The Canary Report | Tag Archive

Tag Archives: Pollution

Film: Gasland

Posted on Mar 12, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Susie Collins

A cross-country odyssey uncovers toxic streams, dying livestock, flammable sinks and weakening health among rural citizens on the front lines of the natural gas drilling craze.

This is a follow-up on the same topic of yesterday’s post about fellow canary Sandra DenBraber, who is battling an oil and gas company contaminating her neighborhood with toxic emissions from a natural gas drill site near her home.

Meet Josh Fox, who is offered $100K for rights to drill for natural gas on his property, but Josh smells a rat and decides to travels through 32 states to discover for himself what happened in other areas that cut a deal. There he discovers the hellish world of fracking, the highly toxic process of natural gas extraction. And he catches the whole nightmare on film.

This film is currently on the film festival circuit. The next three Gasland film fests: WASHINGTON DC Environmental Film Festival, March 16th; the PHILADELPHIA film fest, April 9-11; and at the YALE Environmental Film Fest, April 11th.

Link to the Gasland website.

Continue Reading

Tags: Environment, Policy, Pollution, Video

Gas well drilling operation impacts health of an entire neighborhood

Posted on Mar 10, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Government Regulation, MCS, Susie Collins

Woman with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is the first in her neighborhood to detect toxic emissions from gas well drilling site; her health deteriorates while she fights for clean air.

Drilling at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Sandra DenBraber

Sandra DenBraber, who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, sent me an update about the toxic emissions from a natural gas drill site near her home. She wanted me to share with Canary Report readers an update about her health and a report in the Fort Worth Weekly published today.

“I really wanted you to have this story since the reporter did such an excellent job,” she wrote me. “The more people that hear about what happens to chemically sensitive people the more hope for change. I will continue to fight for change in drilling. It is essential since now 25% of children in the drilling area have respiratory problems per a recent news article.”

Here’s an excerpt from the Fort Worth Weekly report:

DenBraber, a former occupational health nurse, moved to her neighborhood more than 24 years ago after developing severe chemical sensitivities that forced her to quit her job. She went to great lengths to make sure her environment was as free of chemicals as possible: Her home has no carpeting, no gas lines, and several heavy-duty air filtration units. She lived there in relative good health, getting by on disability payments supplemented by a small income from making and selling charcoal masks for others who suffer from the same problem.

But in 2008, in the midst of drilling operations near UTA conducted by Houston-based Carrizo Oil and Gas, her health declined rapidly. Both DenBraber and her physician, Dr. Alfred Johnson, began to suspect emissions from the well site might be responsible.

“It got to the point I wasn’t able to leave my home without getting an instant migraine,” DenBraber said. “I have an above-ground pool for exercise [following joint replacement surgeries] that I was unable to use. I couldn’t work in my garden; I couldn’t step out the door.”

The change in her health became so pronounced that both Johnson and Dr. Susan Murphy , a rehabilitation specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, sent letters to Carrizo on her behalf in March and April of 2008, asking that the company work with DenBraber to find a mutually agreeable solution to her situation.

“Sandy tends to react more strongly to chemical exposure than most because of her chemical sensitivity,” Johnson said. “In a sense, she’s kind of like the canary in a mineshaft.”

My guess is that no one from Carrizo Oil and Gas lives anywhere near this operation. It shouldn’t be that the people who have been made ill are the ones at the front lines of the battles for clean air, but that is too often the case. Sandra has my respect and admiration for fighting the good fight not just for herself, but for the health, safety and welfare of her entire neighborhood. Brava, Sandra! I hope this is resolved soon so that you and your neighbors, including the students at UTA, are soon protected from this major polluter.

Photo credit of drilling site, Carrizo Oil and Gas.

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Children's Health, Environment, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Nontoxic, Policy, Pollution, Stink, Toxic

Film: Living Downstream

Posted on Mar 06, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Living Downstream is an eloquent and cinematic feature-length documentary.

This is sure to be an incredible film, making the connections between cancer and toxic chemicals in our environment. Public screenings begin this month.

There once was a village overlooking a beautiful river.

The people who lived here were very kind.

These residents, according to parable, began noticing increasing numbers of drowning people caught in the river’s swift current and so went to work devising ever more elaborate technologies to resuscitate them.

So preoccupied were these heroic villagers with rescue and treatment that they never thought to look upstream to see who was pushing the victims in.

