Canary’s Cry for Saturday, January 3

A patron at Sheraton’s Four Point hotel in San Francisco discovers a disturbing environmental hazard inside the building.

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Green Living has a article in the Winter 2008 issue called “Wake Up and Smell the Chemicals,” with a section on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. The link will take you to the online version of the issue, go to pages 46-47 for the story, it’s chock full of good information.

Articles like this validate claims made by those of us with MCS, who say chemicals found in many everyday personal care products are toxic not only to us but to everyone. Further, as the article explores, scientists are starting to understand the ways in which low levels of toxic chemicals, such as those found in perfumes and other fragrance, adversely affect the body. Take heart, Canaries, because eventually, science will catch up with us and our claims of exquisite sensitivity.

Glenda at Writing Life Stories tells a story about getting assaulted by fragrance from fellow patrons at a fast food restaurant. She writes:

As soon as I sat down, the smell hit me again. I looked up and saw the guy who had been standing in line near me. He had plopped down fifteen feet away from my table. The odor emanating from him smelled worse to me than a skunk’s spray, the chemicals in that fragrance he wore poisoned me. By the time I got out of there, hoarse and coughing, I gasped, sucked in the fresh outside air like it was my final breath.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. More and more of my friends are experiencing the same symptoms — spending tons of money on doctors who run tests and tell them they have asthma and to stay away from chemicals. Duh!! The asthma is caused by the chemicals we breathe every day, the chemicals all around us, the chemicals we can’t escape.

Thanks, Linda!

Officials watching Hawaii’s air quality tonight

Hilo Medical Center’s emergency department gearing up for holiday

I think this report on extra air testing and a prepared hospital is supposed to make people like me with respiratory problems feel safer, but it doesn’t! It just gets me more worried about what the night will bring.

Right now my neighbors are erecting tents for a big party. So my health over the next 12 hours depends solely on the weather: if it rains as forecasted, the firecracker maniacs will be deterred, and if the wind is blowing the smoke away from my house, then I might be okay no matter if it rains or not. Last year was very difficult. It’s not just problems with my breathing and how the toxic smoke makes me feel (sick), but my eyes become so horribly irritated that I can’t read or watch TV or do anything but sit here and endure it.

And no matter what the officials say, staying indoors with air filters does nothing to keep the toxic smoke from entering our homes. In Hawaii our homes are like sieves, they are not sealed in any way, shape or form. What is outside is inside, and inside our bodies.

No one wants to ring in the New Year with a trip to the emergency room.

But Hilo Medical Center’s emergency department staff is taking extra steps to prepare for a possible influx of people with respiratory conditions from smoke caused by fireworks, said Reggie Agliam, nursing supervisor for Hilo Medical Center.

The hospital is also ready for any burns or fireworks-related injuries that might occur, he added.

As far as increased emergency department activity on New Year’s, Agliam said, “last year wasn’t too bad,” but added the hospital would rather be safe than sorry.

The state Department of Health will be monitoring Hawaii’s clean air quality throughout the state during New Year’s Eve and comparing it with national ambient air quality standards. The heavy use of fireworks during the annual holiday celebration can significantly increase the amount of particulates in the air, especially on Oahu, according to the department.

“We are going to be measuring particles in the air. Smoke is made out of particles,” said Lisa Young, environmental health specialist for the Department of Health. The smoke caused by fireworks can aggravate conditions such as asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Young said the same monitoring stations that test for vog on the Big Island are being used to record fireworks-related smoke levels. The department will be monitoring particles from smoke in Hilo, Kona, Pahala and Mountain View, Young said.

The department is encouraging the public, especially people with respiratory conditions, as well as young children and the elderly, to be properly informed and prepared for the upcoming New Year’s firework celebration.

According to the department, people who suffer from respiratory conditions may want to take certain precautionary measures during fireworks celebrations, including: staying indoors and closing windows and doors, avoiding people with colds and other lung infections, making sure air conditioners or air purifiers are working properly and filters are changed, avoiding smoking or second-hand smoke and washing hands often and thoroughly.

The department also recommends people make sure they have an adequate supply of medication on hand, as directed by a physician, and that people contact a physician if they need more medication or want to get clear instructions of what to do if health conditions suddenly worsen.

