Pollution | The Canary Report

Video: The Lark in the Clear Air

Posted by Susie

Jul 042011

On this day when the United States goes mad with polluting the air with toxic fireworks, may the lark (and all canaries) have clear air.

The Lark in the Clear Air

Cara Dillon

Cara Dillon singing with the Ulster Orchestra

Dear thoughts are in my mind
And my soul lets soar enchanted,
As I hear the sweet lark sing
In the clear air of the day.
For a tender beaming smile
To my hope has been granted,
And tomorrow he shall hear
All my fond heart longs to say.

I will tell him all my love,
All my soul’s pure adoration,
And I know he will hear my voice
And he will not answer me nay.
It’s this that gives my soul
All its joyous elation,
As I hear the sweet lark sing
In the clear air of the day.

Woman who lives near natural gas extraction facility in Texas develops Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted by Susie

Mar 312011

Each day, officials in the town of Dish estimate, about 1 billion cubic feet of gas travels through three metering stations, more than 20 major gas gathering pipelines and 11 compression plants that have been shoehorned into the town’s two square miles by energy companies. Nearby residents suffer a host of ailments including irritated skin, eyes, nose throat and lungs, headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes, weakness, irregular heartbeats and multiple chemical sensitivity, attributed to toxic emissions from the facilities.

In the above video, Sharon Wilson makes a joint statement, on behalf of the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability project and Fort Worth Citizens Against Neighborhood Drilling Operations, about the air standards needed in Texas to prevent natural gas extraction from continuing to foul the air and harm the health of nearby residents.

“In Texas, the permit by rule process is abused allowing all these emissions to go unchecked,” Wilson says. “Eleven compression stations and four metering stations operate side-by-side in Dish, Texas, each considered a separate source. Residents suffer a host of ailments including irritated skin, eyes, nose throat and lungs, headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes, weakness and irregular heartbeats.”

Read Wilson’s entire testimony here.

This week, DentonRC.com reports on Rebekah Sheffield and her husband, who moved to Dish, Texas, in 1996, with dreams of restoring a 100-year-old farmhouse. Today, their home is surrounded by the town’s many natural gas production facilities with their toxic emissions, which Rebekah says initiated her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Rebekah and Warren Sheffield moved to Dish in 1996 after buying a century-old farmhouse. The couple says they dreamed of restoring it by hand and raising their children. It was a place where she could breathe in the fresh air — until the gas wells were drilled across the street.

Rebekah Sheffield first noticed changes in her body the following year when she reacted to fragrances, particularly perfumes and detergents, she says. A whiff of someone’s perfume sent her stumbling to the floor. She fainted at ballgames, in the grocery store, even while sitting in the pew at church.

Her physician, Dr. Tod Heldridge, prescribed a battery of allergy medications, though they did little to lessen her symptoms. When her condition worsened in 2003, she consulted a neurologist, but tests found no brain lesions or tumors. In 2004, she sought out an allergist, but no combination of pills or nasal sprays substantially quelled her symptoms. The next year, she saw another specialist to treat her constant state of vertigo, but tests were inconclusive. Rebekah Sheffield’s instability was very real to her husband, who grew frustrated that he could not catch his wife when she fell. Finally, in her early 30s, she purchased a wheelchair.

Rebekah Sheffield learned the hard way that soaps and detergents will give her chemical burns up to her elbows. In place of shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream and deodorant, she must create her own toiletries using a combination of natural products including cornstarch, baking soda, lemon juice and sugar.

Unable to determine either the specific cause or an effective treatment for her condition, Heldridge diagnosed her with multiple chemical sensitivity.

Town officials in Dish spent a big chunk of change for air quality tests that found benzene, xylene, naphthalene, carbon disulfide and other chemicals at elevated levels. The Oil and Gas Accountability Project, a national, nonprofit watchdog group, surveyed Dish residents to discover any adverse health effects from the toxic chemicals– that’s the discovery mentioned by Sharon Wilson in the above video. Thirty one people participated in the survey, including Rebekah Sheffield. The group reported 165 different medical conditions such as frequent sinus infections, nosebleeds, headaches, persistent coughs and irritated eyes, all of which could be associated with the toxic compounds found in the air.

