The Canary Report

Video: MCS Can Be Lonely

Posted on Sep 01, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

A bit of whimsy exploring the very sad fact that so many people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity live an isolated life away from family and friends.

Exposures to perfumes, colognes and other chemical fragrances can cause people living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities debilitating migraines, pain, vertigo, memory loss, permanent brain damage and worsening of condition with each reaction. Synthetic fragrances often create a barrier between those with MCS and their loved ones, causing them to feel isolated alone.

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Tags: MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Video

Scent marketers are manipulating our least-understood sense: smell

Posted on Aug 28, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, MCS, Media/Videos

The fragrance industry is subjecting people, often without their knowledge, to chemical fragrances that affect emotions and behaviors.

By guestblogger Marti Wolfe.

Scent marketing delivery machine.

Utne Reader‘s current issue (September-October) reports on a distressing trend about which people with MCS and their advocates should be aware. In “The Sweet Smell of Sales,” Utne reports of articles appearing in Business Week, Good’s and Neuromarketing about “ambient scenting,” the new but growing practice of attempting to “elicit unconscious behavior or emotion” by “pumping a carefully chosen smell into a [commercial] space.”

MCSers have enough challenge with the smells of personal care products without having to deal with deliberately “piped in” synthetic organic compounds in public spaces.

Good’s journalist Siobahn O’Connor acknowledges the potential threat on the magazine blog: “The fragrance industry is secretive and trades largely in toxic chemicals that are known allergens and likely hormone disruptors,” she writes on the magazine’s blog (June 21, 2010). And “subjecting people (often without their knowledge) to fragrances that affect their emotions and behaviors strikes me as a slippery slope.”

I agree. If this is an invasive practice for the general public, it is even more so for the chemically sensitive, allergic, or respiratory-challenged cohorts of the population. Regulators and legislators should hear our dismay.

Cheers,
Marti

Marti Wolfe, PhD, is an environmental toxicologist whose research interests include the effects of methymercury on animals exposed via the aquatic food chain, and also the interaction of methylmercury and selenium when animals are exposed to these contaminants together. She’s worked on developing a non-lethal biomarker using molecular biology techniques to help identify birds that have been exposed to petroleum in their habitat. This biomarker also evaluates birds that have been treated following oil spills.

Link.

Photo credit.

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Tags: Fragrance, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Products

Yellow Bird

Posted on Aug 27, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

“Yellow bird in the mine, I gave you my word you’d be fine.”

A sad but hopeful music video that speaks volumes to us canaries. It’s a very lucky canary who has someone in their life to pick them up out of the mine, wash them off, and fill their heart with love. xoxo

Music video animation by Kristine Thune, to the song “Yellow Bird” by Bess Rogers from her album, Travel Back EP.

Thanks, Julia!

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Tags: Art, Video

TEDTalk: Marine toxicologist Susan Shaw on the oil spill’s toxic trade-off

Posted on Aug 26, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Marine toxicologist Susan Shaw does a TEDTalk about the consequences of using oil dispersants during the BP oil well blow out.

Of special interest to Canary Report readers is Shaw’s point about the overarching problem of lax chemical regulation in the US.

Click here to learn more about TedTalks, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

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Tags: Chemicals, Pollution, Toxic, Video

BP blowout cleanup workers are getting sick

Posted on Jul 09, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

BP blowout cleanup workers are getting sick; Exxon Valdez survivor warns of long term health effects, and an activist chemist currently on site in the Gulf reports on current illnesses in BP cleanup crew.

Click on the video, it will automatically start at the beginning of the section on BP.

As the BP oil spill enters its 78th day, cleanup crews across the Gulf Coast are working to try and remove what they can of the expanding oil slick. And many of them are getting sick doing it. A growing number of cleanup workers have reported suffering flu-like symptoms including headaches, dizziness, fatigue, nausea and problems with memory and concentration. We speak with a Louisiana chemist who testified before Congress to call for greater worker protections and a former general foreman of the cleanup crews of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Interviewed:

Merle Savage, general foreman of the cleanup crews of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

Wilma Subra, chemist and president of Subra Company. She provides technical assistance to community groups on environmental issues and to the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

Click here for rush transcript.