While the suggestions are intended for those with existing conditions, they are also useful for healthy people during high air pollution episodes, including times of high particulates dust, fireworks smoke and volcanic haze, according to the department.

Take care, dear canaries, wherever you are: Stay safe out there!

Link to story by Terri Henderson at The Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Photo by kolix

No comment

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Not to be outdone by Leslie at The Oko Box Blog and her post on The Crazy Sh!t We Gotta Do where she sealed off a door with foil to keep safe from her roomie’s fumes, Mokihana at Vardo for Two writes about her Denny Foil, golden folds of fabric, and The Kitchenette. “Leslie from The Oko Box Blog posted pictures and story of what it takes to live in ’safe’ fashion with stuff that ‘ordinaries’ or ‘civilians’ have/build with …Least I forget how MUCH WE HAVE living in The Kitchenette I felt compelled to make her our very special pin-up girl. With out her we would be dead meat!”

Keith at Digital Doorway writes about the exclusion of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in the recently released U.S. Census on Americans With Disabilities: 2005. In Keith’s post, “The Census and Americans with Disabilities,” he expresses his profound disappointment that illnesses such as MCS and Gulf War Syndrome are once again left out of the data.

While not addressing Multiple Chemical Sensitivity directly, Julie Mellum, president of Take Back the Air, writes at StarTribune.com about the absurdity of men using fragrances as a secret to business success. In her opinion piece, “Scents do not line the path to success,” she says:

…fragrances contain many of the same toxicants that are in tobacco smoke. These include formaldehyde, benzene, toluene and other hazardous volatile organic compounds that pollute the lungs and airspace of those around them.

Synthetic fragrances are about as romantic as a toxic-waste site, for many of their shared toxicants are on the EPA’s list of most hazardous wastes. They also contain highly addictive class A carcinogens. See www.takebacktheair.com for the facts.

Just as bottled deer musk masks the human scent as a hunting aid, so synthetic fragrances mask natural pheromones in people. Burger King has actually leapt into the fray with a new fragrance that smells like meat. That is downright comical, except for the fact that fragrance chemicals mimic estrogen with hormone-disrupting chemicals that are implicated in early puberty, reproductive birth defects and infertility.

Note: I neglected to add a link on Monday’s story to Leslie’s post on her door project. My apologies for the omission.

Thanks, Linda, for sending the second two stories my way! You find the best stuff on the Interwebs.

Low levels of cigarette smoke residue highly toxic

“Similar to low-level lead exposure, low levels of tobacco particulates have been associated with cognitive deficits among children, and the higher the exposure level, the lower the reading score.”

So basically, once again, people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity are way ahead of the curve on knowing that even extremely low levels of toxic chemicals can be neurotoxic.

Need another reason to add “Quit Smoking” to your New Year’s resolutions list? How about the fact that even if you choose to smoke outside of your home or only smoke in your home when your children are not there – thinking that you’re keeping them away from second-hand smoke – you’re still exposing them to toxins? In the January issue of Pediatrics, researchers at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and colleagues across the country describe how tobacco smoke contamination lingers even after a cigarette is extinguished – a phenomenon they define as “third-hand” smoke. Their study is the first to examine adult attitudes about the health risks to children of third-hand smoke and how those beliefs may relate to rules about smoking in their homes.

“When you smoke – anyplace – toxic particulate matter from tobacco smoke gets into your hair and clothing,” says lead study author, Jonathan Winickoff, MD, MPH, assistant director of the MGHfC Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy. “When you come into contact with your baby, even if you’re not smoking at the time, she comes in contact with those toxins. And if you breastfeed, the toxins will transfer to your baby in your breastmilk.” Winickoff notes that nursing a baby if you’re a smoker is still preferable to bottle-feeding, however.

Particulate matter from tobacco smoke has been proven toxic. According to the National Toxicology Program, these 250 poisonous gases, chemicals, and metals include hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, butane, ammonia, toluene (found in paint thinners), arsenic, lead, chromium (used to make steel), cadmium (used to make batteries), and polonium-210 (highly radioactive carcinogen). Eleven of the compounds are classified as Group 1 carcinogens, the most dangerous.