Read more about the Oil and Gas Accountability Project and about Megan Collins, another resident of Dish, who also suffers health problems.

You also might like to read a previous post I wrote here at The Canary Report about Sandra DenBraber, who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivity initiated by the toxic emissions from a natural gas drill site near her home, also in Texas.

Letter: New device virtually eliminates pollution from wood burning stoves

Posted by Guest Blogger

Feb 262011

The government is dragging its feet on testing an affordable device that can be used on any existing wood-burning appliance to practically eliminate all particulate pollution.

The solution to wood smoke pollution is a device which has already been designed and built by Stanford biology professor Dr. Dennis Grahn. It is an “afterburner” which can be used on ANY existing wood-burning appliance, practically eliminates all particulate pollution, and is amazingly affordable (about $350 per unit).

Letter by Marcia Patrice Ganeles-Kislik.

Dear U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey, and Assembly Member Jared Huffman,

I am hoping you might be able to help me and millions of other Americans with a huge problem whose solution seems to be totally within our grasp, but held up by needless red tape from the Environmental Protection Agency. The problem is the pollution from wood-burning stoves and fireplaces. I hope I don’t need to inform you of the extreme health hazards, damage to the ozone, etc. etc. of wood smoke—all of which is well documented and not even debatable.

The solution is a device which has already been designed and built by a Stanford biology professor named Dr. Dennis Grahn. It is an “afterburner” which can be used on ANY existing wood-burning appliance, practically eliminates all particulate pollution, and is amazingly affordable (about $350 per unit).

The problem is that the EPA will not test an after-market accessory that can be used on an older, non-EPA phase II woodburner. The EPA will only consider certification for complete wood burning systems. This is great for the manufacturers of wood stoves, but is a true tragedy for all of us whose lives are being literally shortened by living in areas where wood smoke is killing us. This is an outrage and we need someone with power and influence to take the reins and cut through this asinine red tape. This device promises to do so much, not only for the health of millions of Americans, but for the planet itself, that it simply MUST be addressed. This device could put many Americans back to work, fabricating and installing the device. It is truly a win-win for everyone!

There was a short article about this invention in the S.F. Chronicle on Feb. 27, 2009. Dr. Grahn is anxious to hear from anyone who might help get this off the ground. His email address is dagrahn@Stanford.edu. He can explain more clearly the red tape preventing this from happening. I am just an advocate for clean air who is hoping, along with many others, that someone in Washington can do the right thing. Please consider having someone work on this potentially beneficial project. I think your constituents would be very pleased.

Thank you for your time.