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Tags: Air, Chemicals, Environment, Environmental Illness, Pollution, Toxic, Video

Gulf Coast: Grab your respirators!

Posted on Jul 04, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

3M #4279 Organic Vapour/Inorganic and Acid Gas/Ammonia/Particulate Respirator

RT America reports on health problems in the Gulf caused by chemical fumes from crude oil and dispersant originating from BP oil well blowout. Don’t miss reference to the Exxon Valdez spill and the analogy to 9/11.

6/30–What can go wrong will go wrong. Such is the case for the Gulf Coast and the unending saga of the BP oil spill that’s now in its eleventh week. What’s wrong now is this: winds from Hurricane Alex are pushing tar balls as large as apples onto Gulf Coast beaches. This has stopped cleanup efforts momentarily and even undone some of the spill control. As one marine scientist put it: “We lost all the progress we made.” But the winds picking up are a giant concern for something else.

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Tags: Air, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Illness, Pollution, Products, Toxic, Video

This weekend, let’s all send a message to Oprah about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Jul 03, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

A message from Monique van den Broek, Netherlands: Let’s ALL tell Oprah about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity on July 3 and 4!

Oprah

Dear friends,

TO ALL THE MCS PATIENTS IN THE WORLD!!

I am going to ask you just ONE thing.

It´s time to let the world know how many people have health problems from chemicals.

If there´s any media that goes worldwide, it´s THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW. This lady shows respect for nature, environment and health.

-Go to this link om the internet ON THE 3TH OR THE 4TH OF JULY: https://www.oprah.com/ownshow/plug_form.html?plug_id=220

1.Write your name AND COUNTRY
2.Write down how long you’ve suffered from MCS
3.And what it means to you in your daily life
4.How you got this disease
5.If you want to be a contact person for this item, write your (skype) phonenumber in the mail
6.IT´S IMPORTANT WE SEND THIS STORY TO OPRAH ALL ON THE SAME DAY!!! IF WE ALL SEND OUR MESSAGES ON THE 3th or 4TH OF JULY, WE GET THE ATTENTION WE NEED.
7.DON´T THINK YOU´RE DOING IT FOR NOTHING, IF WE DON´T TRY WE NEVER ACCOMPLISH

PLEASE SEND THIS MESSAGE TO ALL THE MCS PEOPLE YOU KNOW. LETS TRY TO MAKE A BOMBARDMENT OF THOUSANDS EMAILS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW ON THE 3TH AND 4TH OF JULY.

Today is the day! Worldwide, thousands of MCS people will send their email to Oprah!

MAYBE HER WEBSITE WILL GO DOWN BECAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE WILL EMAIL HER, BUT KEEP TRYING!!! IF IT DOESN’T WORK TODAY, TRY TOMORROW OR ELSE THE DAYS AFTER.

Remember you can only use max 2000 characters.

You are all my heroes. From now on the world will know what chemicals do to human beings.

IF YOU GET AN ANSWER FROM OPRAH, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

Regards,
Monique van den Broek
Suffering from MCS
Naarden, the Netherlands.

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Tags: MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Posted on Jun 07, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Some info and links of interest about MCS.

My online friend, Jeanne, who runs the blog Chronic Healing and has about 17 diagnosed illnesses in addition to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, made the above video documenting her exposure to second hand cigarette smoke she experienced during a special dinner out.

MCS America published a summary of the “Highlights from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Awareness Month” in MCS America’s June newsletter.

I love this new blog by a member of our Canary Report community: julia (rise and shine).

Rosie Callaghan, also a member of of our Canary Report community, created a new online social network called MCS New Zealand: Share knowledge and chat. Please share with our Kiwi friends.

Canary Report member “Lou Cheese” shows off his new mask. Lou’s blog, Living w/ Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, is a favorite of mine.

MaryFrances Platt writes about The New Refugees.