Small children are especially susceptible to third-hand smoke exposure because they can inhale near, crawl and play on, or touch and mouth contaminated surfaces. Third-hand smoke can remain indoors even long after the smoking has stopped. Similar to low-level lead exposure, low levels of tobacco particulates have been associated with cognitive deficits among children, and the higher the exposure level, the lower the reading score. These findings underscore the possibility that even extremely low levels of these compounds may be neurotoxic and, according to the researchers, justify restricting all smoking in indoor areas inhabited by children.

Link

Photo by lanier67

Thanks, Linda!

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Leslie blogs today at The Oko Box Blog about her wacky project to seal off the adjoining door between her and her new roomie to keep her safe from contaminants. Please note that her new roomie is a dear friend and we should all be so lucky to have a friend like this who would go to such extremes to keep us safe! But GADS, the things we have to do to keep ourselves protected!

When dealing with chemical sensitivities even the most mundane tasks, plans and events become an olympic style obstacle course to get through…and due to economic breakdown I am getting a housemate. Anyone reading this who has MCS will understand this is the kind of event that can put the shake in the rattle and roll of fear, because other people bring things into your safe home that you normally can not tolerate. If you don’t have chemical sensitivities you may find the following project completely insane, but tell the Gulf War Veterans who are now officially declared to have MSC/GWS from chemical exposure, the still sick rescue teams from 9-11 who didn’t have protection going into the disaster, and my good friend Lou Cheese who was chemically injured on the job that their medical & government documented affliction is insane.

Jeanne at Jeanne’s Endo Blog tells a story about her trip to the dentist and the literally nightmarish aftermath of the nitrous oxide:

Anyway, nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas) was no laughing matter for me!! It gave me zero effects during the dental appointment. There was nothing positive or negative. [But] while it appears to be a less common side effect of nitrous oxide, I am not the only dental patient to have had nightmares after nitrous oxide.

With nitrous oxide (at least in my case) you do stay awake during the procedure but it is supposed to make it easier for certain patients than just having Novocaine alone.

I am NOT one of those certain patients!! These nightmares were really bad. I am so glad to be awake. I’m so glad they were just nightmares and not really happening. (One example of a nightmare I had was a scene that was similar to but far, far scarier than a very, very graphic Grey’s Anatomy episode where everyone is standing around in scrubs and then bad things happen).

Let’s just say I am not one to be phased too much by the sight of blood but this nightmare was more than I could take without getting really upset before waking up suddenly.

I never want to go through that again!As I said, most people who have nitrous oxide (apparently) find it helpful and pleasant. I had no reaction at all when I needed it and the nightmares afterwards (just now) were just plain awful.

Hang in there, Canaries, it’s a crazy, dangerous world for us. Take care out there!

Happy Birthday, Ruth!

Get out your birthday hats and get ready to boogie– we have another Canary Birthday today!!

Today is Ruth’s Birthday! For those of you new to The Canary Report today: Ruth is one of our regular comment contributors. Thanks, Ruth, for all you bring to our discussions!

Okay Ruth, here we go, all for you: *Puts on party hat* and then *Dance, dance, dance, twirl around, skip, jump, throw hat in air, catch, do another twirl, side step, sashay, scoot and dance, dance dance!!*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RUTH! All the best in the world to you!! *Cuts cake, pours hot chocolate, and passes around to everybody!!*

xoxoxoxo

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

The Pilot reports on a ruling favoring former county employees who claim they suffer myriad environmental illnesses caused by a sick building :

Seven former Moore County employees can continue pursuing their worker compensation claims that a county building made them sick in the early 1990s, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The seven employees filed worker compensation claims against Moore County and its insurance company, Sedgwick of the Carolinas, in 1995 and 1996. The county and the insurance carrier have disputed the claims, arguing that there was no proof that the building made them sick. [...]

The appeals court also said that since the workers first filed their claims, medical science may have made advancements to understand the situation better, so the commission could consider reopening the case.

“We also note that expert testimony in this case reflects the uncertainty about fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity that existed when the depositions were taken,” the ruling said. “However, plaintiffs originally filed their workers’ compensation claims more than 10 years ago, and in the intervening years the medical community may have gained a greater understanding of these conditions. Accordingly, the commission may, in its discretion, reopen the case for new evidence.”