Living Downstream is a walk up that river. The river of human cancer.

Based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Living Downstream is an eloquent and cinematic feature-length documentary. This poetic and character-driven film follows Sandra during one pivotal year as she travels across North America, working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links.

Link to the Living Downstream website.

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Children's Health, Environment, Pollution, Research, Toxic, Video, Water

Anatomy of a toxic chemical spill

Posted on Feb 25, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Guest Bloggers

On February 17, 2010, in Alameda, CA, a garbage or recycle truck owned by Alameda County Industries blew its hydraulic line at the corner of Oak Street and San Jose Avenue, spewing hydraulic fluid all over the street. I had to walk through it to get to my house.

By guestblogger Steph.

~~~

02-17-10

February 17, 2010 - Alameda, CA. That's not snow - it's 57F outside. Alameda County Industries garbage or recycle truck blew its hydraulic hose earlier in the day, and their crew came out with an absorbent material to pick up the spill. That material was like fine grain sand and immediately went airborne. Now it's on the cars and everything, and likely in my house since I had to open the front door to go inside.

~~~

02/18/10

On February 17, 2010 in Alameda, CA, a garbage or recycle truck owned by Alameda County Industries (ACI) blew its hydraulic line at the corner of Oak Street and San Jose Avenue, spewing hydraulic fluid all over the street.

Cars continued driving, as San Jose Ave is a thoroughfare, and the oil spread all up and down both streets. ACI sent a cleaning crew, who applied a thin sandy ‘absorbent’ material all over the road, which got picked up by passing cars and went airborne immediately, with the oil particles on the sand.

The scene above is what I had to walk through to get to my house.

Please google hydraulic fluid toxicity to learn more, and also check out a news story about a woman who died after a similar accident.

I have also uploaded photos here. My lips were stinging when I got back into the house last night after taking pictures. I should have worn a mask of course. Of course. I shed all my clothes in the kitchen and put them in a garbage bag. I took a shower immediately.

Last night I filed complaint with the Alameda Department of Public Works and the City Clerk’s office for Boards and Commissions. This morning, following Susie Collins’ advice, I phoned up the police department to make sure they’d been notified. They said they had, and seemed indifferent to me. They routed me over to the fire department, where I was told I’d get a call back. I got a voicemail saying they’d send someone over to check out the street, but I didn’t see anyone come by in a Fire Department uniform or vehicle.

At 3pm today, I received the following email:

Good afternoon Steph,

I am responding back to your e-mail that was sent to ACI this morning, at approximately 2:30pm on February 17,2010 one of our fully automated trucks had a hydraulic hose rupture and leaked fluid onto the street, our driver immediately contacted our dispatch center and a field supervisor.

Upon notification of the spill we immediately contacted the City of Alameda, Public works department. Both the City of Alameda Fire and Police department were called and responded to the scene to assist us with the cleaning of the street and traffic control.

After meeting with the fire department and the urban run-off group they released the scene back to us for our cleanup process. We responded with 7 ACI employees to put dry sweep on the on the fluid and swept up all the areas effected. The hydraulic fluid can become slippery and that’s why we reacted to get it cleaned up immediately. The fluid that was on the ground is a premium hydraulic oil that is commonly used in hydraulic systems. The absorbent that was used is called select sorb professional multi purpose spill aid (MSDS_SelectSorbProfessional.pdf).

We are keeping in contact with the city of Alameda and the urban run-off Manager, today we had street sweepergo thru the areas that were effected and he will be returning again tonight after cars have left the street. As far as the City of Alameda and ACI is concerned there are no direct health hazards as a result of the spill.

I apologize for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you, please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions or concerns.

Best Regards,

Guy Martinez

Safety Manger

I sent an email back to Mr. Martinez, asking for specifics on the hydraulic fluid; “Thank you for your response. Can you tell me what type of hydraulic fluid had spilled, aside from it being ‘premium’? Was it mineral oil, organophosphate ester, or polyalphaolefin?”

And now I wait.

[...]

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Children's Health, Environment, EPA, Law, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pollution, Products, Toxic

US Senate committee holds hearing on public exposures to toxic chemicals

Posted on Feb 04, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Susie Collins

Now available: Transcript and webcast of today’s hearing at the United States Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health entitled, “Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals.”