I found myself chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity on June 1 in an online radio interview on KZYX&Z FM based in Medicino, California. I was interviewed by Greg Krouse on his show Toxic Trespass; Greg was a great host, sympathetic to our plight with MCS and I was really pleased with how the interview went. The hour concluded with several calls from listeners, which included a great comment from my online friend Susan Brinchman, who runs the Center for Toxic Mold Help, and another call from a woman living out of her car that made me want to cry. The interview was recorded, and as soon as it’s sent to me, I’ll post.

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Tags: MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

CNN investigative report Toxic America with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to rebroadcast tonight and tomorrow

Posted on Jun 05, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Media/Videos, Products, Susie Collins

The two-part CNN investigation “Toxic America” with Dr. Sanjay Gupta will rebroadcast tonight and tomorrow night, Sat & Sun, June 5 & 6, at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Check listings in your area to confirm times. Don’t miss it!

I was hesitant to recommend the CNN special Toxic America with Dr. Sanjay Gupta until I saw the first airing. It’s pretty good actually, although if you look at it through the lens of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity you may feel that it falls short in many areas. Still, it’s heartening to see this topic and type of investigative reporting on mainstream media. Dr. Gupta does a good job of presenting the problems of toxic chemicals in our environment and our homes, and he shows genuine concern, repeating over and over the fact that out of the 80,000 chemicals put into consumer goods, only 200 have been tested for safety.

Click here for dates and times of ONLINE replays June 7, 8, & 9.

Also, for those of you so inclined, CNN is inviting you to “Share Your Story” through video or photos:

Put yourself on video and document conditions in your area, or take photos of what’s around you. Tell us what industrial or chemical pollution may be contributing to health problems for you and those you love, and be sure not to put yourself in a dangerous situation.

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Tags: Air, Asthma, Children's Health, Environment, EPA, Home, Indoor Pollution, Policy, Products, Research, Sick Building, Toxic, Video

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity again featured on popular TV show in Spain

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Eva Caballé, MCS, Media/Videos

Here’s another Multiple Chemical Sensitivity report done by Telecinco, one of the most important national TV channels in Spain. This report includes English subtitles.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

A few days ago, I shared with you the video of a report about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity featured on Telecinco, one of the most important national TV channels in Spain. The report aired during the news. It was in Spanish and some of you asked me if there would be an English version.

Last weekend, a longer version of this report was aired and will be repeated every day until next Sunday. I decided to add subtitles in English to this longer version because it’s even better than the first one. During the video, you can see Dr. Ramón Orriols explaining his study “Brain dysfunction in Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.”

I want to share with all of you the video in Spanish with English subtitles. And I want to thank Susie Collins for her corrections. I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Eva

Here’s the transcript:

MCS TV REPORT

Telecinco: If we do a blood test, we realize that more than 200 chemical substances are present in our body. It’s impossible to live without toxics in a city. There are chemical substances in our shampoos, cosmetics, perfumes, air fresheners and in the cleaning products that hospitals, public transport and malls use. There are chemicals everywhere threatening the health of people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Here lives a 37-year-old woman who has lived isolated for three years because of her MCS. If she smells a perfume, she suffocates. Living isolated without having contact with anybody is the only choice she has in order to survive. The world is toxic for her.

Eva Caballé: Hello, my name is Eva Caballé. I’m an economist from Barcelona and I’ve lived with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity for four years. My husband, David, is my contact with the outside world.

Telecinco: David has recorded the images because nobody can come into their house because it would be too dangerous for her.

David Palma: This is our main door and it’s sealed to avoid odors. We have several air purifiers in strategic places. For example, this one at the main door and this other that controls the door of Eva’s room.

Eva Caballé: When I’m exposed to any chemical product, my first symptom is that I can’t breathe. After the dyspnea, I have tachycardia, my skin burns and I have extreme fatigue and my legs become paralyzed.

Telecinco: They have already spent 30.000€ to adapt their house to MCS. She has lived with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity for four years and she will suffer it the rest of her life.

David Palma: The furniture is made of stainless steel. We had to throw out our wood furniture because they emitted toxic VOCs (volatile organic compounds).