Marcia Patrice Ganeles-Kislik

~~~

Have something you’d like to say? Readers of The Canary Report can use this link to Submit a Letter to the Editor.

Photo credit.

Health study on effects of Gulf oil well blow out about to launch; Chemical Sensitivity Foundation seeks people who have developed MCS

Posted by Susie

Feb 212011

Alison Johnson, chair of the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation, is looking for people in the Gulf of Mexico region who were exposed to oil or dispersant during the BP blow out and have since developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Workers clean up Mississippi beach after BP oil well blow out, July 2010.

Workers clean up beaches after BP oil well blow out, July 2010.

Nola.com reports that a health study on effects of Gulf of Mexico oil spill revs up.

A division of the National Institutes of Health is nearing the launch of what researchers say could be a potentially ground-breaking study on the human health effects in the aftermath of an oil spill.

The study aims to interview 55,000 people along the upper Gulf Coast who have had varying levels of exposure to crude oil and the dispersant Corexit in the months following the Deepwater Horizon explosion last April. The target is cleanup workers and those who had direct exposure to the crude and dispersant.

Alison Johnson

Alison Johnson, chair of the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation, left a comment on the article. She’s looking for Gulf region citizens and workers who developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity after exposure to the oil and/or dispersant Corexit.

As chair of the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation, I would like to suggest that those exposed to the BP oil spill or Corexit were put at significant risk for developing not only cancer, respiratory problems, and other diseases but also for developing multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), a condition in which people react to everyday chemicals like those in perfume, air fresheners, cigarette smoke, household cleaners, auto exhaust, pesticides, paint, etc., with symptoms like headaches, respiratory problems, muscle and joint pain, and extreme fatigue. In my book “Amputated Lives: Coping with Chemical Sensitivity,” I trace the development of MCS among Exxon Valdez cleanup workers, Gulf War veterans, 9/11 First Responders, and Katrina victims housed in toxic FEMA trailers. See my website, www.alisonjohnsonmcs.com for the books and documentaries I have written or produced on MCS. I would be interested in hearing from anyone exposed to the oil or dispersants who has developed MCS. Alison Johnson

Contact info:

Alison Johnson
MCS Information Exchange
4 Wren Drive
Topsham, ME 04086
207-725-8570
info[at]alisonjohnsonmcs.com

Bio from her website:

Alison Johnson, BA., M.A., is a summa cum laude graduate of Carleton College and studied mathematics at the Sorbonne on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. She received a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, where she studied on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. Johnson has produced and directed documentaries titled Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: How Chemical Exposures May Be Affecting Your Health, Gulf War Syndrome: Aftermath of a Toxic Battlefield, and The Toxic Clouds of 9/11: A Looming Health Disaster. She has also edited a book titled Casualties of Progress: Personal Histories from the Chemically Sensitive and has written books titled Gulf War Syndrome: Legacy of a Perfect War and Amputated Lives: Coping with Chemical Sensitivity. The latter contains chapters on the health problems affecting the workers who helped clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the soldiers who developed Gulf War Syndrome in the 1991 war, New Yorkers exposed to the toxins released by the World Trade Center collapse and fires and residents of FEMA trailers post-Katrina.

Mississippi beach photo credit

Study shows volcanic emissions are a health concern on the island of Hawaii

Posted by Susie

Oct 282010

A study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health found three times as many headaches and twice as many severe sore throats after the increase in volcanic emissions in 2008.

High sulfur dioxide content of the volcanic emissions or vog in 2008 caused myriad health problems.

I live on the island of Hawaii, and in 2008, the volcanic emissions, or vog, from our active volcano became highly toxic with sulfur dioxide. It was the highest concentration of SO2 since records have been kept on the volcanic activity of our Kilauea Rift Zone.

I’ve blogged previously about my problems with the vog when the wind brought it up the coast to the region where I live, causing me to wheeze and easily lose my breath when simply walking out into my gardens. With a high particulate matter content, the volcanic emissions also contain heavy metals such arsenic, so it’s pretty nasty stuff all around.

This natural pollution is what tipped the scales for me and my Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, making me so hypersensitive to man-made volatile organic compounds or VOCs, pesticides, petrochemicals, and other toxic chemicals that I was forced to stick much closer to home, and for the past two years have rarely ventured outside my property. Although the vog has settled down, I’ve still not returned back to my “normal” toxic chemical sensitivities that I had prior to the 2008 event when I was disabled but could still do some shopping and chores, and go into the office at my work place from time to time.

But I’m not the only one whose health was severly impacted from that highly toxic vog event. UPI reports that a study shows respiratory and other problems tripled during the worst of it.

“Vog,” or volcanic air pollution, from the Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii’s big island contains sulfur dioxide that is a health concern, researchers say.

Bernadette Longo, assistant professor at the University of Nevada’s Orvis School of Nursing, compared local health clinic records for the 14 weeks prior to the March 2008 Kilauea Volcano eruption with those from March through June 2008, when the volcano’s sulfur dioxide emissions tripled.

The study, published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, found three times as many headaches and twice as many severe sore throats after the increase in volcanic emissions.

