The Canary Report

MCS researcher Martin Pall published at The Townsend

Posted on Feb 25, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research, Susie Collins

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity researcher Martin L. Pall’s paper, “How Can We Cure NO/ONOO− Cycle Diseases? Approaches to Curing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Gulf War Syndrome and Possibly Many Others,” is published in the February/March 2010 issue of The Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine. Pall is Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Science at Washington State University.

The entire essay is published at the Townsend, here’s an excerpt:

Feb/March 2010 cover of The Townsend Letter

The NO/ONOO− cycle is a biochemical vicious cycle that is thought to cause such diseases as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), fibromyalgia (FM), and possibly a large number of other chronic inflammatory diseases. The chemistry/biochemistry of the cycle predicts that the primary mechanism is local such the depending on where it is localized in the body, it may cause a variety of different diseases.

Previous studies have shown that agents that lower such cycle elements as oxidative stress, nitric oxide, inflammatory responses, mitochondrial dysfunction, tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) depletion and NMDA activity produce clinical improvements in CFS/ME and FM patients, consistent with the predictions of the cycle mechanism. Multiagent protocols lowering several aspects of the cycle appear to be the most promising approaches to therapy. These include an entirely over-the-counter nutritional support protocol developed by the author in conjunction with the Allergy Research Group.

However, such mulitagent protocols to date have not produced any substantial numbers of cures of these presumed NO/ONOO− cycle disease. Why is that? This paper argues that what is called the central couplet of the cycle, the reciprocal relation between peroxynitrite elevation and BH4 depletion, is not being adequately downregulated by these multiagent protocols. Ten agents/classes of agents are available, each of which downregulates one or the other end of this central couplet. It is suggested, then, that treatments that simultaneously effectively downregulate both ends to the central couplet, when used along with multiagent protocols lowering other aspects of the cycle and avoidance of stressors that otherwise upregulate the cycle, will lead to substantial numbers of cures of these chronic diseases.

Martin L. Pall, PhD

It’s very exciting to see Pall published at The Townsend. I think he’s on the leading edge of MCS research, and I urge you to learn more about his findings.

A major paper on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity by Pall (at left) was published last year as chapter XX in a prestigious reference work for professional toxicologists,  General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition (2009, John Wiley & Sons). Pall’s paper, entitled “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological Questions and Mechanisms,” establishes five important facts about MCS: 1) MCS is common; 2) MCS is caused by toxic chemical exposure; 3) the role of chemicals acting as toxicants in MCS has been confirmed by genetic studies; 4) there is a detailed and generally well supported mechanism for MCS, the NO/ONOO- cycle; and 5) MCS is a physiological disease initiated by toxic chemical exposure that has been falsely claimed to be psychogenic.

Pall is located on Pacific time in the U.S. and can be contacted at: 503-232-3883 and at martin_pall@wsu.edu. His web site is: thetenthparadigm.org.

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Tags: MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research

MCS researcher Martin Pall to speak in five European countries

Posted on Feb 01, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research, Susie Collins

Martin Pall announces speaking tour in five European countries starting April 10.

Guest post by Martin L. Pall, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences, Washington State University and Research Director, the Tenth Paradigm Research Group.

I will be giving 11 talks in five countries in Europe, starting on the tenth of April, all on the NO/ONOO cycle. Nine of these are being scheduled to correspond with my trip to Europe, including several entire meetings. The talks are as follows:

I will start with an all day workshop in Berlin, to be presented by me and also Dr. Peter Ohnsorge. My presentation will be simultaneously translated into German. I will speak on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and on therapy and may discuss other topics that will be covered in my talk in London which follows.

In London, I will be presenting three 90 minute talks, for a total of 4 1/2 hours, all at the Royal Society of Medicine, one of the most prestigious locations in the world. The first talk will focus on the NO/ONOO-cycle mechanism and how it plays out in the etiology of CFS/ME and also fibromyalgia. The second talk will focus on how that same mechanism explains MCS and also the three classic neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS. The three neurodegenerative diseases were also discussed as apparent NO/ONOO-cycle diseases in my book, “Explaining ‘Unexplained Illnesses’”, but there is substantial new evidence that further buttresses the case. Specifically, there is compelling evidence, that the four specific features, the formation of amyloid beta protein (A-beta) aggregates in Alzheimer’s, the formation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein aggregates leading to neurofibrillary tangles (also Alzheimer’s), the formation of Lewy bodies (Parkinson’s) and the formation of neurofilament aggregates (ALS) are all formed under the influence of NO/ONOO-cycle elements of which peroxynitrite is the most important but several others have roles as well. What is interesting is that both A-beta aggregates and neurofilament aggregates act, in turn, to increased NO/ONOO-cycle elements, acting therefore as tissue-specific elements of the cycle. Recent studies of the A-beta aggregates have elucidated the mechanism by which this occurs.