Led by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), at left, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health held a hearing today entitled, “Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals.” I urge you to become familiar with Sen. Lautenberg’s work on the hill; along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), he’s the greatest advocate in the U.S. Senate for toxic chemical policy reform. For those of you who follow The Canary report, you’ll remember a post I did on Sen. Launtenberg back in February 2009 when he assumed the chairmanship of this committee. Lautenberg is the senator who introduced the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, a proposal to overhaul federal restrictions on toxic chemicals.

Canaries will recognize the name of one other of our heroes among the panel members: Ken Cook, president at the Environmental Working Group.

Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health hearing entitled, “Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals.”
Thursday, February 4, 2010
10:00 AM EST
EPW Hearing Room – 406 Dirksen

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, will convene a hearing to examine the current science on public exposures to toxic chemicals.

Majority Statements
Barbara Boxer
Frank R. Lautenberg

Minority Statements
James M. Inhofe
Witnesses

Opening Remarks

Panel 1

Steve Owens
Assistant Administrator, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances
Environmental Protection Agency

Henry Falk M.D., M.P.H.
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

John Stephenson
Director, Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Linda Birnbaum Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S.
Director
National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences

Panel 2

Molly Jones Gray
Participant in a Biomonitoring Study

Ken Cook
President
Environmental Working Group

Charles McKay MD FACMT, FACEP, ABIM
Division of Toxicology, Department of Emergency Medicine, Hartford Hospital

Tracey J. Woodruff PhD, MPH
Associate Professor and Director
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco

I don’t know how much change is going to be made as a result of these hearings, but I can tell you that trends are moving in the direction of toxic chemical policy reform. If President Obama manages to hang on to a second term despite the discontent that is brewing due to the economic problems, we will have a much better chance at stronger reform. I can tell you though, that even though the wheels of Washington, DC, move painstakingly slow, I’ve seen more happening to enforce the Clean Air Act and to put progressive environmental policies in place over the past year than I saw in the entire eight years of the Bush administration.

Link to transcript and webcast of today’s hearing.

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Chemicals, Environment, Food, Law, Policy, Pollution, Products, Research, Toxic, Water

Volcano Awareness Month starts off with a blanket of vog

Posted on Jan 04, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Susie Collins

I can hardly catch my breath today sitting here at my desk because the volcanic emissions, or vog, is so thick. Oh, and the itchy eyes, lovely when trying to work.

This week the National Park Service launched Volcano Awareness Month, just as the vog, or volcanic emissions, got so thick that we can hardly see how many fingers we’re holding up in front of our faces.

We won’t get relief until Thursday when the northeast tradewinds return. Pleh. Those yellow bands you see on the graphic are the vog plumes heading north, past me at the northern part of the island and up throughout the state. The chart shows the worst toxic component of the vog, the sulfur dioxide, in yellow in the color code warning, just before the orange warning to “sensitive groups.” But of course people with chemical sensitivities like me feel the effects before those concentrations of the orange code.

It’s going to be a rough week.

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Environment, Featured Post, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pollution

Interview with Eva Caballé about her new book on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Nov 01, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Susie Collins

It’s an honor to announce that a member of our Canary Report community has written a book about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, published this month in Spain by El Viejo Topo.

Editor’s Note: Spanish blogger Eva Caballé talks about her new book in an interview with Salvador López Arnal. This interview was first published at Rebelión. Translated into English by Clara Valverde, President of Liga SFC. Reprinted with permission of Eva Caballé.

Eva Caballé (at left) is the author of the recently published book in Spanish Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la sensibilidad química múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) published by El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, Spain, 2009.

By Salvador López Arnal
November 2009

“Yes, there is something hidden in this silence. It is the interests of the chemical and pharmaceutical companies so that people won’t know that their products are causing new and terrible illnesses like Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). Actually, recently it has been demonstrated that MCS is not a psychological illness and that old studies that said so were fabricated to protect the interests of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.”
Eva Caballé

Eva Caballé is a 37 year-old Barcelona economist who lives with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. She was a bank employee and was a member of the rock group Lefthanded and now is the author of the recently released book (in Spanish) released by the publishing house, Libros de El Viejo Topo, Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la sensibilidad química múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities). In the book’s introduction, Clara Valverde, says: “…But Eva is not weird. It is known that 0.75% of the population now lives with severe MCS and that up to 12% have mild or moderate MCS. All those people who are bothered by smells, those are part of that 12%. But most doctos and the majority of society are not aware of this and that is why it has taken Eva so many years to receive the right diagnosis. That is why Eva only has the help of her immediate family. That is why there are no demonstrations about this out on the streets nor her case is on the front page news.”