Philstar.com reports that firecrackers are harmful to people, animals, the environment and create toxic waste :

[Ecowaste President Manny] Calonzo said firecrackers contain harmful substances that could trigger chemical sensitivities, asthma and other respirator ailments.

“The bursting of firecrackers (violates) the fundamental right of the people to breathe clean air and goes against the effort of the health and environmental authorities and the citizenry to improve air quality,” he added.

Exploding firecrackers, according to Calonzo, also results in “toxic litter” that adds to the heaps of holiday trash.

And the “loud bangs” of exploding firecrackers also torture and traumatize animals that are “most sensitive” to sound than humans, “hurting their ears, terrifying them and making them flee to safety.”

Ecowaste is promoting the use of “emission-free, zero waste” noisemakers from recycled materials such as tambourines made from bottle caps, maracas from tin cans, cymbals using pot lids, and shakers from plastic bottles, among others.

And the rain came down!

We are having a huge rainstorm today! It’s been about 62 degrees all day and we’ve had at least 10 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Tonight we have thunder and lightening with a flash flood advisory. It’s been very dry for months and months so we almost forgot that we live in a rainforest! It feels like such a blessing.

The rain washed the air and made it so fresh and clean! I walked around outside with an umbrella several times today just to breathe in the beautiful air. Above is a photo out the back door of the downpour against the avocado tree.

Here I am all comfy cozy in the house today with the first fire of the season. Before you start wondering about how I can be around a fire with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: I close up all the windows on that side of the house and vent the windows on the far side, burn only natural wood (kiawe, a type of dense mesquite we harvested on the island of Molokai), and fully open the stove vent when I put in a new log so that all the smoke gets sucked up the chimney and doesn’t escape into the room. I brought the wood burning stove in from the mainland (Lopi), it’s one of the most fuel efficient on the market, and generates a lot of heat with very little fuel. It dries out the house beautifully and keeps the mold away. If I ever had to, I could cook on it. It’s also makes things very cozy on a wet, chilly day like today!

Germany strikes psychosomatic cause from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity guidelines

Germany’s Ministerium für Arbeit und Soziales removes the statement from the government’s disability guidelines that said Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is a somatoform (psychological) disorder.

This is great news for people with MCS throughout the world! The German government has struck out the statement from its MCS guidelines stating the illness is psychosomatic. This is inspiring for everyone throughout the world with MCS as a very important step toward universal recognition of MCS as a physical illness caused by chemical injury.

Here is a translation of the news received through email via Canada’s branch of the Global Recognition Campaign:

Merry Christmas for MCS patients

Silvia Mueller writes on Christmas Eve:

Here is the best message. The German Government Department for Social is the main department for disability, The Ministerium für Arbeit und Soziales. There are guidelines which are used by doctors, courts, authorities,… when it comes to a disability. In our disability guidelines MCS is a physical disease. It is registered in the part for movement disorders, because we can’t go everywhere, etc. There was one sentence in this guideline which was disturbing and used by opposition to refuse our cases and say we are psychosomatic cases. It said MCS is a somatoform disorder.

One of my people at CSN wrote to the department and asked that this nasty sentence is removed from the guidelines. Now MCS is a physical disease nothing else.  We have also the ICD-10 which says MCS is a physical disease. With these two tools nobody can discriminate us anymore.

It’s a victory - It’s Christmas for chemically sensitive people over here. We gave this information and the government letter as a present to the CS people today. After we started an online party. The motto of the party is that we think also about those who have nobody and we write poems, place links to you tube videos, write fun, greetings,… If you like to send something I can place it in for you, the people will love it.

Link to CSN Blog.

Dr. Rea and nobody else should worry. They can’t stop chemical sensitivity or declare us nuts anymore. We call it “the train is gone”.

It happened too much, and the bonds between people all over the world are too strong. Doctors find out more and more. And we all will not stop talking about it.  They can’t quiet us anymore.

Bonita Poulin

Canadian Coordinator
GLOBAL RECOGNITION CAMPAIGN
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
and other Chemically Induced Illnesses, Diseases and Injury affecting civilians and military personnel

MCS Global

Feel free to leave some comment love on the CSN Blog based in Germany. What a beautiful and supportive community they have! I feel so very happy for them. Let’s achieve this same good news in America and throughout the world!