The third talk at the Royal Society of Medicine will be entirely on therapy– how we can be down-regulate the NO/ONOO cycle.

I then fly on to Rome for a presentation on the morning of April 17, flying later that day to Catania, Sicily for a meeting on MCS. That meeting is again being scheduled to correspond to my European trip and is the first meeting ever to be held in Italy on MCS. I then return to Rome for an informal meeting with people at the National Institute of Health to discuss the mechanism of MCS. The situation in Italy is an amazing turn around compared with the situation when I visited there in November 2008. At that time, and I gave talks at the medical school in Brescia in Northern Italy and also in Rome, I was told that the situation regarding MCS in Italy was positively barbaric, with physicians being prosecuted and thrown in jail for treating their patients for MCS. Maybe, just maybe, I will have turned the situation around in that country within 1 1/2 years? We can only hope.

From Rome, I fly to Paris to talk at a meeting on MCS. That meeting is the first meeting ever to be held on MCS in France and was again scheduled to correspond to my European trip. It follows a talk that I gave at the Environmental Medicine meeting in Aix-en-Provence last April. The latter talk was the first talk ever given on MCS at the French Environmental Medicine meeting, a meeting that in the past, was largely dominated by environmental carcinogenesis. The situation in France has change dramatically in other ways. My web page paper on MCS has been translated into German and French and the response in both countries have been impressive. The French professional society of allergists has asked for and been given permission to post that French translation on their web site. Both French and German translations have been placed on several web sites.

After the Paris meeting, I go to Wurzburg for another meeting– an already scheduled one. I have been asked explicitly to give two talks– one on Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS as NO/ONOO-cycle diseases– this will follow much of the material I outlined above on this topic for the London meeting. I have also been asked to give a talk on therapy– how we can down-regulate the NO/ONOO cycle.

After the Wurzburg meeting, it’s on to Madrid for the last meeting of the trip. I am not completely sure what I will be speaking on at that meeting, but am leaning towards talking about excessive NMDA activity as a common “end point” of large numbers of environmental toxicants. This is, in some ways, the most important new understanding that came out of my recently published big MCS review– that large numbers of environmental toxicants all produce increases in NMDA activity and have been shown to have their toxic responses greatly lowered by NMDA antagonists. Previously, there have been two major toxicant end points– what has been called genotoxicity for many carcinogens– and a second, endocrine disruption. So this is a third, and it is almost certainly more important than endocrine disruption in terms of its implications for human health.

I had a wonderful trip to Europe in November 2008, ending up that six-country speaking tour as the only non-European invited to a special session of the Council of Nations (the EU Parliament) on environmental medicine, but this next one promises to be even better.

Martin L. (Marty) Pall
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Science at Washington State University
503-232-3883
martin_pall@wsu.edu
thetenthparadigm.org

~~~

02/04/10 Update: This announcement is now translated into Spanish. Thanks, Cathy!

~~~

Related posts:

Interview with Martin Pall

Research shows toxic chemicals initiate Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity now recognized as a toxicological phenomenon

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity researcher launches website

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Tags: MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research

Book ties toxic chemicals to rising healthcare costs

Posted on Jan 11, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Home & Garden, Linda Sepp, Media/Videos, Research

Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA: A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick, by Catherine J. Frompovich (2009, BookSurge Publishing)

Post by Linda Sepp.

I just ran across a reference to this.

From the Industrial revolution and onward, the world has become an environment that is overflowing with dangerous toxins. Mass manufacturing has resulted in thousands of chemical pollutants being released in the atmosphere, water, and soil. As well, there has been a widespread increase of chemicals being added to almost every type of food and retail product. With this overwhelming chemical exposure, there has been an increase in research and studies showing the life threatening impacts on our health and well being. In her book, Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, author Catherine J Frompovich delves into the effects of a chemical laden world on the body at a cellular level.

Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA is an important “wake up call’ about the current and future state of our toxic environment and what will happen if important changes are not made. Not only is it highly educational, the attention to detail makes the book a handy health resource tool. It is highly recommended to not just mass readers, but also to politicians, manufacturing industry officials, and health professionals.

Link to the author’s website.

Link to Amazon.com and good review.

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Tags: Books, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, Fragrance, Home, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pesticides, Toxic

Study shows effectiveness of researcher Martin Pall’s approach to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Jan 06, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research, Susie Collins

A new pilot study from The Institute for Functional Medicine Clinic in Falun, Sweden, demonstrates the effectiveness of Martin Pall’s approach to explaining the causes of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

The Allergy Research Group reports new research supports Martin Pall’s hypothesis about the cause of MCS.

The group’s newsletter dedicates three articles to the discussion:

• “New Research Confirms Martin Pall Hypothesis: Pilot Study With Free-Radical Reducing Supplements Improves Treatment-Resistant CFS,” an interview with Ingrid Franzon, N.M. M.S.c.
• “Evaluation of Quality of Life in Persons with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Before and After Administration of Food Supplements Designed to Reduce Free Radical Activity,” by Ingrid Franzon, MSc, Bo Jonsson M.D., Ph.D., and Peter Wilhelmsson, N.D.
• “NO/ONOO: A Brief Summary of the Work of Martin Pall, Ph.D.”