The study also found a 56 percent increase in people reporting coughs, and a six-fold increase in the odds of having acute airway problems that may require breathing treatments or hospital emergency care.

And, as it turns out, a two-year-plus period of acute hypersensitivity for at least one person with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Photo credit.

Pesticide Action Network asks you to take the pledge: VOTE!

Posted by Susie

Oct 282010

From a draft law targeting persistent chemicals to phaseout of pesticides like endosulfan, momentum is building – with your help! – toward a healthier future. What happens on Tuesday could mean another step forward, or two giant steps back.

VOTE!

Pesticide Action Network asks you to Take the Pledge: VOTE!

Some elections matter more than others. This one’s a doozey.

Across the country, there’s a lot on the line. In New Hampshire, a law protecting kids from pesticides in schools hangs in the balance. In California, the oil industry is trying to take down the state’s climate change law at the ballot box. And on Capitol Hill, the potential for real progress on chemicals, health and immigration is in jeopardy. The stakes are high.

Take the Pledge! Commit to vote. Plain and simple. And urge your friends & family to do the same. No matter where you live or what’s on your local ballot, your vote will make a difference.

This political season has been a bit of a circus: loud and angry rhetoric, corporate spending off the charts, name-calling worse than usual. It would be tempting to sit this one out. Please don’t.

Political observers are saying turnout will be the key in races around the country. In Nevada, a Republican-linked group called Latinos for Reform even ran an ad (in Spanish) urging Latino voters to send a message to Washington by not voting! They know exactly how important voter turnout will be.

Having the right people in office doesn’t guarantee progress, but it does make it possible. From a draft law targeting persistent chemicals to phaseout of pesticides like endosulfan, momentum is building – with your help! – toward a healthier future. What happens on Tuesday could mean another step forward, or two giant steps back.

Thank you so much for making your voice heard!

Click here to sign the petition and take the pledge to vote!

Pesticide Action Network North America (PAN North America, or PANNA) works to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. As one of five PAN Regional Centers worldwide, we link local and international consumer, labor, health, environment and agriculture groups into an international citizens’ action network. This network challenges the global proliferation of pesticides, defends basic rights to health and environmental quality, and works to ensure the transition to a just and viable society.

Guest Blog: Chemical sensitivity is the result of industrialization, manufacturing trends

Posted by Guest Blogger

Oct 282010

Today there are 100,000 different chemicals constantly circulating in the environment, and the impact of the vast majority of these chemicals on the human organism is not known.

By guest blogger Bodil Dam Bak Nielsen, MCS Fokus, Denmark.

Smokestacks at an industrial factory belching out toxic fumes.

The result of industrial development is that today over 100,000 different chemicals are constantly circulating in the environment, and we do not yet know the impact of the vast majority of these chemicals on the human organism.

According to physician Stephen Hawking, Earth is at risk of a devastating disaster, and life can only be carried on by colonizing outer space. What concerns him most is a potential asteroid collision with Earth which would wipe out life. However, I do not think we need to wait for this disaster. Man already carries out the mission of wiping out life on Earth pretty well!

Life has existed on Earth, our planet, for more than 3½ billion years. Homo sapiens appeared about 50,000 years BC, and until about 100-150 years ago, mankind communed well with nature and had until then, a lifestyle that only intervened to a limited extent in nature’s sensitive ecosystems. However, a drastic change occurred approximately 150 years ago. Industrialization started and manufacturing and refinement processes could be enhanced by using steam, gas, oil, and electricity as power sources. In the 1950s, the consumption of chemicals exploded; it became trendy to produce food additives, chemicals, detergents to ease housewives daily chores, and personal care products full of chemicals, etc.

Manufacturing and consumption of chemicals

The result of this development is that today over 100,000 different chemicals are constantly circulating in the environment, and we do not yet know the impact of the vast majority of these chemicals on the human organism. Yet, today the cocktail effect of chemicals is being gradually discussed. A number of various chemicals together are much more harmful than single isolated chemicals. However, the motivation to investigate into this problem is not particularly high. A number of chemicals have a hormone-like-effect thus resulting in presexual maturity, childlessness, etc. It is a known fact that some chemicals are cancer-producing, but even this fact is being ignored to a large extent.

Pesticides are sprayed by farmers

Farmers spray increasingly more aggressively with a huge number of various pesticides – substances designed to kill living organisms: pests, weeds, and fungi. It is a known fact that these pesticides certainly seep down into the groundwater. But what is being done about it? Oh yes, limit values are set forth on how much pollution is allowed in our drinking water. Limit values are set for how much toxic waste our food may contain. That is indeed sheer madness. Without protest, we accept eating, drinking and breathing in toxic waste. If pesticides are designed to kill living organisms, what makes us believe that these harmful chemicals are harmless to humans?

Chemical disasters have become everyday occurrences

Nearly every day we are being flooded with stories on TV and in newspapers about various chemical disasters. A tidal wave of poisonous mud buries entire villages in Hungary. Contaminated plots of land are detected and chemicals are dumped around in the open countryside. The industry sends huge quantities of toxic waste water and toxic smoke out into the environment, thus causing harmful damage to humans and animals. Certain fish are no longer edible due to heavy metals contamination. Even polar bears, living so far away from civilization, are exposed to chemicals and pollution via their food, thus developing deformed genital organs. The air is thick with pollution, and we incinerate fossil fuels in increasing quantities. We have gradually developed ”immunity” to all these gruesome stories. The madness goes on, driven by man’s tendency toward greediness.