Thanks, Linda!

No 5 Chanel means no 5 Chanel

Cheryl at Leaves and Petals writes today about a recent experience with Chanel Number 5 perfume at a local department store. She’s a very good writer and in this post effectively explores the conflict of emotions evoked in her by a whiff of the fragrance she used to wear, contrasting the perfume’s meaning in her life before she developed chemical sensitivity and after. Those of us with chemical sensitivity have to give up so much, including what should be the most pleasant of daily rituals.

Here’s an excerpt of Cheryl’s perfume experience:

For the holidays, they had set up a huge display of Chanel No° 5; the scent filled the air. My first thought was to be angry (sometimes it feels like I can’t ever get away from other people’s perfume), but then my brain started doing flip-flops and memories came rushing back. Dancing to “Low Rider” in the basement of the Tasmanian Ballroom in that 50s black silk dress I had scooped from work; drinking Absolut before heading out to Komrads with my boys; a pair of huge hoop earring with iridescent marbles attached to them that I wore constantly; fries and sangria at the Bloor Street Diner.

I stood for a moment, looking up at the war memorial in the foyer that commemorates Simpsons employees in the first and second world wars, and just let the scent waft over me. I was tempted, ever so briefly, to ask the clerk for one of those scent strips they’re normally trying to jam in my face when I zip through the perfume department, but thought better of it. I was even tempted to buy some, I have no idea why, although I knew I could never actually use the stuff.

Link to Cheryl’s full post “Number 5″

Photo by Liutao

Looking through the glass of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Photo of woman in Michigan with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

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This is me blowing a kiss to my husband outside while he is doing yard work, thankful he is able to do it and wishing I could join him.

At times with my illness it’s just like looking thru glass “literally.” I can look out the windows and see neighbors being able to enjoy their yards. I can sit in the car in front of a store and watch people come and go without being able to go in myself. Eating out is sitting in the car to eat and looking thru the car window at everyone in the restaurant. So using this effect on this picture “glass” I can totally relate to it, the world can seem very distorted! I wish people knew how damaging chemicals are and what they are doing to us. I totally enjoy and am thankful for the times I don’t have to live behind the glass, not many can relate to this and the ones that can (there is hope).

Photo by Live With MCS at flickr

See the whole photostream here

About Live With MCS: I’m free spirited, love exploring and adventure, love beautiful places, people & things (such as rocks! Ha Ha!). I totally LOVE finding places with clean air, being Environmentally ill it’s getting harder and harder to find. I’m certainly not a pro photographer but photos are fun for memories, no doubt!

How to make nontoxic household cleansers, laundry products

Bumble Beans has a really cute post on “Making Your Own Household Cleaners.”

It really is easy to do. Trust me. You only use a few of the same ingredients. Most if which is VINEGAR. Cheap. easy, and if you don’t like that smell, add some essential oils…)

Its always been a pet peeve of mine that “convenience” products are such a rip off, And bad for you. Once you have the basic products listed below you can make everything you need to clean your house.

BASIC INGREDIENTS FOR NON-TOXIC CLEANER RECIPES

Five basic ingredients serve as the building blocks for many safe home cleaning needs:

• Baking Soda - Cleans and deodorizes. Softens water to increase sudsing and cleaning power of soap. Good scouring powder.

• Borax - Cleans and deodorizes. Excellent disinfectant. Softens water. Available in laundry section of grocery store.

• Soap - Biodegrades safely and completely and is non-toxic. Available in grocery stores and health food stores. Sold as liquid, flakes, powder or in bars. Bars can be grated to dissolve more easily in hot water. Insist on soap without synthetic scents, colors or other additives.

• Washing Soda - Cuts grease and removes stains. Disinfects. Softens water. Available in laundry section of grocery store or in pure form from chemical supply houses as “sodium carbonate.”

• White Vinegar or Lemon Juice - Cuts grease and freshens.

There are links to a bunch of recipes and formulas for all kinds of uses. I thought I knew about all the best nontoxic concoctions, but I learned about two new things in the post (new to me anyway!). One is Wool Felted Laundry Balls, and the other is a Laundry Soap Recipe.

I know some peeps with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity won’t be able to use these products, but I might give the laundry soap recipe a try because I think I can find substitutes that will work for me (I can use Bronner’s soap for instance).

