You might be “SENSITIVE” to pollution!

Do you breathe?

sensitive to pollution 4

Are YOU “sensitive” to pollution?

Are YOU
“sensitive”
to pollution?

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Ask Major Retailers to Eliminate the Toxic 100+

Mind the Store

New Mind the Store initiative calls on the largest U.S. retailers to restrict the most Hazardous 100+ chemicals.

“It’s not feasible to ask the average person to keep 100+ chemicals in their head when they go to the store”

In fact, it’s usually impossible for us to find out if and where these chemicals are lurking, and they are lurking almost everywhere! Store buyers can, however, ask their suppliers to provide supply chain information on chemicals used, and can ask for safe, non-toxic products and materials for their customers.

“Our coalition came together around a shared critique of our government’s failure to protect the public from toxic chemicals and a shared platform for how to fix our policies. But most importantly we came together with a shared moral urgency to reduce the suffering caused by chronic diseases like cancer, disabilities and autism that are linked to chemical exposure.”

What is the Hazardous 100+ list?

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Endocrine disruptors – in fabric?

O Ecotextiles is a great blog to follow if you are interested in what’s happening in the textile world. Lots of excellent information about why those of us with MCS/ES and Fibromyalgia can have so much difficulty finding safe (non-toxic) clothing to wear, as well as safe beds and furniture to rest our weary bodies on.

Here’s their latest, a subject that is worth understanding, as endocrine disruptors are found in so many of our everyday products and materials, and our endocrine systems are responsible for regulating so much of our lives, processes that we seem to have taken for granted for far too long…

Endocrine disruptors – in fabric?.

A big thank you to Patty and Leigh Anne who founded O Ecotextiles in 2004 and keep us so well informed.

Access to Safe and Appropriate Dental Care for People With MCS/ES: Part 3

Part 3: Things I Need to Do to Survive a Trip to the Dentist     

(I have severe MCS, the measures I need to take are not necessary for everyone)

In addition to making sure I am fully prepared for what I need in order to survive the days following a trip to the dentist (supplies, food, frozen foods, etc), I have to prepare for the actual visit. Depending on my state of brain fog and or brain injury symptoms, this can be very time consuming and challenging.

If possible, I discuss these measures in advance with staff when I make the appointment, to make sure they are prepared to accommodate my disability related needs, and can be comfortable explaining them to other patients who might have concerns when seeing me.

At the cabin, getting ready to go to the dentist
At the cabin, getting ready to go to the dentist
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Access to Safe and Appropriate Dental Care for People With MCS/ES: Part 2

Access to Safe and Appropriate Dental Care for People With MCS/ES:

Part 2: Resources and Links

dental tools

What we really need are mobile dental vans that have no-VOC interiors and staff for people with severe MCS/ES, and safe and accessible dental offices and practitioners for everyone else. Until then, we need ways to protect ourselves and must often educate the dentists and staff as to how they can take care of our needs.

From mild to severe MCS/ES, different measures may be required.

Here are useful links that can help you prepare, and a sample office policy:

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Access to Safe and Appropriate Dental Care for People With MCS/ES: Part 1

Part 1: The Problems

This is a subject I’ve been meaning to write about for quite some time, as I have my own serious dental issues much like like Doris, whose story follows.

We are dependent on ODSP and their dental program which does not cover our disability related medical needs of materials compatibility testing, safer materials or oxygen, all of which can be absolutely necessary to avoid serious health consequences from chemical exposures in dental offices and from incompatible materials.

Also, as Doris mentions below, most dentists have no experience with our specific needs.

I am aware of other people currently experiencing similar predicaments, in Ontario and elsewhere. I might be posting a few more stories as a part of this series.

We are looking for suggestions on how we can receive appropriate, safe and affordable dental care, which as we know is necessary for more than just dental health.

I will also be posting some steps and solutions available to those with adequate financial means to pay for them, but will start with the problems, and the request for assistance in finding solutions for those of us without adequate financial (and social) resources.

dental tools

What follows is Doris’s story, in her words…

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There’s WHAT in my Baking Soda?

Fragrance chemicals….

Yes, I said it… There are fragrance chemicals in much of the baking soda sold now… Even in the baking soda you bake with. Unless you are extremely lucky… and there’s no rhyme or reason as to when it might be fragrance free, because no-one who might know will tell as to why there are any problems with it in the first place.

For months now, I haven’t been able to get any baking soda that isn’t fragrance (or otherwise) pre-contaminated… and I use it instead of soap products, which I don’t tolerate, to clean me, my teeth, my clothes and everything else that needs cleaning… Because my body doesn’t tolerate soap, even organic olive oil soap, probably because there’s something about modern lye that doesn’t agree with me…

If I lived in a cave, it might not matter, but I’m stuck here in the suburbs, and despite being housebound, there are people who make assumptions on my rare appearances outdoors, like when I have to go to the recycling and garbage bins… And I am just well enough to notice, and to care… And it just doesn’t feel good physically, or emotionally…

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My local Bulk Barn store owner picking up 50 lbs of fragrance contaminated baking soda during a February snowstorm

The most recent Arm and Hammer bulk sample, was even worse than the previous one, although the type of contamination is different…
The owner/manager says he took the sample from a brand new bag he just cut open and used the jar I had given him when he picked up the 50 lbs of fragrance contaminated baking soda I’d purchased in December. He was even so kind as to deliver the jar full.

Arm and Hammer is saying there is no way their stuff is contaminated before it goes in the bag, Bulk Barn won’t tell me who the middle man is, and the bags are really unlikely to pick up contamination during the time between anyway – but I’ve had fragrance contamination on the INSIDE of the bag, when the outside had no fragrance residue.

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Tax Time: Medical and Disability-Related Expenses

Tax time is approaching yet again, and there are some disability related tax credits available in Canada, even for people with MCS/ES (some of which I will post below).

There are also tax credits offered to people who need to retrofit their homes for medical reasons:

Renovation or construction expenses – the amounts paid to make changes to give a person access to (or greater mobility or functioning within) their dwelling, when that person has a severe and prolonged mobility impairment or lacks normal physical development.

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Worth Reading: Other Bloggers Write About MCS/ES and ME/CFS

Worth Reading

Fergiemoto wrote about the challenges she faces due to having MCS and fragrance chemical proliferation. I love her illustrations!  See Human Canaries and Friendship.

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Sharon, a writer and service dog partner who also has Lyme Disease and other disabilities, wrote about how MCS affects her life here: How MCS Affects Sharon

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Phoenix Rising posted this great piece by Carol Schmid who examines what it is about the nature of ME/CFS that makes it likely to generate skepticism. There are many similarities with MCS/ES. See:  The ME/CFS Stigma

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