Pall has assembled an impressive body of data to demonstrate that elevated levels of nitric oxide (NO) and its highly damaging metabolite, peroxynitrite (ONOO-), are at the crux of a runaway cycle of free-radical damage in which inflammatory molecules are chronically elevated, damaging the immune and nervous systems. Peroxynitrite initiates a complex biochemical vicious cycle, known as the NO/ONOO- cycle, which is responsible for multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Gulf War syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. The basic concept here is actually quite simple. Stressors act mainly through peroxynitrite-derived free radicals to initiate the cycle and once the cycle is initiated it is the cause of continuing illness.

By correcting the high levels of NO and ONOO- with a range of natural antioxidants, a puzzling array of symptoms can be ameliorated and sometimes the illness itself can be completely reversed. (See Allergy Research Group® Newsletter Focus, July 2007.)

Pall suffered from severe chronic fatigue syndrom (CFS) and multiple chemical sensitivy (MCS) for 18 months, and cured himself, then set about dedicating his career to investigating the cause of these disabling conditions. Now his approach has started to garner widespread attention, with publication of an entire chapter by Pall in the upcoming General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd edition by (editors TK), published by John Wiley, Inc. In addition, a new pilot study from The Institute for Functional Medicine Clinic in Falun, Sweden demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach. Pall also has a forthcoming article on CFS in Current Opinion in Psychiatry.

As Pall points out, the acute stressor(s) that lead to CFS and MCS and the other mystery illnesses range from infections to toxic exposures to physical or mental trauma. But no matter what the initiating cause, the downstream effect is free radical damage mediated by raised levels of NO and ONOO-.

I believe Martin Pall is at the leading edge of MCS research, and I encourage you to explore his hypothesis as well as his supplement protocol. I think we will start to see more and more research supporting his approach.

As with all approaches to MCS, what applies to one person with MCS may not apply to another. Always approach MCS therapies and protocols keeping this in mind: MCS symptoms and remedies differ from patient to patient because the tissues impacted differ from one patient to another. Proceed with caution, preferably under an environmental physician’s care and guidance.

You can learn more about Pall’s research and protocol on his website The Tenth Paradigm.

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Tags: MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research

Our feathered friends know: Teflon cookware can be toxic

Posted on Dec 07, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Products, Research, Susie Collins

Dupont wants you to know that overheating their nonstick Teflon cookware could result in the death of your pet bird. The Environmental Working Group says the problems are triggered at much lower heat than Dupont claims, and that it’s not just the pet bird who is feeling the effects.

The wonderful folks at Dupont have a brochure warning bird owners to keep their feathered friends out of the kitchen. Why? Because non-stick Teflon surfaces, when overheated, emit toxic fumes.

If accidentally overheated, nonstick cookware can emit fumes that may be harmful to pet birds, as any type of cookware preheated with cooking oils, fats, margarine, and butter. This is why you should always move your birds out of the kitchen before cooking.

The Environmental Working Group thinks the warning about the dangers of nonstick cookware should be expanded to include people, too. The toxic chemical watchdog group reported in 2003 that EWG finds heated Teflon pans can turn toxic faster than DuPont claims.

In two to five minutes on a conventional stovetop, cookware coated with Teflon and other non-stick surfaces can exceed temperatures at which the coating breaks apart and emits toxic particles and gases linked to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pet bird deaths and an unknown number of human illnesses each year, according to tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

I stopped using Teflon cookware years ago, I hope you have, too. Stay safe out there!

Thanks, Linda!

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Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Home, Indoor Pollution, Research, Toxic

Published research shows Multiple Chemical Sensitivity caused by toxic chemical exposure

Posted on Oct 18, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research, Susie Collins

Breakthrough study on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity shows MCS is an epidemic caused by toxic chemicals; peer-reviewed paper is published in prestigious toxicology reference work.

A major paper on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity by Professor Martin L. Pall (at left) is to be published Oct. 23 as chapter XX in a prestigious reference work for professional toxicologists,  General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition (2009, John Wiley & Sons). Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is also known as chemical sensitivity, chemical intolerance, and toxicant-induced loss of tolerance, with this last name emphasizing the role of chemicals in initiating cases of this disease. Pall’s paper, entitled “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological Questions and Mechanisms,” establishes five important facts about MCS:

1. MCS is a stunningly common disease, even more common than diabetes. This has been shown in a series of nine epidemiological studies from the United States and one study each from Canada, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. In the U.S., approximately 3.5% of the population is affected by severe MCS, with much larger numbers, at least 12% of the population, being moderately affected. MCS is, therefore, a very large international disease epidemic with major implications in terms of public health.

