Please take a moment to feel your heart beating.
Not everyone can do this anymore.
While some progress has been made, it’s still too little,
too late for far too many people.
This will not change until more people who have MCS/ES come forward with their stories, and more healthy people start advocating and helping us in daily life, as well as pushing governments and medical institutions to pull their heads out of the sand (and industry pockets) and get into (at least) the 20th century as far as the very serious environmental and related health issues are concerned.
“Business as usual is a disaster”
Robert Watson
“Unfortunately, many physicians, employers, family, and friends
are in effect assisting in suicide through their disbelief.”
(and neglect)
“The Consequences of Disbelief”
…
“Twelve years as an advocate for the chemically sensitive has led me to the sad realization that a large number of chemically sensitive people have taken their own lives and many others are inching ever closer to that decision because they find it such a daunting task to locate a safe place to live or work and are rapidly running out of money. And at the same time that they are engaged in this herculean struggle, far too many of them are facing a discouraging skepticism from those about them.”
From
“Amputated Lives: Coping with Chemical Sensitivity”
2008
By Alison Johnson
With a Foreword by L. Christine Oliver, M.D., Harvard Medical School
Links to several chapters of the book, where stories about people’s lives are featured are available here:
Amputated Lives: Coping with Chemical Sensitivity (2008)
By Alison Johnson
With a Foreword by L. Christine Oliver, M.D., Harvard Medical School
http://www.alisonjohnsonmcs.com/amputated-lives-coping-with-chemical-sensitivity.htm
…
It is now 2019, and while some excellent progress has been made, we are still up against the same denial of reality for human canaries as far as recognition, inclusion, and accessibility are concerned in housing, health care, public places, and everything else society has to offer for those who do not have MCS/ES.
Not that we can accept those things in the toxic ways they are currently offered, they are simply not safe for us to accept, anymore than a house or business or appliance made from peanuts would be safe for someone who is allergic to peanuts. We’ve been asking for non-toxic, harmless access to air, water, food, things, and places because that is accessible health care for us.
The Honourable David C. Onley, the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (2007-2014) was appointed to lead the Third Review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
He found that “For most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers.”
Several mentions of ES were made, and a specific recommendation:
In the SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS (on pg 80):
7. Ensure that accessibility standards respond to the needs of people with environmental sensitivities.
Review Finds Ontario Far From Accessible but Report Includes People With Environmental Sensitivities
…
The final report from the Ontario government’s Task Force on Environmental Health, CARE NOW: An Action Plan to Improve Care for People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia (FM) and Environmental Sensitivities/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (ES/MCS) (December 2018), has still not been released to the public, nor have the interim report’s (2017) recommendations been adopted.
…
Corporations are making fun of people with fragrance and chemical “sensitivities”, and other adverse health effects from their products, and misleading people about the serious nature of the consequences (the beginning of this post mentions some devastating human effects, there are many others).
Meanwhile, the things that harm people with chemical and environmental sensitivities, are also destroying the same environment we all depend on for life.
Isn’t it beyond time that society listened to the human canaries and took action to stop the harm, to stop the use, sale, and manufacture of harmful products and materials, and to ensure that environments are non-toxic, environmentally friendly, and safely accessible for the people who can help warn the others?
Think about the people who are isolated, and can’t open windows or be outside, anywhere, because of all the toxic products and materials that release fumes everywhere. Realize that the majority of the older people who developed MCS/ES weren’t born with it, but developed this later in life from exposures.
Millions of people all around the world now have what are disabling and preventable chronic health conditions, many of which improve considerably when the sources of involuntary exposures to environmental pollutants and accessibility barriers are removed.
Who knows how many children are affected? No-one is trying to find out. Child suicides and attempts have rocketed in recent years. Why is that? Who gains and who loses when the causes of health problems aren’t properly addressed?
Let’s stop destroying the world as we and others have known it.
“Business as usual is a disaster”
Robert Watson
It’s time to speak up an out and hold the corporations, their marketing departments, governments, and medical institutions to account. By doing so we can reduce the plentiful health harms, deaths, and pollutants that are affecting everyone all around the world. If we start now, there’s still a chance of a livable existence for future generations… but only if we all act now.
You can start by paying attention to the human canaries in your lives. We can help you shift your daily activities to those that help instead of cause harm.
♥ ♥ ♥
Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution 
I pretty much want to tattoo this entire blog onto every person in this country, and to make them listen to the words 24/7. Thank you for all you do.
Ha! Thanks Amy! That might be kind of weird, but it would be good if a few more people would at least read it and consider the points…
“Sales of synthetic chemicals will double over the next 12 years with alarming implications for health and the environment, according to a global study that highlights government failures to rein in the industry behind plastics, pesticides and cosmetics.
…
Global chemical production has almost doubled since 2000 and is now – if the pharmaceutical business is taken into account – the world’s second largest industry, the report noted.
…
There have been advances in some areas. National authorities have raised concern about a number of products, including formaldehyde in shampoo, microbeads in toothpaste, phthalates in food packaging, and flame retardants in many household goods. Numerous conventions have been signed and regulations put in place to minimise risks but the industry continues its relentless expansion.
In part, this is a sign of the increasing sophistication of consumer products. Some electronic consumer items, such as laptops and mobile phones, can include hundreds of different chemical products. But they are also present in countless other everyday items. The report gives the example of an office chair, which contains flame retardants on the foam cushion, rubber additives in the rollers, chromium surface coating, plastic additives on the back and varnish on any wooden parts. But environmentalists say the long-term risks to the majority outweigh the short-term gains for a minority.
Of the 345 million tonnes of chemicals consumed in the European Union, 62% posed a health hazard, according to a study by the EU statistical organisation last year.”
…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/12/surge-in-chemical-use-a-threat-to-health-and-environment
Have you heard about Zürich’s apartment complex for MCS people? Katie Pollock https://inhabitat.com/europes-first-chemical-free-apartment-village-for-hypersensitives-completed-in-switzerland/ Sent from my iPhone
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Yes!
Last I heard they were fund raising to be able to continue to subsidize some of the apartments and keep the place going. They did not have stable long term funding. I haven’t heard an update in a while though.