Environmental diseases such as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity are the result of all this chemical production and pollution

Over the last 50 years or so, gradually, increasing numbers of people turn up, developing environmental diseases such as MCS. No wonder that the weakest of us is defeated by this devastating chemical pressure, foreign to the human body, as well as by the increasing spread of wireless devices, also being a devastating and unnatural strain on the human organism. Man was created to live commune with nature, so even if it feels ”natural” to live as society does today, having daily contact with and consumption of hundreds of chemicals, the body is of course, not geared to defend against all those substances foreign on the human body. Some members of society become ill from this overwhelming chemical build up of pressure and develop chemical sensitivity.

Why do politicians, scientists, physicians, and others deny the existence of the environmental disease MCS?

If animals become ill from chemical filth, why shouldn’t a number of people react likewise against this devastating chemical pressure foreign to the human body by becoming ill? Shouldn’t it be a natural thing to take environmentally sick people seriously? Shouldn’t society react by raising the alarm and by initiating serious research in this field? Shouldn’t the medical world immediately offer these seriously environmentally sick people fair and thorough medical examination, counseling and treatment for their disabling disease MCS?

Why is there instead such an extensive and massive objection against accepting MCS as the environmental disease that it is? Who has a special interest to deny chemical sensitivity and instead attempt to explain it away by declaring it to be a mental disease? Could it be that the chemical industry, the insurance industry, and certain politicians have a huge interest in not recognizing MCS as an environmental disease due to chemicals? If MCS was recognized as a disease caused by chemicals, the aforementioned groups would be in very big financial trouble. However, if instead these patients are diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, these special interests would save huge amounts in loss of earnings, claims for damages, disability pension payouts, etc., so it is obvious, here we find the reason why globally there is such vigorous objection of fair and thorough research of MCS, and why the limited number of environmental physicians have constant attempts to be discredited by any means possible.

There are always greedy research scientists and physicians who can be bought off to produce predetermined research results, as well as predetermined diagnoses. That was evident with regard to the impact of tobacco on health, and that is also evident with regard to the impact of toxic chemicals on health. Many physicians diagnose MCS sufferers with psychiatric disorders, but such misdiagnoses do not, of course, make MCS sufferers less chemically sensitive. On the contrary, increasingly more people do develop MCS, and if the chemical problem is not taken seriously very soon, Stephen Hawking’s prophesy can easily come true. Man is the disaster about to destroy Earth and life on Earth.

MCS suffers are just the first victims. They are the yellow canaries in the coal mines.

Bodil Dam Bak Nielsen is co-founder of MCS Fokus, Denmark.

English translation by Dorte Pugliese, edited by Christi Howarth.

Photo by Torben Bøjstrup, Topperfoto.dk.

Guest Blog: October is Breast Cancer Corruption Month

Posted by Guest Blogger

Sep 172010

As most everyone knows by now October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What most people don’t know is the corporate corruption behind it.

By guest blogger Bobby McClintock, Respiratory & Environmental Disabilities Association of Hawaii.

A cluster of breast cancer cells showing visual evidence of programmed cell death (apoptosis). Scanning electron micrograph.

The first time I had breast cancer was 1985. When I recovered I wanted so badly to help others with it. I contacted the organization who helped at our hospital. I was told I hadn’t had cancer long enough to help out! I’m still reeling from that one!

As the years went by groups started springing up. I remember when the Susan G. Koman project started I was appalled when I saw Revlon as one of their sponsors. Anyone who really wanted to prevent cancer knew most chemical companies and ALL cosmetic companies, at the time, were contributing to breast cancer from the very products they had. Of course, big mouth that I am, I wrote to them to voice my concern.

Each year when a new group started out to find a cure for cancer, I couldn’t understand why it made me so angry. Everyone wants to cure cancer so why am I annoyed? Because curing cancer presupposes someone must GET cancer, then someone must find a chemical CURE for it and the big pharma/chemical corps/cosmetic/insurance/etc companies all profit from it. I began writing to people thanking them for being so concerned about all of us having cancer. BUT, I’d add, wouldn’t they really want to PREVENT it instead of curing it?

Breast cancer is one of THE most preventable cancers along with others found in fatty tissue (prostate for men, brain for children– not a lot of fatty tissue– the only place for it to go). We KNOW pesticides are one culprit. We KNOW most household chemicals are also building in everyone’s blood and tissue. Until we stop allowing these corporations from manufacturing doubt whenever new research is presented against their products, we will all be fighting cancer in some form.

Right now the statistics here in the US are one in every three people will get cancer in their lifetime. A far cry from our grandparents’ generation when hardly anyone had cancer, or, better yet, used any of the toxic chemicals that are now in our environment.

MAKE THE CONNECTION! Pass information like this along to family and friends. STOP passing around the usual breast cancer BULL that circulates the internet. GET EDUCATED!

If you are truly interested in stopping breast cancer, please visit Think Before You Pink, a project of Breast Cancer Action. In my humble (OK!) opinion, their take on the whole breast cancer problems is the closest to the truth we can get.

So get out there and fight for PREVENTION!!

