Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

A multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) expert helps readers understand this controversial medical condition. Worksheets throughout.

Chemical sensitivity (or "multiple chemical sensitivity") describes people with numerous troubling symptoms attributed to environmental factors, from simple housepaint to complex building structures and materials in offices and schools. Many such people are seeking special accommodations, applying for disability benefits, and filing lawsuits claiming that exposure to common foods and chemicals has made them ill. Their efforts are supported by some physicians who refer themselves as clinical ecologists. They use questionable diagnoses and treatment methods, while critics charge that these approaches are bogus and that "chemical sensitivity" is not a valid diagnosis. The complaints associated with chemical sensitivity include depression, irritability, poor memory, fatigue, drowsiness, constipation, sneezing, wheezing, skin rashes, headache, chest pain, pounding heart, swelling, upset stomach, paralysis, AIDS-like illnesses, psychotic experiences, and just about every other symptom noted in medical textbooks. One prominent clinical ecologist even claimed that chemical sensitivity patients may well be human "canaries" on an increasingly poisoned planet, and others have actually labeled chemical sensitivity as a disease. While some people are adversely affected by exposure to some chemicals, there is an overwhelming increase in false claims and reports from misled obsessive patients and opportunistic doctors. Chemical Sensitivity examines this phenomenon in depth and the scientific, legal, ethical, and political issues that surround it. The authors explore the speculations about environmental exposure in the light of scientific knowledge of human physiology, allergy and immunology, pathology, toxicology, and clinical medicine. They evaluate cases of chemical sensitivity relative to controlled tests, and reveal that symptoms were brought on by psychological factors rather than physical ones. Chemical Sensitivity also critically assesses claims related to "sick building syndrome," "mercury-amalgam toxicity," "yeast allergy," and Gulf War syndrome.

This book, written from a patient's perspective, first defines chemical sensitivity, then describes its effects, and discusses strategies for dealing with it. A complete resource listing, information on documenting a case, expert opinions on CS and an examination of the issues are included. An appendix provides detoxification data.

This personal view of multiple chemical sensitivity and environmental illness is supported by research. In a question-and-answer format, the effects of exposure to perfume, smoke, air fresheners, cleaning products, exhaust, and other air contaminants are examined and linked to symptoms such as headaches, allergies, asthma, and fatigue. The book contains additional testimony and reports from 37 sufferers, as well as listings of resources and related scientific articles.

Chemical Exposures: Low Levels and High Stakes explains how day-to-day variations in chemical exposure may cause unusual and seemingly unpredictable symptoms, including many that have been termed psychosomatic in the past. It describes how everyday, low-level chemical exposures may cause fatigue, memory impairment, headaches, mood changes, breathing difficulties, digestive problems, and a host of chronic unexplained illnesses including chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War syndrome, and sick building syndrome. The authors are the first writers to clearly describe and document the process of adaptation, a concept that provides a rational and scientific basis for understanding these symptoms. In the Second Edition of this professionally acclaimed work, the authors offer evidence for an emerging new theory of disease-toxicant-induced loss of tolerance-which may have far-reaching implications for medicine, public health, and environmental policy. Based on a report commissioned by the New Jersey Department of Health that won the World Health Organization's Macedo Award, Chemical Exposures is the most comprehensive book ever written on sensitivity to low level chemical exposure and the many health effects associated with it. This work clarifies the nature of chemical sensitivity, shows how it differs from traditional allergies and toxicity, and suggests how federal and state governments can help those who are affected. The book identifies four major groups of people with hypersensitivity to low levels of chemicals: occupants of tight buildings, industrial workers who handle chemicals, residents of communities exposed to toxic chemicals, and individuals with random and unique exposures to various chemicals. The fact that similar symptoms are being reported by members of these demographically diverse groups not only points to a serious problem, it may also contribute to a better understanding of chemical sensitivity. Included are a number of features that will be invaluable to health professionals: * Clear, concise explanations of technical material * The most extensive bibliography to date on the subject * Tables contrasting different medical approaches * Descriptions of recent research and proposed mechanisms * An annotated bibliographical appendix highlighting illnesses that have been linked to environmental exposures * Policy recommendations for federal and state governments "Clinicians and policymakers would do well to read and heed the advice of this book."-Journal of the American Medical Association "Clinicians, researchers, and policymakers in this field would be well advised to read this landmark book."-American Public Health Association Newsletter "A milestone in the evolution of multiple chemical sensitivity."-Chemical and Engineering News ".groundbreaking and accessible.balanced and scholarly.essential reading for risk assessors, physicians, psychologists, attorneys concerned with toxic torts, public health officials, regulators, government decisionmakers, medical and environmental researchers, as well as laypersons."-Journal of Risk Analysis

Use of the term "multiple chemical sensitivity" (MCS) as a diagnostic label has generated increasing controversy during the past few decades as a phenomenon related to exposure to chemical agents sustained both in indoor and outdoor environments. This volume, prepared in conjunction with Biologic Markers in Immunotoxicology, contains the authored papers of a workshop held to develop an agenda to study the phenomenon of multiple chemical sensitivity. Authored by clinicians, immunologists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others involved in research or clinical activities relevant to the problem, the papers contain case evaluations and criteria for diagnosis, mechanisms potentially underlying MCS, and epidemiologic approaches to investigation.