Telecinco: David has to take a bath when he comes home and he follows the same daily routine for Eva in order not to poison her.

David Palma: This is a water filter. We use these ecological and perfume free products. Our toothbrush is made of natural bristles instead of nylon bristles. Our shower head has a carbon cartridge inside to filter the water. We use these salts to clean our teeth. We had to block the air vent to avoid the chemicals that our neighbors use (shampoos, deodorants, laundry detergent, etc.).

Eva Caballé: I developed MCS because of an air freshener that they started to use in the office where I used to work. One day, when I came into the office, I suffocated. In that moment this nightmare started.

Telecinco: Not only chemicals are a problem for her. She’s also sensitive to sounds, changes of pressure, vibrations and lights.

David Palma: This is the cable of our router. We don’t have WiFi to avoid electromagnetic radiation.

Dr. Ramón Orriols: All their senses are ultrasensitive. MCS sufferers have such an exaggerated response that makes all unbearable for them.

Telecinco: They have converted their home into a bunker to survive. Eva can’t even go to hospital in an emergency or take an ambulance.

David Palma: Doctors can’t make house calls because MCS is not recognized in Spain. There are no hospital protocols for this illness. If she takes an ambulance, she will be exposed to disinfectants and cleaners, perfumes used by other patients or medical staff. All these chemical products could possibly cause a medical crisis and she could even loose her life.

Telecinco: David seals the kitchen door every time he cooks. Eva doesn’t tolerate preservatives and artificial colourings. She can only eat five different foods.

David Palma: Lettuce, carrots, veal, egg and corn. We buy organic corn and we make our own flour. We are waiting until her health improves to reintroduce lentils, which she can no longer tolerate because of food poisoning that she suffered a few months ago.

Telecinco: But most frustrating for them is that MCS is not recognized as an illness. Eva Caballé spent two years and one month to find the right diagnosis after she visited more than 22 doctors who labeled her as delicate.

David Palma: I think that MCS is not recognized because of economic interests. The chemical and pharmaceutical industries don’t want it known that normal everyday chemicals, like shaving foam or nappies, are toxic. They are afraid to have people realize that normal everyday chemicals cause diseases.

Dr. Ramón Orriols: The real truth is that MCS exists. The MCS sufferers exist and we must give them a solution.

Telecinco: Dr. Orriols is a pneumologist who has studied the brain of MCS patients and his study has proved that MCS is a real illness.

Dr. Ramón Orriols: The important thing is that this illuminated part disappears right here. This doesn’t happen with healthy people. MCS suffers have an alteration just in this center which controls the olfactory stimulus.

David Palma: And here is where Eva lives.

Telecinco: Eva is totally disabled because of MCS, CFS, Fibromyalgia and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Her body is broken but her mind is very active. She authors a blog where she spreads information about MCS and she has written a book that she can’t even read.

Eva Caballé: I can’t touch my book because the paper and the ink are toxic for me and they would cause me a crisis. This is the reason why my book is wrapped.

David Palma: She worked, she went daily to the gym, and we used to spend the weekends going to rock concerts and we also had a rock band. We had an active and full life.

Telecinco: Do you feel lonely any time?

David Palma: No, because I’m with her.

Telecinco: They will keep on fighting together until MCS is recognized as an illness.

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Tags: Chemicals, Environment, Fragrance, Home, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Products, Toxic, Video

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: The importance of reducing the toxic load

Posted on May 07, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Eva Caballé, MCS, Media/Videos

I didn’t know that air fresheners and laundry softeners have carcinogenic ingredients. The manufacturers hide all this information because they want us to be unsuspecting consumers who buy products without questioning the ingredients. But there are natural and healthier choices, and in most of the cases they aren’t more expensive.

By contributor Eva Caballé, Spain.