Does anyone know about Washing Soda? Is that safe for us?

Photo from goodmama

Australia developing policy on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Australia’s Office of Health asks for public input on draft report on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

For all you readers in Oz, and an FYI for everyone else:

The Australian Office of Health and Office of Chemical Safety has released for public comment a working draft of a report entitled,  “A Scientific Review of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Identifying Key Research Needs.”

The report’s authors are asking for input to ensure all available scientific literature and technical information is included in the document to better identify the priority areas for research on MCS.

Here’s the Australian MCS Network’s thoughts on the Draft Report:

We feel it is important for the final document to be well informed and reflective of the current state of scientific research and thinking.

We are concerned that, despite current research evidence strongly supporting a physiological basis for MCS, the draft report appears to place emphasis on a psychogenic aetiology.

The final report will have a significant impact on the way Australians with MCS are treated and whether they get adequate access to health care and other services.

The report may be used as a key document by Government, hospitals and non government agencies, within Australia and internationally, to develop policies and services relating to MCS.

We would be grateful if you could find the time to make a submission to NICNAS on this report as it will affect the funding and direction of research into MCS.

Submissions can be emailed to:
MCS[at]nicnas.gov.au

or posted to:
MCS Report
NICNAS
GPO Box 58,
Sydney NSW 2001

The closing date is 30 January 2009.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Members of the Australian MCS Network

ASEHA Qld Inc
PO Box 96
Margate QLD 4019

Dr Geoff Pain
Scientific Advisor
Environmental Chemical Hypersensitivity Organisation
PO Box 529
Harvey WA 6220

Peter Evans, RN (formerly), Grad Dip Health Counseling Convenor
South Australian Task Force on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
PO Box 3308
Port Adelaide SA 5015

Tanya Lockett
General Manger/Community Leader
PocketWomen
PO Box 26
Rosewater SA 5013

Alexa McLaughlin
President
AIRA Inc (Allergies & Intolerant Reactions Association)
C/- 6A Gymea Street
Narrabundah ACT 2604

Julian Robinson
62/44 Jerrabomberra Ave
Narrabundah ACT 2604

Kerryn Ryan
Fragrance And Chemical Sensitivity Support Group
PO Box 162
Strathdale VIC 3550

Ann Want
Australian Chemical Trauma Alliance
309 East Bonville Road
Bonville NSW 2441

Link to information sheet on the Draft Report process

Link to full Draft Report

Thanks, Linda!

Green hospitals are better for everyone

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in a Hospital Setting, here’s a report in Time on Making Hospitals Greener and Patients Healthier. It would be so smart if all hospitals adopted these practices, not just so those of us with MCS don’t have to weigh out the consequences of exposure before seeking medical treatment for any ailment, but for everyone especially hospital staff.

In the typical hospital, “while we are trying to treat or cure illness and disease…we expose our staff and patients to irritants and carcinogens, and our treatments often contribute to the development of other diseases,” says Dr. Kristin Bradford, a family physician in Willits, Calif.

Enter “green medicine” — the effort to detoxify the healing environment and enhance patients’ and employees’ health, while reducing costs all around. The international advocacy group Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) — whose 2006 study of 1,200 nurses suggested a link between the hospital environmental and health problems among the staff — has been a pioneer in the movement, recently initiating collaborative research among major U.S. health systems to document how removing toxins from the environment impacts worker safety and lost time due to employee illness.

[Link to full article here]

We have a hospital here on our island, the North Hawaii Community Hospital, that integrates native Hawaiian cultural practices and other healing traditions such as Feng Shui into the environment. Note the difference in the corridor at left to a more common hospital corridor above. North Hawaii Community Hospital uses HEPA air filters, water filters, low VOC paints, and other nontoxic measures. Here’s a description of The Healing Environment in Blended Medicine at North Hawaii Community Hospital. And here’s a description of the Holistic Care they offer in addition to the traditional allopathic medical care and surgery.

I haven’t been to North Hawaii hospital for awhile for care, but when I was there some years ago for some tests, I did not have a bad reaction to the air quality. Unlike the hospital in California I visited this past summer when I was with my dad for his nutrition consultation– whoa, that was bad from the first breath I took once inside the front doors. But I’d have no hesitation going to North Hawaii hospital again for care if I needed it.

