Category Archives: Healthy Environment

Dust

“If you really look at what’s in your dust, particularly for some chemicals, it’s just as concentrated—or more—as what you’d find in sewage sludge,” says Heather Stapleton, associate professor of environmental chemistry.”

“The chemicals she’s talking about are flame retardants, which she has found in the dust of every one of the several hundred homes she’s tested. The chemicals come into our houses via treated furniture, electronics, and insulation. Over time they accumulate in our dust. And in our bodies. Virtually all Americans have flame retardants in their blood, and at much higher levels than people in other countries.”

So how can we minimize our exposure at home, until these toxic ingredients are removed from everyday products and materials?

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Personal Update: It’s No Longer All In My Head!

Well, it never really ever was all in my head.

My arms, legs and the rest of my body have been affected too. But most of it was because things weren’t functioning as intended in my brain (which still IS in my head), and since brain functions control so many other things (like how our body functions, and how we communicate), when brain chemistry is altered (with or without choice or permission) then body functions will be altered too.

Think of what happens when you have a drink, then a few more, and then finish the bottle… Are you functioning the same way before drinking as after?

Personal Update Part One:

I am doing a lot better these days, in some ways even thousands of times better than I was doing by the time I left Bloor Street in May of 2010. I can now usually get through most of my days without everything requiring constant, exhausting effort, but it hasn’t turned into me being able to do or accomplish that much more in actual practical terms.

I still have brain issues and most of the other practical limitations that come from MCS/ES and a toxic brain injury, but recently, I have started feeling so much better!

I am trying to wrap my mind around that because it doesn’t make logical, rational sense to me. How is it that I can feel so much better without doing so much better?

Maybe it has just been so long since I’ve felt even halfway ok, and because some part of my brain chemistry is working differently and more normally…?

Whatever it is, it isn’t tangible, but it is a very welcome change!

water dance

Part Two: Insights

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A Canary’s Cry

When it’s hard to think in words, it’s sometimes easier to do pictures…

No More

Take Action:

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Video: A Family Learns About The Products They Buy

Chemerical is a film about a regular family as they learn about what’s lurking in their products, struggle to come to terms with the new info, and then learn how to make safer changes in their lives.

“Chemerical” explores the life cycle of everyday household cleaners and hygiene products to prove that, thanks to our clean obsession, we are drowning in sea of toxicity.

The film is at once humorous, as we watch the Goode family try to turn a new leaf by creating and living in a toxic free home, and informative, as director Andrew Nisker works with many experts to give audiences the tools and inspiration to live toxic free.

Chemerical

Andrew Nisker weaves visits to the Environmental Health Clinic in Toronto,

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How to Enforce a Fragrance-Free Policy

How to Enforce a Fragrance-Free Policy

“Make it clear that the policy applies to everyone”

effective enforcement

WHY?

Fragranced consumer products: exposures and effects from emissions

“Overall, 34.7 % of the population reported one or more types of adverse health effects from exposure to one or more types of fragranced products.”

“72.6 % were not aware that even so-called natural, green, and organic fragranced products typically emit hazardous air pollutants.”

“20.2 % of the population reported that if they enter a business, and smell air fresheners or some fragranced product, they want to leave as quickly as possible.”

“Significantly, 15.1 % of the general population reported that exposure to fragranced products in their work environment has caused them to become sick, lose workdays, or lose a job.”

 

Health and societal effects from exposure to fragranced consumer products (AU)

…”Finally, for public officials, the problem of “secondhand scents,” or indirect exposure to fragranced products, has parallels to secondhand tobacco smoke. Prevention from fragrance product exposure will enable individuals to work in their workplaces, attend school, and function in society without suffering involuntary harm.” …

 

More Resources:

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“Homesick” Update … MCS/ES Safe Housing

Here’s the new trailer for the film Homesick!

I am really looking forward to seeing this important film. So many of us are in need of safe, non-toxic housing in areas with clean, non-toxic outdoor air. When we are unable to function “as designed” in “normal” or moldy housing or when neighbors do things like use pesticides, conventional laundry products, smoke and burn things, or when there are wireless devices nearby, because of the disabling effects these harmful and toxic pollutants have on us, then safe housing can make such a great difference, allowing us to be more fully human again…

From Dual Power Productions: “Homesick was originally filmed in 1995. Director Susan Abod was so sick that she couldn’t finish the film. In 2011, we came on board to help. We’re excited to bring Homesick to you on September 15, a film that is even more relevant now than when it started in ’95.”

“Homesick”

“Imagine your house is making you dangerously sick. Common products like paint, carpeting, new building materials and insecticides are now your worst enemies. Your bones ache, you’re feverish, you suffer from extreme headaches, disabling fatigue, mental confusion, asthma and nausea. The longer you stay in your house, the sicker you get but you can’t imagine how or where you’re going to find a safe home. You are one of the millions suffering from the silent epidemic of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS).

In Homesick, Susan Abod hits the road to learn whether other people with MCS are finding safe housing. On her journey to the Southwestern United States, Susan meets people from all walks of life. Their living quarters range from a house on stilts to tents and a teepee.

Join Susan as she explores a little known world and discovers how people are coping with this growing epidemic.”

More MCS Housing Resources:

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Fragrance-Free and Healthy Schools (updated)

Are you sick from sick schools?

How Healthy is Your SchoolTeachers and students suffer when school buildings are not healthy, sometimes even developing permanently disabling conditions as a result.

MCS/ES. Asthma. Autism. Learning disabilities. Behavior problems…

Unhealthy school buildings can present real barriers to access.

It shouldn’t be like that. You shouldn’t lose your health or your job or have your child’s health and future suffer because there’s something unhealthy in the air at school.

There are enough examples of the benefits of a healthy learning environment over an unhealthy one (from toxic chemicals, molds and wi-fi for example), and tools for how to make change happen.

Here are some resources (in no particular order):

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Fragrance-Free and Healthy Schools

I’ve updated this post here:

https://seriouslysensitivetopollution.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/fragrance-free-and-healthy-schools-updated/

Fragrance-Free Door Signs

Many of us who have MCS/ES find answering the door can be hazardous to our health because frequently those on the other side of the door are marinating in toxic fragrance chemicals.

Sometimes a simple sign like this will do.

No Fragrance

Other times it is not enough and we need to provide more information.

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Is This Civilization? Is This A Dream?

What is civilized about having toxic chemicals in so many everyday products and materials?

What is civilized about extracting and using fossil fuels from the earth in ways that cause harm to all living beings?

What is civilized about denying health care and safe housing to people who need it?

When I saw this image, it spoke to me…

my dream NOT

Original
(artist unknown)

But it needed a slight revision… It wasn’t my “dream” to cut ties with civilization, it was my prescription!

So here is what I did and why:

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