Eva Caballé is also the author of the blog NO FUN. She says: “NO FUN is a blog about Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephelitis and Fibromyalgia with information and advice for people who are sick and for anyone who wants to live a healthier life free of toxics.”

López-Arnal: Let’s start with a definition. What is MCS?

Eva Caballé: MCS is an acquired chronic illness, not a psychological one, which manifests itself with multisystemic symptoms as a reaction to a very small exposure to chemical products, normal everyday chemicals but unnecessary ones, like perfumes, air fresheners or laundry softeners. The symptoms, which are chronic and they become acute in a crisis, include fatigue and respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, dermatological and neurological problems. MCS is a syndrome with three grades of severity, so not all of us who are sick suffer the same level of disability and isolation. It is an illness which has been known since the 1950s, but it has yet to be recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), despite that there are more than 100 research articles that support the organic basis of MCS, that the number of people affected is increasing rapidly, at a younger age, and that the European Parliament includes MCS in the growing number of illnesses related to environmental factors.

LA: You say that MCS is not recognized by the WHO despite the number of scientific articles that support the organic basis of this illness. Why do you think that the WHO is so skeptical, so cautious?

EC: We know that the WHO has been debating the MCS issue for years. But the process of recognizing the illness is taking longer than usual due to the pressure that the chemical and pharmaceutical industries are putting on the WHO, as they are not interested in having it known that they are directly responsible for this illness. Without going any further, in Germany, where MCS is recognized as an illness, the industries continue exercicing their control through tools like Wikipedia. This was denounced by the CSN Association in an article which I translated and published on my blog. The article about MCS in Wikipedia in German is edited each day, sometimes every few minutes, because the administrators of Wikipedia, who have interests in the industry, veto the information trying to make sure that MCS is not known or if it is, that it be thought of as a psychosomatic illness.

LA: You also say that the number of people with MCS is growing rapidly. Can you give us any data to illustrate this?

EC: I am quoting Dr J Fernández-Solà (an Internal Medicine specialist from the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona) who, in an interview that was done with him at the beginning of this year for an article on MCS in the Spanish magazine, Interviu, said that the amount of patients who were seeking medical help for this illness is growing rapidly. In his hospital, each year, they get between 50 and 60 new patients. That means one new patient a week.

LA: What symptoms could make one think that they have this illness?

EC: Perhaps the most common symptom is to notice unbearable smells which one did not notice before. One stops tolerating various chemical agents like cleaning products, perfumes, tobacco smoke, car emissions, etc. When you have MCS and you are exposed to these chemical agents, a series of symptoms are triggered automatically like choking, irritation of the respiratory tract, tachycardia, headaches, mental confusion, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, extreme fatigue and/or pain. These symptoms don’t get better until you stop being in contact with the chemical agent that produced it. Normally you also stop tolerating alcohol, dairy products or gluten. You also develop intolerance to various foods and medications. Often there are other environmental intolerances: to heat, to cold, to noise, to sunlight and to electromagnetic fields (computers, high power lines, telephones, cellular phone atennas, microwaves, etc).

LA: What differences are there between MCS and, let’s say, Fibromyalgia?

EC: MCS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephelitis (CFS/ME) and Fibromyalgia (FMS) are illnesses of the same family. In fact, many of us who have MCS, we actually have the three illnesses and more and more people with CFS/ME and FMS, with the years, also develop MCS. We have a lot of the same symptoms, but the biggest difference is that those with MCS do not tolerate even the smallest exposure to chemical substances, which is the reason why we have to maintain a strict environmental control and we cannot go outside without a mask with a carbon filter to filter out the environmental toxics.

LA: What medical treatment does a person with MCS receive from the Spanish health care system? Do you think it is adequate? Do you think it is fair?

[...]

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Chemicals, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, Law, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pollution, Products, Research, Support

Government to improve regulation of toxic chemicals

Posted on Oct 14, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Policy, Social Justice, Susie Collins

EPA director presents new guidelines to improve regulation of toxic chemicals.

The Michigan Messenger reports momentum builds for tighter regulation of industrial chemicals; health care providers say reform of chemical regulation is key to creating public health system.