2. MCS is caused by toxic chemical exposure. Cases of MCS are initiated by exposure to seven classes of chemicals. These include three classes of pesticides and the very large class of organic solvents and related compounds. In addition, published studies implicate mercury, hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide as initiators. All seven of these classes of chemicals have been shown in animal studies to produce a common response in the body, excessive activity of a receptor in the body known as the NMDA receptor. Furthermore animal studies have demonstrated that chemicals belonging to each of these seven classes can have their toxic responses greatly lowered by using drugs that lower this NMDA response. Because excessive NMDA activity is implicated in MCS from other studies, we now have a compelling common response that explains how such diverse chemicals can produce the disease that we call MCS.

3. The role of chemicals acting as toxicants in MCS has been confirmed by genetic studies. Four such studies have shown that genes that determine the rate of metabolism of chemicals otherwise implicated in MCS, influence susceptibility to becoming ill with MCS. These four studies have been published by three research groups in three countries, the U.S., Canada and Germany, have collectively implicated six genes in determining susceptibility to MCS. Each of these six genes has a role in determining the rate of metabolism of MCS-related chemicals. The German studies by Schnakenberg and colleagues are particularly convincing on this because of the extremely high level of statistical significance of their studies implicating four of these six genes. There is only one interpretation for the role of these six genes in determining susceptiblity to MCS. It is that chemicals act as toxicants in initiating cases of MCS and that metabolizing these chemicals into forms that are either less or more active in such initiation, influences therefore, the probability that a person will become ill with MCS. It is clear, therefore, that MCS is a toxicological phenomenon, with cases being caused by the toxic response to chemical exposure.

4. We have, a detailed and generally well supported mechanism for MCS. This mechanism explains both the high level chemical sensitivity that is the most characteristic symptom of MCS, as well as many other symptoms and signs of this disease, can be generated. This mechanism is centered on a biochemical vicious cycle, known as the NO/ONOO- cycle, which interacts with other mechanisms previously implicated in MCS, notably neural sensitization and neurogenic inflammation. These act locally, in various tissues of the body, to generate local sensitivity in regions of the brain and in peripheral tissues including lungs, upper respiratory tract and regions of the skin and the GI tract. Because of this local nature, different MCS patients differ from one another in their sensitivity symptoms, because the tissues impacted differ from one patient to another. In addition to the evidence discussed above, this general mechanism is supported by various physiological changes found in MCS and in related illnesses, by studies of MCS animal models, by objectively measurable responses of MCS patients to low level chemical exposure and by therapeutic responses reported for MCS and related illnesses.

5. For over 20 years, some have falsely argued that MCS is a psychogenic disease, being generated in their view by some ill defined psychological mechanism. However this view is completely incompatible with all of the evidence discussed earlier in this release. While such incompatibility is more than sufficient reason to reject these psychogenic claims, the MCS toxicology paper lists eight additional serious flaws in the psychogenic arguments. There is a long history of false psychogenic claims in medicine, where such diseases as asthma, autism, Parkinson’s disease, ulcers, multiple sclerosis, lupus, interstitial cystitis, migraine and ulcerative colitis have been claimed to be generated by a psychological mechanism. The 2005 Nobel prize in physiology and medicine was give to Drs. Robin Warren and Barry Marshall for showing that ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection, and are not of psychogenic origin. It is clear, now, that MCS is physiological disease initiated by toxic chemical exposure that has been falsely claimed to be psychogenic.

Martin L. Pall is Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Science at Washington State University.

He is located on Pacific time in the U.S. and can be contacted at: 503-232-3883 and at martin_pall@wsu.edu. His web site is: thetenthparadigm.org

###

This post is translated into Spanish at Traducido para Plataforma para la Fibromialgia, Síndrome de Fatiga Crónica y SSQM, Reivindicación de Derechos por Cathy van Riel Octubre 2009.

Link to an extended excerpt from Pall’s book Explaining “Unexplained Illnesses.”

RELATED POSTS:

Interview with Martin Pall

Research shows toxic chemicals initiate Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity now recognized as a toxicological phenomenon

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity researcher launches website

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Tags: Chemicals, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome expert discusses discovery of retrovirus

Posted on Oct 17, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Media/Videos, Research, Susie Collins

Dr. Nancy Klimas talks about the discovery of XMRV, a retrovirus, in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Background: The journal Science recently reported that 68 of 101 patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or 67 percent, were infected with an infectious virus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMRV. Continuing work has found the virus in nearly 98 percent of about 300 patients with CFS. The retrovirus is a member of the same family of viruses as the AIDS virus.

