks aloud.

- Woman: Does anyone realize? I see everything so clearly that it scares me. Makes me want to open the window and shout it from the rooftops, but will anyone hear me? Why don’t they listen even when you alert them? (With a sarcastic tone.) Having no time and the fast pace of life sound like cheap excuses to me. (She stands up and gets closer to the window.) It’s simple. We’ve become worse than donkeys, because it is not even necessary that they put blinders on us to not look beyond the established road. We no longer have the instinct to do it! We are afraid of what we might see lest we have to react. (The sun has set and she begins to close the blind.) It must be that I have no fear of looking or I have nothing to lose. It must be that my window is different…

Rear Window by Eva Caballé as it appears in Delirio.

~~~

Eva Caballé is the author of the book Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la sensibilidad química múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) published by El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, Spain, 2009. She blogs at NO FUN. Read more about Eva’s book in an interview, link here. And read more about Eva’s previous essays in Delirio, link here.

The above post was originally published at NO FUN.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Uncovered

Posted by Contributor

Feb 242011

We are a lot of people living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and nobody will silence us!

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

Last year, Lola Vicente, a Spanish woman with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, shared an inspiring photo of herself on Facebook. When I saw her picture I had the idea to make a collage with pictures of people from around the world with MCS. I thought it would be a great visual to show the general public, most of whom do not know anything about MCS; we are a lot of people living with this illness and nobody will silence us.

I have named the project “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Uncovered.”

THANKS TO:

Àngels – España

Bodil – Denmark

Carol – Canada

Consuelo – España

Cristo – España

Div – New Zealand

Donatella – Italy

Ellen – Germany / USA (R.I.P.)

Ernesto – España

Eva – España

Gènia – España

Inma – España

Isa – España

Jacqueline – Alaska (USA)

japan92254 – Tennessee (USA)

Josetxo – Euskalherria

Judith- España

Loli – España

Mª Carmen – España

Mari Valmegat – España

Maria – España

María – España

Maria – Germany

Maria & Loli – España

Marilyn – España

Mona – Germany

Monique – Netherlands

Noemi – España

Paqui – España

Raquel – España

Rosa – España

Ryozo – Japan

Silvia – Germany

Silvia – Germany / España

SteelCity Canary – Canada

Susana – España

Susie – Hawaii (USA)

Winnie – Denmark

NOTE: The collage can be posted in any blog or website that wants to post it.

~~~

Eva

The above post was originally published at NO FUN.

Honorary title from Spanish Association of Naturopathy

Posted by Contributor

Jan 232011

Once in a while something happens that makes me realize that what I do has a real impact on the outside world and also reaches people beyond our MCS community.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

The diploma awarded me for honorary title from the Spanish Professional Association of Naturopathy.

Eva Caballé

Because of my Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I’ve been forced to live in isolation. My contact with the outside world has become exclusively virtual and time goes by in a different way.

Five years sick, three years since I was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, two-and-a-half years since my blog No Fun was born, one-and-a-half year as a contributor at the art magazine Delirio, slightly over one year since my book Desaparecida (Missing) was released, and almost one year as a regular contributor at The Canary Report and as an sporadic contributor at the blog of the German MCS Association CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network.

At present, No Fun has more than 400 subscribers, it has at least 600 visits a day (these days thanks to the MCS Report on TV the visits have been triplicate), it has more than 280 posts and it has almost 2.500 comments that give an inestimable value to the blog. My book Desaparecida (Missing) is sold in six Spanish-speaking countries and you can find it in 17 Spanish Public and University libraries.

But paradoxically, all this seems unreal to me; a little more than numbers or statistics. Only once in a while something happens that makes me realize that what I do has a real impact on the outside world and also reaches people beyond the circle of MCS.

A few months ago Marcos Ve’lez, the president of APENB (the Spanish Professional Association of Naturopathy) contacted me, and his words surprised and touched me deeply. They had been following my work for a long time, had also read my book, and wanted to give me their support because as Natural Health professionals they also defend justice in health care with less pharmaceuticals interests and a higher value for people who have lost their health.

He informed me that the Board of APENB had unanimously agreed on several points, including the following:

They give me an Honorary Title for “my work, courage, and dedication to face Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.” The award of the diploma (in the picture) was a public event last December, but as you can imagine I wasn’t able to go to the presentation.
They open a section entitled Desaparecida at the Association’s website section “CAUSES.”
The Association promotes all my work and initiatives and they have a section for my MCS articles.
This is the first one: La condena de la Sensibilidad Química Múltiple
They link the blog No Fun in the section called “FRIENDS” on their website.
They include Desaparecida in the section of “RECOMMENDED BOOKS” on their website.

Obviously all this recognition is an honor to me and I appreciate very much the support of the Natural Health professionals, especially because we all are in the same struggle. To make MCS visible is very positive for two reasons: 1) to win MCS awareness and to spread the message that is implicit in MCS and 2) to change the direction of our world because it’s already too late, so it is necessary to say clearly and as loud as we can that our modern lifestyle is an act of suicide that we are already paying and that we will pay for generations to come.