In a recent policy speech, Lisa Jackson, director of the Environmental Protection agency, called the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act an “inadequate tool” and presented a set of guidelines that she said should steer efforts to improve regulation of chemicals. Environmental health activists, representatives of the American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Clean Water Action are urging the EPA to use biomonitoring data — data gleaned from screening certain demographics for chemicals in blood and urine — as a guide in prioritizing its investigation of chemical safety.

The Michigan Messenger reports on the EPA announcement from their state’s perspective:

New chemical regulations could have special meaning in Michigan. Midland-based Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW), the nation’s largest chemical company, is in negotiations with EPA officials over how to handle the company’s widespread contamination of the state’s largest watershed with industrial chemicals. In the Midland area, and in other industrial and post-industrial sites around the state, people are burdened with historic chemical contamination in the environment as they also encounter new chemicals in everyday items [emphasis added].

Unlike pharmaceutical chemicals, which are often only available by prescription and only after they are evaluated for safety by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and manufacturers are required to divulge information about possible side effects, industrial chemicals — found in plastics, food packaging, cleaning products, building materials, furniture, medical supplies and a host of consumer products — are generally not reviewed for safety by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“[W]e need to review all chemicals against safety standards that are based solely on considerations of risk — not economics or other factors ,” Jackson said, “[A]nd we must set these standards at levels that are protective of human health and the environment.

Although more than 80,000 chemicals have been manufactured, since the 1976 enactment of the Toxic Substances Control Act, EPA has only declared five unsafe.

The article explains well the problems in current chemical regulations. Given the weak federal protections, states were pretty much left on their own to strengthen the most problematic of health and environmental toxicity. We saw this when California recently initiated the first of its kind state-level chemical oversight program. The article makes the case for using the new momentum initiated by the EPA to strengthen chemical regulations at both state and federal levels.

I don’t think any of this current activity is going to bring tangible relief to those of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Both policy reform and biomonitoring initiatives are first looking at the most egregious offenders, already backed by solid science as being harmful — such as lead, Bisphenol A, mercury, perfluorinated compounds, phthalates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and triclosan — not necessarily the most common household chemicals that can make our lives a living hell on a daily basis. But there are trends moving in our favor in toxic chemical regulation reform and also with breakthroughs in green chemistry. Again, perhaps not activity that will bring people with MCS relief in the near future, but nonetheless positive activity when looking at “cause” of our illness.

It’s wise to remember while watching trends that government regulations do not truly change corporate practices in a systemic manner until consumers demand it. So keep doing what canaries do best: educate, educate, educate. Live by example. Continue sparking discussion and debate about toxic chemicals with your friends, family, employers, landlords and elected officials. It’s a tough job, especially when struggling with chronic illness, but it’s always tough for people ahead of the curve on medical, social and economic change. Hang in there and be aware that there are forces out there finally taking a look at toxic chemical regulation reform.

Continue Reading

Tags: Chemicals, Environment, Environmental Health, EPA, Fragrance, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Policy, Pollution, Products, Research, Toxic

Film: Killing Fields

Posted on Oct 13, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Much of the cheap meat and dairy produce sold in supermarkets across Europe is arriving as a result of serious human rights abuses and environmental damage in one of Latin America’s most impoverished countries.

Ecologist reports on Killing fields: the true cost of Europe’s cheap meat. “Statistics compiled by pressure groups suggest that as much as 23 million litres of pesticides and herbicides are sprayed in Paraguay each year, including several that have been classified by the World Health Organisation as being ‘extremely hazardous’.”

Cheap meat has become a way of life in much of Europe, but the full price is being paid across Latin America as vast soya plantations and their attendant chemicals lead to poisonings and violence

Much of the cheap meat and dairy produce sold in supermarkets across Europe is arriving as a result of serious human rights abuses and environmental damage in one of Latin America’s most impoverished countries, according to a new film launched in conjunction with the Ecologist Film Unit. [...]

Industrial scale soy production, particularly for genetically modified (GM) crops – some 90 per cent of Paraguay’s soy is now thought to be GM – is dependent on the frequent application of powerful pesticides and other agri-chemicals which have been linked to environmental degradation and a host of negative health impacts on people living near to soy farms.

Crop spraying has polluted important water sources in many rural regions, say campaigners, poisoning both domestic and wild animals, threatening plant life, and resulting in a number of health problems in people, including diarrhoea, vomiting, genetic malformations, headaches, loss of sight and even death.