Dr. Nancy Klimas is director at the E.M. Papper Laboratory of Clinical Immunology at the University of Miami. She is board certified in internal medicine and diagnostic laboratory immunology. She also is director of the Allergy and Immunology Clinic, and director of Research for the Clinical AIDS/HIV Research at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center. A leader in the field of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) research, Dr. Klimas is the current President of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She is the principal investigator of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Center for Multidisciplinary Studies of CFS Pathophysiology at the University of Miami. She’s been appointed to the inter-agency CFS Coordinating Committee, chaired by the Surgeon General of the United States. She is the founding editor of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

In other words, she’s a heavy weight in the CFS universe, and gives an excellent over view of the current findings of XMRV.

This talk was taped Oct. 12, 2009, in Dr. Klimas’s office. She discusses what the discovery means, the importance of replicated studies, what’s next, and what you can do to help.

Find more videos like this on ME-CFSCommunity.com

People with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome often suffer Multiple Chemical Sensitivity along with other comorbid illnesses. For a related post on this story, see Researchers find virus in people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

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Tags: Environmental Illness, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research

Researchers find virus in people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Posted on Oct 10, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Research, Susie Collins

Researchers discover a virus in 98 percent of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; study negates diagnoses of psychiatric disease once and for all.

The New York Times reports a Virus Is Found in Many With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Times says an article published online Thursday in the journal Science reports that 68 of 101 patients with the syndrome, or 67 percent, were infected with an infectious virus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMRV. Continuing work has found the virus in nearly 98 percent of about 300 patients with CFS. The retrovirus is a member of the same family of viruses as the AIDS virus.

“I think this establishes what had always been considered a psychiatric disease as an infectious disease,” said Dr. Mikovits, who is research director at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, a nonprofit center created by the parents of a woman who has a severe case of the syndrome. Her co-authors include scientists from the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic.

Pamela Weintraub at Psychology Today reports on the problem of psychiatric disease diagnosis for CFS and Lyme disease and what this new discovery means in From Chronic Fatigue to Lyme: Medically Unexplained No More:

On the Lyme disease front, one acronym of choice for the patients who fail “standard” treatments is “Medically Unexplained Symptoms,” or MUS. Another favorite phrase is “Chronic Multisymptom Illness,” or CMI. These acronyms join another favorite from dismissers –Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, or MBP, describing the parents of the sick –in all, an alphabet soup of invented diagnoses unsupported by controlled studies in the peer review literature and damaging in the extreme. Taking a specific infection and muddying the water so much you render diagnoses this vague –well, that’s a special, dangerous art. [...] In the Lyme arena, experts labeling the patients head cases have been given free reign in the peer review, where those with like attitudes often tend the gates.

Hillary Johnson, author of Osler’s Web: Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Sydrome Epidemic and blogger at oslersweb.com, sums up what this discovery means to people with CFS in her post Inside the Labyrinth: Our Vietnam War Ended Today:

From the doctors we visit, to the insurance companies that have mercilessly controlled our access to medical care and disability support, to research laboratories at major universities and in the laboratories of federal health agencies—change is coming.

A generation of quacks and sub-par investigators will be in retreat, as well. Let them pursue their study of “chronic fatigue sydnrome.”

The real scientists have arrived and they’ll be studying XMRV-associated neuro-immune disease, a.k.a., XAND.

The name ginned up in Atlanta in 1988 to make sure disability insurers would not be required to pay out on disability policies and the public would assume the malady was a new category of mental illness? One can imagine, or simply hope, that the phrase is about to be jettisoned into outer space where one can fantasize it entering the band of space trash circling the earth.

People with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome often suffer Multiple Chemical Sensitivity along with other comorbid illnesses.

For a conservative analysis of the findings, see Does a virus cause ME?

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Tags: Research

Study suggests neurogenic origin of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Oct 07, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Research, Susie Collins

Study shows neurocognitive function in people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity worsens after toxic chemical exposure, suggesting neurogenic origin of MCS.

Brain dysfunction in multiple chemical sensitivity.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is a chronic acquired disorder of unknown pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether MCS patients present brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and psychometric scale changes after a chemical challenge. This procedure was performed with chemical products at non-toxic concentrations in 8 patients diagnosed with MCS and in their healthy controls. In comparison to controls, cases presented basal brain SPECT hypoperfusion in small cortical areas of the right parietal and both temporal and fronto-orbital lobes. After chemical challenge, cases showed hypoperfusion in the olfactory, right and left hippocampus, right parahippocampus, right amygdala, right thalamus, right and left Rolandic and right temporal cortex regions(p</=0.01). By contrast, controls showed hyperperfusion in the cingulus, right parahippocampus, left thalamus and some cortex regions (p</=0.01). The clustered deactivation pattern in cases was stronger than in controls (p=0.012) and the clustered activation pattern in controls was higher than in cases (p=0.012). In comparison to controls, cases presented poorer quality of life and neurocognitive function at baseline, and neurocognitive worsening after chemical exposure. Chemical exposure caused neurocognitive impairment, and SPECT brain dysfunction particularly in odor-processing areas, thereby suggesting a neurogenic origin of MCS.