~~~

Bobby McClintock is founder of the Respiratory and Environmental Disabilities Association of Hawaii, an active clearinghouse for information, which Bobby disseminates through an email list serve. She started the association in the late 1990s when giving testimony at the Hawaii State Legislature against water fluoridation and genetically engineered foods. Bobby first became ill with chemical sensitivities in 1985 after she underwent a breast implant following mastectomy for breast cancer. After a series of misdiagnoses due to the ignorance of her doctors about the problems of implants and the symptoms of chemical sensitivity, Bobby started combing the Internet for answers and discovered her symptoms were consistent with Environmental Illness. In 1989, she found a knowledgeable doctor who properly diagnosed her as having Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. By then disabled, she went through the grievance process with her employer United Airlines, only to have the company abandon her case in 1995. Bobby lives on Oahu with her husband and is a vocal activist for clean, safe air, water and food. “I swam every day, biked everywhere and was a ballet dancer all my life,” she says. “This illness took it all away and it was completely avoidable. So, watch out world, as long as I have a mouth, and boy is it a big one, you won’t shut me up!”

Photo credit.

Guest Blog: The poisoning has begun

Posted by Guest Blogger

Jul 032010

Thursday evening we found a voice message left by the owner of the land next to ours saying they would be spraying ROUND UP and select herbicides sometime on Friday. And there went our plans for a safe and happy holiday weekend.