Continue Reading

Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Food, Law, Pesticides, Policy, Pollution, Products, Toxic, Video

Sometimes loving your family STINKS!

Posted on Sep 22, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Franny Armstrong, MCS

Since Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is an invisible illness, it must be all in my head… shouldn’t it?

Post by Franny Armstrong.

Sept. 7– I had to rewrite this post this morning after the emotional anger had passed from severe reactions during a family/friends visit yesterday. This morning, my brain fog is clearer, though my head and face are still pounding like drums during a war dance.

We had family and friends come for a visit on Sunday. I cleaned my home with my chemical free cleaners, vinegar, unscented, color-free… almost everything free soap, baking soda, and a large dose of elbow-grease (petroleum-free).

With that done, hubby and I sat out on the deck and shucked corn together and talked. My hubby called to caution everyone not to wear fragrances because I was “severely allergic” to them, bless his heart. Hey, it’s what people understand, the word ALLERGY.

One family member told me to strive for some “normalcy” and not talk about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity! Though I seldom see them, and listened to them talk about health issues such as cancer, I was stunned. It’s been my mission for the past year to let people know what MCS is all about so they will understand what they can’t see.

I don’t wear a body cast, nor do I use a walker or leg braces, or even a bandage around my entire head, face, and lungs. Since it’s an invisible illness, it must be all in my head… shouldn’t it? In a sense, it is. It’s in my sinuses, headache, sore throat, plugged ears, aching chest and muscles and so on…

The friends were interested in finding out about MCS; what makes me ill and what doesn’t, so I carefully explained, though stuttering over my words due to the “hit” of fragrances I got the minute they arrived (not perfume or cologne, they all assured me). I was glad that the woman was finishing my sentences for me because my brain had stopped functioning properly. I had thrown on my mask right away but the damage was already done. The “hit” got me outside in the so-called fresh air!

The final straw that sent me off to hide in my room with a migraine was when someone lit the birthday cake with SPARKLERS! Gee, who’d-a-thunk they were made from CHEMICALS! Since I was now too ill to even sing Happy Birthday, let alone eat cake, I didn’t have a chance to protest before they were lit.

Going for a short walk down the driveway to clear my head didn’t work, so off to bed I went. I didn’t even say goodbye, goodnight, or kiss my… um… cheek (it was hidden behind the mask after all).

Dealing with family can be even more painful than dealing with strangers who at least are interested enough to ask me WHY I wear the mask. I believe having to sit beside me wearing a mask was an embarrassment to some of my family members, though not all.

Someone asked, “Why not leave the mask off? We are all sitting outside, after all.” I rest my case…

Come visit me at ParaNovelGirls

Self-portrait photo by Franny Armstrong.

Continue Reading

Tags: Chemicals, Fragrance, Home, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Perfume, Pollution, Stink, Support, Toxic

Documentary film: Crude

Posted on Sep 09, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

A true story about systematic poisoning.

As someone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I understand completely the statement in this trailer, “These people have been systematically poisoned.” Products containing petrochemicals are a big problem for people with MCS. We also know well the statement, “When you look at the science, they cannot really prove their case.” Bull dinkies. The science is there, we just need it to be recognized and used as a foundation for making policy regarding toxic chemicals, including oil.

It is a government’s responsibility to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. Period.

Link

Continue Reading

Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Film, Law, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Policy, Pollution, Products, Research, Stink, Toxic, Video, Water

Asphalt ASSAULT!

Posted on Aug 31, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Franny Armstrong, MCS

Is asphalt carcinogenic? Yes! Does it cause breathing issues, skin burns, and redness/burning of the eyes? Yes! A petroleum based product? Absolutely!

Post by Cavewoman Franny Armstrong-ParaNovelGirl

Yes, my new nickname is now Cavewoman! Nope, not like Batwoman or Catwoman, but Cavewoman because it’s nearly IMPOSSIBLE to leave my cave at ANYTIME OF YEAR where I don’t run into SOMETHING that makes me ill! Jeesh!

Today I drove to visit family and ran across a construction/upgrade of kilometers (miles) of highway with freshly laid asphalt (aka bitumen) and much more being laid while I waited in line to pass the area. Quickly slipping on my not–so–trusty carbon-filtered mask (which doesn’t filter out much, believe me) I continued to watch while blue–grey clouds of thick smoke billowed around the workers and large construction machines, wondering how long I could hold my breath!