Orriols R, Costa R, Cuberas G, Jacas C, Castell J, Sunyer J.

Servei de Pneumologia, Hospital Universitari Vall d’ Hebron, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Spain.

Link

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Tags: Chemicals, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research, Toxic

UK group promotes breast cancer prevention

Posted on Oct 05, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Media/Videos, Research, Susie Collins

Breast Cancer UK believes in PREVENTION, stopping breast cancer in the first place.

It IS possible to reduce the number of people that get Breast Cancer in the first place. The following video explains our position and the science behind it. It concentrates on environmental factors, particularly Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Bisphenol A.

Brava!

For more information, link to Breast Cancer UK.

PS Don’t miss my post on why I boycott Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

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Tags: Chemicals, Environment, Healthy Living, Research, Toxic, Video

Genetic evidence and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Sep 20, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, MCS, Research

Studies show chemicals act as toxicants in causing cases of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity; genes that metabolize these chemicals into other forms influence, therefore, susceptibility to getting MCS.

Guest post by Martin L. Pall, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences, Washington State University and Research Director, the Tenth Paradigm Research Group.

I have emailed the following as an open letter to the Denver Post in response to the article on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) that was published this weekend. I think the published article was generally a step forward in terms of public understanding of MCS. But the article left out a number of important things and this letter is an attempt to deal with some of those. I have asked them to consider publishing this as an Op-Ed piece, but wanted to make it available regardless of whether or not they opt to do so.

Thank you for writing this article on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), the term that is used in most of the scientific literature on this disease. There are vast numbers of people who have been afflicted in this epidemic of chemical sensitivity and I am sure that they are all thanking you. I also thank you for mentioning a bit of my work on this disease.

Some of your readers have already made quite a number of important points about MCS so I can focus here on just a few remaining issues. How do chemicals act in MCS? We know now that the seven classes of chemicals implicated in MCS all produce a common toxic response in the body, excessive activity of a receptor in the body called the NMDA receptor. So even though we have a vast array of such chemicals, we know how they can produce similar responses in people.

There is compelling genetic evidence that these chemicals act as toxic agents (toxicants) in the body. Four such studies have been published by three research groups in three countries. Collectively they implicate six genes as influencing susceptibility to MCS, such that people carrying some forms of each of these genes are more susceptible to becoming chemically sensitive than are people carrying other forms of the same genes. All of these genes control the activity of enzymes that metabolize these chemicals into other forms. Most of these studies show a high level of what is called statistical significance. In the Schakenberg and colleagues studies, the chances of getting their results by chance are less than one in a million billion. So obviously, these are not chance results. What these studies show is that chemicals are acting as toxicants in causing cases of MCS and that genes that metabolize these chemicals into other forms influence, therefore, susceptibility to getting MCS. These studies, then, provide compelling evidence that cases of MCS are caused by toxic chemical exposure. Clearly they also show that MCS is a real disease, otherwise one would not be able to do such studies clearly linking the chance of becoming ill with MCS to the action of chemicals acting as toxicants.

Dr. Herman Staudenmayer has, for some 20 years claimed just the opposite. He claims that MCS is psychogenic, caused by psychological responses and according to him, is not a toxicological phenomenon. He has maintained this claim by ignoring contrary data wherever it occurs. He has ignored all of the evidence that chemicals implicated in MCS produce a common response in the body; he has ignored the roughly two dozen studies showing that MCS patients show objectively measurable responses to low level chemical exposures, responses that differ from those of normals. He has ignored all of the evidence implicating excessive NMDA activity in MCS; he has ignored the dozens of animal model studies on MCS; he has ignored over 50 studies that show that cases of MCS typically occur following chemical exposures; he has ignored the various other measurable physiological changes reported to occur in MCS. This has all been documented in my book “Explaining ‘Unexplained Illnesses’” and in my article on the toxicology of MCS that is coming out next month in a prestigious reference work for professional toxicologists “General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition”. It is also documented on the MCS web page of my web site: thetenthparadigm.org/mcs09.htm

Clearly you cannot do science by simply ignoring the existence of vast arrays of contrary data. However, Staudenmayer provides us with a couple of other tests of his views in his book, predictions that allow us to test his theory. He predicts that psychological factors are necessary and sufficient to account for the properties of MCS. This, of course, is contradicted by all of the evidence I referred to earlier. Therefore we should reject his hypothesis based on his own prediction. He provides a second prediction as well (the exact quotes from his book on these predictions are provided on my MCS web page). He predicts that the variation of susceptibility to MCS is not caused by variable responses to toxic chemicals. Clearly the genetic studies discussed above have shown that this is false and therefore, his hypothesis should be rejected for that reason, as well.

It is clear, from the above, that Staudenmayer’s construct was basically a house of cards. Now that it has collapsed, where does that leave us?