Photo at top by Julie

Thanks, Linda, for sending the Time article my way!

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in a hospital setting

Photo: Rodger Norris, who has multiple chemical sensitivity lives in a remote home in Timberon, New Mexico. The nearest neighbor lives about a mile away, and the nearest small town (where he lived for seven years until an increase in traffic caused his symptoms to worsen) is 35 miles over winding mountain roads. In the photo, Norris, 56, displays the sign he posts at the doors of his house and his driveway, describing his condition and warning away visitors who are smokers or who are wearing products that contain artificial fragrances. Courtesy of Rodger Norris.

A registered nurse, Carolyn Cooper, MPH, RN, wrote an article in 2007 about how to care for patients in hospital who have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. (Roger Norris pictured above was a subject of Cooper’s report.)

Given that the article was written two years ago, it gives us some perspective about how far we’ve come with the current literature on toxic chemicals in our environment. You will see better what I mean if you read Cooper’s full article. For example, all the male reproductive studies have come out since this article was published, as have most of the BPA and melamine and FEMA formaldehyde reports - so the public and the medical profession knows a lot more now than it did then.

Here’s an excerpt:

Overview: Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a condition in which people experience a broad array of symptoms in reaction to exposure to trace amounts of common chemicals. Symptoms are most often triggered by odors, typically affect many systems, and can range from a runny nose to difficulty breathing and heart palpitations. The cause of this condition is unclear and there is no universal consensus on how to diagnose or treat it. MCS afflicts millions of Americans, although its prevalence is difficult to establish reliably. Theories of causation include both the physical and the psychogenic. This article begins with a case study, describes the current research on MCS, and offers recommendations to guide nurses when treating these patients in the hospital.

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The definition of MCS has also changed over time and may continue to evolve. Its essential feature remains, however, the patient’s assertion of a link between a variety of symptoms and low-level chemical exposures that act as triggers.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t recognize a diagnosis of MCS, it does acknowledge the existence of “chronic multisystem illnesses,” including chronic fatigue syndrome, the symptoms of which often resemble those of MCS.

A 1999 consensus statement published in the Archives of Environmental Health offered the following six criteria for a diagnosis of MCS:

* Very low levels of exposure to chemicals and other irritants, well below toxicity thresholds, produce symptoms.

* Symptoms are reproducible with repeated exposure to the chemical or irritant.

* The condition is chronic.

* Symptoms lessen or resolve when the chemical triggers are removed.

* Similar symptoms may be caused by several chemically unrelated substances.

* Symptoms occur in multiple organ systems.

But clinicians may find these open-ended criteria difficult to apply, especially without laboratory analysis and other physical findings to link specific exposures to specific symptoms.

There’s also no accepted definition of what constitutes a “mild” or “severe” case of MCS, nor is there a consensus on whether the condition is always caused by a precipitating environmental exposure (as may be the case for certain industrial workers or for those exposed during an accident to a single high dose of a toxic chemical). And while research is ongoing, diagnosis is further complicated by the fact that many of the most common symptoms, such as fatigue, heart palpitations, sweating, and difficulty concentrating, are the same as those necessary for the diagnosis of various psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders, including depression, somatoform disorders, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.

All staff members should at the very least take the following precautions when working with people who have MCS.

* Don’t use perfume, aftershave, or scented lotion.

* Keep free of the odor of cigarette smoke.

* Wear a long-sleeved cotton surgical gown (and cap if necessary) to mask odors if you know you smell of a potential irritant and no other caregiver is available.

* Knock first and wait to be admitted to the patient’s room.

Surgery. When a patient with MCS is scheduled for surgery, notify perioperative areas well in advance. It is particularly important that the anesthesiologist confer with the patient before a surgical procedure so that medication sensitivities can be considered. Perioperative clinicians must be prepared to carefully reassure patients that safety measures will be taken on their behalf. Other recommendations for surgery include the following:

* Schedule the procedure as the first case of the day to minimize exposure to environmental irritants that will be stirred up during the day.

* A ceramic or porcelain oxygen mask may be indicated to deliver anesthesia.

* Povidone iodine is generally a safe antiseptic solution, but isopropyl alcohol should be used sparingly.