It crossed my mind that neither of the workers were protecting their lungs from the toxic morass of chemicals and decided that since I was so ill by the time I arrived home and crashed in my bed for most of the rest of the day, that it was time to research asphalt!

Is it a carcinogenic? Yes! Does it cause breathing issues, skin burns, and redness/burning of the eyes? Yes! A petroleum based product? Absolutely! Hmmm…Strike, strike, strike…And so I continued to gather this eye-opening, sinus–attacking, breath-stealing, head–splitting info.

Okay, that was enlightening .Now, the question: Is it a pesticide? YES! A neurotoxin? You betcha!

It’s a product created with hydrocarbons and contains small amounts of metals such as iron, nickel, and vanadium (to name a few). Crude oil is distilled to separate raffinate (solvents used to separate an original liquid from other components, like oil from petroleum refining processes) from residual oil process called de–asphalting or carbonization. It might then be further processed by ‘air blowing’ ‘solvent precipitation’ or blending with other refined materials to create a product that will have the correct elasticity (if you will) to move with the constant expanding/contracting of the surface for the climate the product is made for. In Canada, for instance, we have harsh, cold winters, then hot, wet summers which can wreak havoc on paved roads leaving potholes, cave ins and cracking. Save a car, suffer illness.

Asphalt is also used on roofing projects, to coat electrical wiring, insulate for sound, and corrosion protection in municipal drinking water reservoirs. Yum! I can taste the results already…

So, what else is in this volatile mixture? How about: clarified slurry oil, organic antistrip agents, silicone oil, elastomers, polymers, antioxidants (oh, maybe that’s a good one?) kerosene and diesel fuel. Sounds like something I’d prefer to stay away from. Oh, give me back the days of rutted dirt roads!

Well, I could go on, but just having been in contact with the smog of despair today, I’m off to bed again with a severe headache. Hope I can get back up again tomorrow. We’ll see.

The best thing to do in this case is to AVOID CONSTRUCTION ZONES AT ALL COSTS!

Sigh

CAVEWOMAN!

Come visit me at ParaNovelGirls

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Chemicals, Environment, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pollution, Stink, Toxic

Breathtaking documentary on the state of the planet: HOME

Posted on Aug 18, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Don’t miss this film! HOME. It’s available to watch in its entirety at YouTube.

Here’s the trailer:

Click here to watch the film in its entirety, 1 hour, 33 minutes. Be sure to click on the icon at the bottom right of the box for full view.

TO DEBATE AND TAKE ACTION TOGETHER ON THE GOODPLANET FUNDATION FORUM : http://www.goodplanet.org/en

We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate. The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being. For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film. HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, GoodPlanet Fundation President

HOME is a carbon offset movie

Subtitles : http://www.goodplanet.org/I…

The movie will be available until July 15th.

Website: http://www.home-2009.com

Philly.com reports Pennsylvania court upholds ruling to remove “bubble” home, the only safe place for a woman with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. An appeals court has upheld a Lehigh County judge’s ruling that a man must remove a modular housing unit from his property. The Canary Report has been covering the story for the past year. Here’s one of the posts with a video.

The Marin Independent Journal reports San Rafael council OKs antennas near Ecology House. Ecology House is one of the only apartment buildings in the entire U.S. for people with chemical sensitivities. The Canary Report covered this story in January.

In other news:

The Huffington Post reports A New Warning: Air Pollution, the Fetus, and IQ.

In a related op/ed, Melissa Lin Perrella at Natural Resources Defense Council reports on Air Pollution Linked to Premature Birth and Low IQ in Kids.

Common Dreams reports Dangerous Chemicals Threaten America’s Reproductive Health.

Hc2d.co.uk reports on cancer clusters in China’s Huai River basin— an intricate network of rivers, lakes, and fishing villages.

Science Daily reports Fossil Fuel Use Leads To Ozone-Boosting Chemical Reaction. The burning of fossil fuels pumps chemicals into the air that react on surfaces such as buildings and roads to create photochemical smog-forming chlorine atoms.

Reuters reports Drugs Expose Many Premature Babies to Chemicals. Premature babies are often exposed to additives in their medications that could put them at risk of brain and lung damage, according to a new study.

Smart Brief reports Maine makes its list of chemicals hazardous to human health. Environmental officials released a list of about 1,700 chemicals that are commonly used and determined to pose a risk to human health. The list was required under a state law passed last year.