(Editor’s Note: Please help me welcome Eva Caballé as a regular contributor at The Canary Report! Eva’s story about her life with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity has been featured on TCR many times since last summer, and she started guestblogging here in February. I asked her to come join us as a regular contributor, and to my delight she’s said yes! She’ll blog here at The Canary Report on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, disability rights, social justice, the state of MCS recognition in Spain, and give you tips about living a nontoxic life. You can read her full bio here. Eva makes her contributor’s debut with a video on the importance of reducing the toxic load in your life. The video was first aired at a conference in Spain on healthy cosmetics. Welcome, Eva! Aloha, Susie)

Eva Caballé

Hello, my name is Eva Caballé. I’m an economist from Barcelona, Spain, and I’ve lived with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity for four years, although I was diagnosed only two years ago. I write NO FUN, a Spanish blog about MCS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, with information and advice for people who are sick or who want to live a healthier life free of toxics. My blog includes an English section. And I have written a book Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la Sensibilidad Química Múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) that was published in Spanish last year by the publisher El Viejo Topo .

First of all, I want to thank Silvia Ferrer for inviting me to this conference about healthy cosmetic to talk about MCS, although I have had to record my conference in this video, because my illness doesn’t allow me to leave my house.

Maybe some of you haven’t heard about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. MCS is an acquired chronic illness which manifests with multisystemic symptoms as a reaction to very small exposures to toxic chemical products, meaning normal everyday chemicals but unnecessary ones like perfumes, air fresheners and laundry softeners.

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. Unfortunately, I have the highest severity and because of MCS I have developed other illnesses that make me live completely isolated, without leaving my house, and right now, not even leaving my bed.

The symptoms are chronic and they can become acute when we are exposed to chemical products. Symptoms are different depending on the sufferer, and in my case include dyspnea, tachycardia, dizziness and extreme fatigue. This is the reason why we must avoid contact with any chemical product.

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, which is my case.

Over the years, our body accumulates chemical substances which circulate in our environment without any controls, in the food we eat, in the water we drink, in the air we breathe, in our beauty products, etc., until the toxic load is unbearable and we end up getting sick, which according to our genetic make-up, it could end up being MCS or other environmental illness like cancer, asthma, and allergies.

If you start noticing unbearable chemicals which you did not notice before or you stop tolerating alcohol or some food, you may be developing MCS. If a perfume gives you headache, if some chemicals give you dizziness or nausea, you may be part of the 12% of people who have chemical sensitivities in a mild degree.

Since my MCS started, before I got the right diagnosis, I had to make changes at home, because the laundry detergent, the toothpaste or for example the shower gel suffocated me. My body guided me to eliminate all the products that were intoxicating me. In spite of not knowing the name of my illness, I started to look for alternatives to substitute for all these toxic products. Two years later, when I knew that I had MCS and that I had to avoid all the chemical products, I realized that my body had led me on the right track.

Then I created the blog NO FUN, first of all to spread a video about MCS that I recorded at home for a TV program, and after that I started to share all that I had learned with other people who were sick and anyone who wanted to live a healthier life free of toxics.

I also have allergies since I was a child, but nobody warned me that I was in a risk group to develop MCS. If I was aware of this, I would have changed my habits and I would have used the products that I use now. I also didn’t know that most deodorants are toxic and there are a lot of studies that link some ingredients with breast cancer.

I didn’t know either that air fresheners and laundry softeners have carcinogenic ingredients. The manufacturers hide all this information because they want us to be unsuspecting consumers who buy products without questioning the ingredients. But there are natural and healthier choices, and in most of the cases they aren’t more expensive.

Each day, there are more children with allergies, asthma, with celiac disease, dermatitis, even cancer. MCS is growing rapidly and also affects younger people, even children. This horrifies me and I am ashamed to live in a world where economic interests are put before health, where they let us get sick and then they abandon us with no help.

I decided to write a book with my history in part to denounce all of this, because I don’t want anybody else get sick when this can be avoided. While the health authorities do nothing, everyone has the option to change their way of life, to stop using these toxic products and to start using ecological products, which are respectful to our bodies and the environment.

I only wish that my experience is useful in preventing others from getting ill.

~~~

Eva Caballé blogs at NO FUN.

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Tags: Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, Fragrance, Healthy Living, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Video