* Use paper tape for surgical dressings (or assess the patient’s reactions to other adhesives 24 to 48 hours in advance by using patch tests).

* Use only latex-free gloves.

Link to full article

PDF of full article: mcs-in-a-clinical-setting

Carolyn Cooper’s blog

Thanks, Linda, for link and added insight!

One of our flock weathers the storm

Linda– yes, the Linda that has shared so much information and wisdom with us here on The Canary Report– has a snow storm going on in her neck of the woods. She sent me the photo at left, which she took in her neighborhood at about 2:30 Friday afternoon. She says some newscasters in Toronto are calling it “Snowmageddon” and that there’s more to come on Sunday.

So she’s hunkered down, bundled up, watching the snow pile up in the driveway. She generated some body heat with oatmeal in the morning and barley soup for dinner.

As we’ve talked about on previous posts, she’s still searching for safe warm clothing as well as non-toxic heaters and generators for power failures. And of course, wishing the air was cleaner in her city so she can catch a break with her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. She’d love to go outside and shovel snow in her driveway, but will wait for some help. She emailed me, “Shoveling when weak and subject to breathing bad air doesn’t work.”

“Finding a safe community and support is very difficult,” she wrote, referring to the complications MCS brings to what should be simple everyday chores. “If one is housebound and perceived as negative when refusing all kinds of inappropriate advice and ideas, people think you are impossible and stay away.”

And that isolation is hard for a canary. But she also counts her blessings.

I don’t want it to sound like I’m complaining about it now, because I am not. I am still living in a city with power and services, and not out in the bush thigh high in snow. I am very blessed that my father has been going or driving me to the market every week since I got too sick to do so myself last year, so as long as he is healthy, I don’t need to get my car out in any hurry.  (And I am very lucky to have a year round organic farmers market to get safe healthy food from which I have been able to prepare my own simple meals all this time.)

I know many people with no help for any of it, no-one to help shovel out, no one to pick up some groceries, no-one who will or can help in any way. People do not understand what it’s like to be a canary and have your body wipe out from underneath you just from a few breaths of bad air, air made bad from everyday “consumer” items. Not items that we need for survival, but items that have been altered to be more poisonous and marketable (who does this make sense to???).

I dream of a safe world for all of us, one where we can help each other, share our talents and gifts, take care of the sick and vulnerable, and look after this precious planet we all call home.

Thanks for allowing me to share your story, Linda. Take care of yourself and stay warm, cozy and safe!

Happy Birthday, Irene!

One of our flock, Irene, is having a birthday! For those of you who may not have followed the comments left by Irene on The Canary Report over the past few weeks, along with her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, she also is recovering from a stroke and experiencing myriad other health problems. On top of that, she feels alienated by the health care system and isolated in general. These are problems all too familiar to people suffering MCS, and my heart goes out to Irene in her struggles.

To Irene I say:

Happy Birthday, Irene! Hang in there, Canary, you’re a tough old bird.

Happy Birthday and godspeed to you!

Aloha,

Susie

Natural pest control: Boric acid

This is what happens when you live a nontoxic life: You get ants in the honey jar. Poor things, what a way to go, drowning in a vat of honey.

Listen, I love insects, but I really do not want ants and cockroaches in my kitchen. Since I do not want any toxic chemicals in my house either, the way I control ants and cockroaches is with boric acid. Boric acid is considered safe to use as a household insecticide and I’ve never experienced Multiple Chemical Sensitivity symptoms being around it. That said, I’m careful with it and don’t let it get on my skin.

I make a mixture of equal parts boric acid and powdered sugar, mix it up and put in in yogurt container tops, and then place them under the sink and in the back of cabinets. If I have a particular invasion of ants, which can happen in times of very wet or very dry weather, I put the mixture directly in the ant trail.

The little buggers gobble it up and take it back to the nest, and in a matter of a couple days, the whole colony is destroyed. An initial application will last a year or two. Then when I see them return (as in my honey jar), I make up a new boric acid and powdered sugar mixture and refill the receptacles.

By the way, the trick to success is the powdered sugar. It works much better than granulated. And the mixture also gets rid of cockroaches, but doesn’t harm our precious geckos at all.

What do you guys use to control bugs in your homes?

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