Thanks APENB, and thanks to Marcos for helping us spread this message.

~~~

The above post was originally published at NO FUN.

New trailer for upcoming film about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is shown at MCS conference in Spain

Posted by Contributor

Nov 102010

The new trailer for the first short film ever made in Spain about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity makes a big impression at Multiple Chemical Sensitivity conference.

los pÃ¡jaros de la mina – videoclip – OVERLOOK from Victor Moreno Garcia on Vimeo.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

Eva Caballé

Two weeks ago I introduced you to the first trailer for the upcoming short film Los Pájaros de la Mina (The Birds of the Mine), the first film made in Spain about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Today I want to share with you the new and powerful trailer for the film. This new trailer (above) had its debut last week at a Multiple Chemical Sensitivity conference organized by the MCS group ASQUIFYDE, which was held at the University of Alicante, Spain. During the three days of the conference, a lot of doctors, lawyers and other specialists talked about MCS, toxics, the situation in Spain, etc. It was really great and we could follow the presentations and discussions on the Internet.

Also presented at the conference was an Environmental Control Guide (my blog NO FUN is part of it) together with my video “MCS: The importance of reducing the toxic load,” which, according to Francisca Gutierrez, president of ASQUIFYDE, made a big impression on the conference attendees (medical students, press and other people related with environmental health).

For the closure of the conference, the new trailer was shown. The scriptwriter and lead actress in the film, Mariam Felipe, was there to explain the project and about how the idea for the film was sparked because of my interview on Carne Cruda (Raw Meat) one year ago. And then they showed this amazing new trailer.

The premiere of the film will be December 10th at the Teatro Principal de Pontevedra.

According to the filmmaker, Victor Moreno, they will make a version with English subtitles, and, thanks to Silvia K. Müller at CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, another version with German subtitles will be made, too.

I’m sure this film will win a lot of awards!

~~~

Eva Caballé is the author of the recently published book in Spanish Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la sensibilidad química múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) published by El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, Spain, 2009. She blogs at NO FUN. Read more about Eva’s book in an interview, link here. And read more about Eva’s previous essays in Delirio, link here. This post on the new trailer was originally published at NO FUN.

Los Pájaros de la Mina (Birds in a Mine), first short film about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in Spain

Posted by Contributor

Oct 242010

In March, they started filming Los Pájaros de la Mina (Birds in a Mine), the first short film about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in Spain. Now we can finally introduce the trailer and announce that the premiere will be this December.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

Film poster with woman wearing respirator.

Eva Caballé

In November 2009, I was interviewed on Carne Cruda, a Spanish radio program, to talk about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), and one of the listeners of the program, the videographer Víctor Moreno, was so impressed that he quickly contacted me to say that he wanted to make a short film about MCS to help us spread awareness about this terrible disease. He asked my opinion and if I wanted to collaborate with them. Obviously I told him that they could count on me for what they want.

In March, they started filming “Los pájaros de la mina“ (Birds in a mine), the first short film about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in Spain, and now we can finally introduce the trailer and announce that the premiere will be this December. When this project began, I had the honor of reading the script, because they wanted my opinion, and later I saw some sequences of the film and I can assure you that it is very, very impressive and stunning, as you can deduce from the trailer.

~~~

Without a mask

Posted by Contributor

Sep 302010

And in the ignorance that surrounds us, the seven capital sins are more relevant than ever, in these times when there seems to be a theory for just about everything. In these times of the decaying Welfare State.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

This is my contribution about the seven deadly sins published in the magazine Delirio. This article about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is translated into English by Clara Valverde. I hope that it can be published soon at Delirio as an English annex, but I am posting this original photo and text here at The Canary Report so you don’t have to wait. ~Eva

Photo of the magazine page in Delirio of Eva's article. Includes a photo of Eva, black hair, with her hands covering her mouth area.

Sin Máscara (Without a Mask) as originally published at Delirio online magazine. Click on photo to view full size.

Without a Mask

Photo of Eva, black hair, leaning on her arm.

And in this decaying world, the worst is to be spineless and to have no personality. It is a world full of people who complain and who live grey and empty existences. People who do not have the courage to resist, to have their own thoughts and get dragged by the crowd. It is hard to live in this herd if you are not like them, if you know what you think, if you are not scared to say what you think, and if you do not care about not being accepted by others. Then you don’t fit in, you are different, you are radical.

But an ill person cannot be like that. You have to be well-behaved, let yourself be brain-washed and follow the established road wearing a mask without thinking. If you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, an illness that is not recognized, you fight to survive. But don’t make too much noise and just follow others. Don’t think, don’t do. You are sick. Behave as such. You have to be obedient and ask for permission so that you will not be thrown out of the herd, a herd for which others kill themselves to be a part.

With the senses numbed, SEX becomes another frustration in an empty life in which to drag yourself day after day without stopping to think.

It is a life with the frustration that becomes an unsatisfied HUNGER. Eat until you burst. That anxiety which impedes one from reacting and keeps one squashed under a mountain of human feed. The perverted pleasure in an overfed society.

An emptiness that invades us and a growing hate which turns into anger against all that does not suit us under childish and ridiculous excuses. INTOLERANCE becomes violence against those who are not like us, perhaps because those who think scare us.

Without being conscious of our lives, the days go by while we look at our pockets to see if we are better than others. We COMPETE in a silly race to show our success. We pretend we are happy. Inside, we are empty.

Life is a parenthesis of fear and of superficial comfort waiting for things to change WITHOUT MAKING AN EFFORT, sucked in by a system that wants us not to think.

We are dragged by laziness. We hate those who we think are better than us. They remind us of our not wanting to make an effort. We waste our lives wishing that they would stumble while we CRITICIZE their successes and, without knowing it, we wish they were as mediocre as us.

A cheap plastic beauty poisons us, one that makes us feel better for a moment in which we think we are better than others. A toxic beauty for which we don’t care about the price we pay in a world where real health is not valued. Enormous fake PRIDE, the arrogance caused by ignorance. Who wants to be healthy if one can seem beautiful even if being stupid? Who does not want to seem better than others?

Does anyone dare to live without a mask?

~~~