By guest blogger Jacki Palmer-Boyce.

Our neighbor spraying his fields on Friday next to our home and organic gardens. Our holiday weekend has been ruined!

Thursday evening we came inside the house @ 10pm to a voice message left by the owner of the land saying they would be spraying ROUND UP and Select herbicides sometime on Friday. This ruined our HOLIDAY weekend. The soybean field is right next door to our property to the WEST and NORTH side of our land. We had no idea they were going to spray so our plans were to camp in our own yard “campsite” to avoid crowds and chemicals from the Holiday weekend. We had the tent sent up and plans for a fire with a few friends.

With the girls on a better day.

I was very grateful for the “warning” that was a life saver. HOWEVER all our plans of enjoying our own homestead went up in “fumes.” I had to keep all the windows closed today and it is a perfect day outside 70′s and sunny with low humidity and low dew point, so I had to miss out on a GREAT weather day. I could not enjoy my own yard, my “organic” gardens, my spring/well water are all at risk every time they spray more and more poisons into the land and air, which effects the water supply.

With Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I smell, taste and feel the chemicals even though my husband John does not. So I am locked inside the house while he is outside. We can not go to our parks or Findley due to too many people and all their toxic chemicals they bring with them on a Holiday camp weekend: lighter fluid, tiki lights,sunscreen, the list goes on and on of things you have to avoid around crowds. So needless to say: several hours of spraying ruined several days to weeks of my life.

The tent we'd set up for "camping" in our yard this weekend.

I wonder how this can be legal and yet someone caught with a joint goes to jail. It is all about the $$ and GREED… MONSANTO & DOW should be in prison for poisoning people for year after year. Read about how glyphosate is toxic and Roundup is worse. Read here about clethodim herbicide. I hate when people say it is “JUST” roundup like it is something “safe”… boy did marketing pull the wool over so many zoombies’ eyes… WAKE UP, PEOPLE, CHEMICALS KILL! And not just the bugs!

I am very lucky the owner “warns me”– he doesn’t have to do that in OHIO; some states it is a law. So please know how thankful I am for the warning, without that I’d have my windows all open and clothes on the line and playing in my yard.

The raised beds out front, south exposure, with peppers and tomatoes.

This spraying happens about 3 to 4 times a growing season with different types of herbicides and fugicides. Each time is like a knife going into my heart and soul. We’d love to move away from all this madness they call country living and farming, but at this point in time it is not in the stars. So we try so hard to keep our little eco friendly homestead as chemical free as possible (in our control) and pray for protection from the chemicals when they spray. It beats the helicopter they used to spray fungicides last year– now that really drifted!

Just makes me so sad that this is still legal. Think of the millions of gallons of pesticides/herbicides used all over the USA. Add that to the GULF oil well blowout and we are doomed. They could stop it but choose not to. It brings in too much $$$$ and GREED is the name of the game… NOT HEALTH.

I want to end my day with a positive: I am well for the shape I am in…. I want to end with the positive… I must always be grateful no matter what… each day is a blessing even if it doesn’t turn out like you hope.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues indoor air quality policy for all CDC offices nationwide

Posted by Susie

Apr 072010

This is arguably the strongest and most important toxic chemical-free and fragrance-free policy in existence for the workplace.

CDC′s Roybal campus in Atlanta, GA.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, recently issued a policy on indoor air quality that will affect all CDC offices (owned, leased and rented) and more than 15,000 employees nationwide. Among a host of indoor air quality standards, the policy includes specific guidelines restricting the use of fragrance in cleaning and personal care products.

Housekeeping Guidelines

CDC will ensure that products used in the workplace, such as soaps, cleaning products, paints, etc. are safe and odor-free or emit low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the fullest extent feasible. Only green cleaning products shall be specified and used within CDC facilities and leased spaces unless otherwise approved by the Office of Health and Safety. [...]