Firstly it leaves us with reversing the errors of the past. We need to start treating MCS sufferers as victims of unsafe chemical exposure. Many of them have previously been used, abused and discarded. If we live in a society where people are not disposable items we need to “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

We obviously need to start regulating chemical usage much more carefully, to avoid initiating new cases of MCS. It is imperative to develop tests for chemical activity in MCS, just as we have developed tests for chemical activity as carcinogens. Then we need to use these tests to effectively regulate the use of toxic chemicals.

We need to develop specific biomarker tests for MCS, tests that can be used to objectively confirm diagnoses initially based on subjective symptoms. I think we already have several very promising approaches to doing this in the scientific literature and a minimal amount of further study may be all that is needed to develop such tests.

We need to confirm that chemical avoidance is key to therapy and to develop other therapeutic approaches to work along with avoidance. The environmental medicine physicians and others have already made very important progress in this direction and I am optimistic that further progress can be made quickly. Such progress is relevant not only to the treatment of MCS patients but also to the treatment of clearly related diseases including chronic fatigue syndrome/mylagic encephalomyelitis and fibromyalgia. All of these diseases are caused by what I have called the NO/ONOO- cycle and the way to treat them, in my judgment, is to lower the activity of that vicious cycle mechanism.

Martin L. Pall
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences, Washington State University and Research Director, the Tenth Paradigm Research Group

Reprinted with permission from the author. Dr. Pall cautions the reader that he is a PhD, not an MD, and none of this should be viewed as medical advice.

Link to Martin Pall’s website.

Link to an extended excerpt from Pall’s book Explaining “Unexplained Illnesses.”

RELATED POSTS:

Interview with Martin Pall

Research shows toxic chemicals initiate Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity now recognized as a toxicological phenomenon

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity researcher launches website

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Online radio interview with MCS researcher Martin Pall today

Posted on Sep 06, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research

Martin Pall, biochemist and leading Multiple Chemical Sensitivity researcher, will be interviewed today, Sept. 6, from 2 to 4 pm, Eastern Standard Time, on WOR radio in New York. The second hour will be responding to listener questions. You can listen online: Once you click on the link to WOR, just click on the “Up Next” link at the top right corner to listen to the live broadcast.

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Tags: MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research

Interview with Martin Pall

Posted on Aug 12, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research, Susie Collins

Biochemist Martin Pall talks about his research into the role of toxic chemicals initiating Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

ProHealth interviews Martin Pall, Ph.D., professor emeritus of biochemistry and basic medical sciences at Washington State University, whose research shows the role of chemicals acting as toxicants in initiating cases of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Professor Pall started looking into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis after he was diagnosed with it. His groundbreaking research into a common cause for CFS/ME, MCS, Fibromyalgia and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder led to his theory that short-term stressors cause a build up of naturally occurring nitric oxide, which starts a vicious cycle and leads to long-term illness. He calls this the NO/ONOO cycle.

Q&A with Martin Pall, PhD, on the Evidence that MCS is a Toxicological Illness
August 4, 2009

Martin L. Pall, PhD, Professor Emeritus of biochemistry and basic medical sciences at Washington State University, is adding to the science of toxicology with a new research-based paper, “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological and Sensitivity Mechanisms.” Here he is kind enough to summarize and explain his findings for ProHealth.com readers.
___________________

Q: Dr. Pall, we were very encouraged to learn that you have a new evidence-based paper on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) that will be published in a prestigious toxicology book. How important is this for patients?

Martin L Pall: The article will be published in an important reference source for professional toxicologists – General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition, part of a multivolume set.

This is a very important paper for several reasons.

• The toxicologists have largely ignored MCS, despite its high prevalence and major impact on human health. So this is an important recognition that MCS is a toxicological phenomenon, a response to chemicals acting as toxicants.

• Furthermore, the fact that I was asked to write it is important recognition for my own earlier work on MCS.

• It is also important to note that the three editors of this set – Drs. Bryan Ballantyne, Timothy C. Marrs, and Tore Syversen – each has distinguished publication records in toxicology. And each of the three has published on chemicals implicated in initiating cases of MCS.

Therefore, I think you can be assured that if there were major flaws in the case that I make that MCS is a toxicological phenomenon, they would certainly have detected them.

Read the rest of the interview.

Related story: Research shows toxic chemicals initiate Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Professor Pall’s website.

Professor Pall on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological and Sensitivity Mechanisms.

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Research shows toxic chemicals initiate Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Jul 18, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Research, Susie Collins

Martin Pall releases a paper on the causes of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, his research shows chemicals acting as toxicants initiate cases of MCS.

Martin Pall, PhD, professor emeritus of biochemistry and basic medical sciences at Washington State University, has released a paper on his research into the causes of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. In the paper entitled Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological and Sensitivity Mechanisms, Pall’s research shows the role of chemicals acting as toxicants in initiating cases of MCS has been confirmed by genetic evidence.

Professor Pall started looking into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis after he was diagnosed with it. His groundbreaking research into a common cause for CFS/ME, MCS, Fibromyalgia and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder led to his theory that short-term stressors cause a build up of naturally occurring nitric oxide, which starts a vicious cycle and leads to long-term illness. He calls this the NO/ONOO cycle.

Click here to download the pdf of the complete paper entitled Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological and Sensitivity Mechanisms. This paper will be the “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity” page on Professor Pall’s website, but he’s released it early and kindly given The Canary Report permission to post.

Here’s the abstract:

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Toxicological and Sensitivity Mechanisms

Martin L. Pall
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences, Washington State University and Research Director, The Tenth Paradigm Research Group

Abstract:

Cases of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) are reported to be initiated by seven classes of chemicals. Each of the seven acts along a specific pathway, indirectly producing increases in NMDA activity in the mammalian body. Members of each of these seven classes have their toxicant responses lowered by NMDA antagonists, showing that the NMDA response is important for the toxic actions of these chemicals. The role of these chemicals acting as toxicants, in initiating cases of MCS has been confirmed by genetic evidence showing that six genes that influence the metabolism of these chemicals, all influence susceptibility to MCS. It is likely that chemicals act along these same pathways, leading to increased NMDA activity when they trigger sensitivity responses in MCS patients.

The chronic nature of MCS and also related multisystem illnesses is thought to be produced by a biochemical vicious cycle mechanism, the NO/ONOO- cycle, which is initiated by various stressors that increase nitric oxide and peroxynitrite levels (with some but not others acting via NMDA stimulation). The NO/ONOO- cycle is based on well documented individual mechanisms. The interaction of this cycle with previously documented MCS mechanisms, notably neural sensitization and neurogenic inflammation, explains many of the previously unexplained properties of MCS. This overall mechanism is also supported by physiological correlates found in MCS and related multisystem illnesses, objectively measurable responses to low level chemical exposure in MCS patients, many studies of apparent animal models of MCS and also evidence from therapeutic trials of MCS-related illnesses.

Some have argued that MCS is a psychogenic illness, but this view is completely inconsistent with this diverse data on MCS and related illnesses and the literature claiming psychogenesis of MCS is deeply flawed. In addition, two rare predictions that can be used to test psychogenesis both lead to rejection of the psychogenic hypothesis.

While the NO/ONOO- cycle mechanism for MCS is supported by many different observations, there are also multiple areas where further study is needed.

Another version of this paper is scheduled to be published as a chapter on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in the prestigious General and Applied Toxicology, 3rd Edition due out in December.

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Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Research, Toxic

Researchers say inert ingredient in Roundup kills human cells

Posted on Jun 25, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Bobby McClintock, MCS, Research

BOBBY’S SOAPBOX.

Post by Bobby.

To Hawaii Governor Lingle, Lt. Gov. Aiona, Hawaii State Senators and Representatives, Hawaii State Department of Health, and County Mayors:

For years now, I and others around the world have been complaining about the illnesses caused by these products. For years now, we have been told we are either chemo-phobes or fanatics, sometimes by people on this very email list (you ALL know who you are!). I guess this was easier than doing something about it. No one has tried to help, even when it’s a matter of “equal access” granted under the Americans with Disabilities Act guaranteed to those of us with chemical disabilities (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity- please read the law!). When can we be assured these products will be banned here on our islands to protect everyone’s health?

Bobby McClintock
RED AHI (Respiratory & Environmental Disabilities Association of Hawaii)

Environmental Health News reports:

Roundup “inert” ingredient kills human cells

“Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells,” writes Crystal Gammon in the July 22 issue of Environmental Health News.

Pesticide researchers and activists from the U.S. to Argentina, Japan and Croatia have been calling for public access to, and warnings about, “inerts” (almost 4,000 solvents, surfactants and other chemicals included in pesticides, approved by the U.S. EPA, yet not specified on warning labels because they are not the “active” ingredient aimed at pest control).

“Glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States. About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year,” Gammon reports. “Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate [alone], rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup.”

In a study from the University of Caen in France, first published in January, “scientists found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells — even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.” Their focus was on POEA — polyethoxylated tallow amine — an “inert” detergent in Roundup that they were astonished to discover was far more dangerous than the herbicide itself. “The proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels’ found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens.”

These latest findings are no surprise to Caroline Cox of Oakland’s Center for Environmental Health. She wrote of the dangers of inerts, including POEA, for years while at the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides in Eugene, OR. Monsanto claims the recent study is flawed; Gilles-Eric Seralini, the molecular biologist that headed the French study, says standard toxicological methods were used.

Cox points out that competitors can discover what is in formulations like Roundup with routine lab analysis. “The proprietary protection laws [for inerts] really only keep information from the public,” she said.

Link to full report.

Read more about The Cocktail Effect: Pesticides Prove Deadlier in Combination

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Tags: ADA, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, EPA, Law, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pesticide, Policy, Pollution, Research, Stink, Toxic