Non-Permissible Products

Scented or fragranced products are prohibited at all times in all interior space owned, rented, or leased by CDC. This includes the use of:
• Incense, candles, or reed diffusers
• Fragrance-emitting devices of any kind
• Wall-mounted devices, similar to fragrance-emitting devices, that operate automatically or by pushing a button to dispense deodorizers or disinfectants
• Potpourri
• Plug-in or spray air fresheners
• Urinal or toilet blocks
• Other fragranced deodorizer/re-odorizer products

Personal care products (e.g. colognes, perfumes, essential oils, scented skin and hair products) should not be applied at or near actual workstations, restrooms, or anywhere in CDC owned or leased buildings.

In addition, CDC encourages employees to be as fragrance-free as possible when they arrive in the workplace. Fragrance is not appropriate for a professional work environment, and the use of some products with fragrance may be detrimental to the health of workers with chemical sensitivities, allergies, asthma, and chronic headaches/migraines.

Employees should avoid using scented detergents and fabric softeners on clothes worn to the office. Many fragrance-free personal care and laundry products are easily available and provide safer alternatives.

Further, the policy extends to enforcement. Within the document itself is clearly stated the process by which an employee may file a report about air quality problems through a questionnaire, and further still, who is responsible for overseeing the investigation:

Building occupants who experience irritation or symptoms that may be related to the quality of indoor air should notify their supervisors, and the OHS or local Safety Officer to initiate a complaint. BFO must also be contacted upon initiation of a complaint, to identify and/or review any potential structural, maintenance, or heating, ventilating or air conditioning (HVAC) issues. Building occupants must also complete the Indoor Air Quality Questionnaire (see Attachment B) in order to properly document the complaint. Each IEQ complaint poses a unique set of circumstances that will determine the investigative procedures used to resolve each IEQ concerns.

Office of Health and Safety/Designated Safety Officer Administers the Indoor Environmental Quality Program and serves as the primary coordinator and investigator for reported incidents involving IEQ hazards or conditions; educates CDC supervisors and workers; develops report findings and recommendations for corrective action; and reviews and updates to meet future needs and regulatory changes.

You’ll also be happy to see that there is a section on pest control. Although it’s not perfect, it’s far safer than the hazards many workers endure with ubiquitous application of hazardous pesticides, usually performed without notice: “Pest management, for both buildings and lawn care, will emphasize non-chemical management strategies whenever practical, and the least-toxic chemical controls when pesticides are needed. Integrated Pest Management practices must be utilized.”

Coming from the CDC, this is arguably the most important toxic chemical- and fragrance-free policy in existence for the workplace. In the words of former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding, the agency is charged with confronting “the challenges of 21st-century health threats.” It looks like the current CDC director, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, believes this responsibility covers not only the general public, but CDC’s own employees and workplaces as well.

Creating nontoxic work environments is not just good for employees’ health, it’s good for the bottom line, too. Workers who are not being slowly poisoned by toxic chemicals on the job can think clearer, work more efficiently and be more productive. Employees who suffer toxic chemical sensitivity, asthma and other respiratory ailments will take less sick days. People who are prone to developing health problems triggered by toxic chemicals will be safer; in fact, everyone who works in CDC buildings will now be safer.

For those of you with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity who are currently battling it out with your employer over hazardous chemicals in your work environment, in addition to discussing your rights to safer accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you might want to print out this new CDC policy and give copies to your boss, your CEO, and your human resources director. Explain to them that the experts at CDC understand that indoor air quality is greatly compromised by a host of toxic chemicals, including those from cleaning products used by maintenance personnel and personal care products used by employees. Tell them that this recent CDC policy is indicative of the way trends are going, and any company getting on board now will be spared future costs caused by condoning an unsafe environment for employees.

This policy is incredibly good news– use the clout and expertise of this CDC policy to strengthen your arguments for a toxic chemical- and fragrance-free work environment.

Here’s the pdf of the policy.

Here’s the pdf of the questionnaire to be used when CDC employees file a complaint about air quality.

Thanks to Harry Clark for obtaining these documents from CDC and for sharing them so freely!

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