MCS/ES Housing Resources From CERA

Posted on November 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

This information can now be found in the Property Manager’s Guides to MCS

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Posted in Disability, Health Care, Housing, Human Rights, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief for People with Chemical and Electrical Sensitivities

Posted on October 29, 2012 | 3 comments

(Thanks to Mary Lamielle)

Providing Services for People with Chemical and Electrical Sensitivities (CS/ES) in Emergency Management

Educate yourself and your agency or organization about the needs of people with chemical and electrical sensitivities (CS/ES).

Identify and work with the CS/ES in your community to determine how to best meet their needs.

Provide notification to people with CS of any toxic event so that they can take precautions or evacuate as necessary.

Establish a registry as a means to provide advance notification.

Keep the needs of those with CS/ES in mind as emergency preparedness plans are developed.

Work to ensure emergency services and shelters are accessible for people with CS/ES.

Be prepared to respond to any emergency affecting the CS even if the balance of the population is not significantly affected.

Provide for the safe evacuation, if necessary, for those who cannot use public transportation.

Provide outreach to people with CS/ES who are unable to get to or be accommodated in a shelter.

Prohibit smoking in the vicinity of people with CS and protect those with CS from exposure to combustion sources including gasoline and diesel exhaust, propane, and similar exposures.

Use least toxic/allergenic cleaning and maintenance products and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices with least toxic/low impact products, if necessary.

Adopt and promote best practices policies that restrict the use of fragrances and the purchase and use of fragranced and scented products in emergency services.

Restrict the use of cell phones, smart phones, and similar devices in the vicinity of people with ES.

…

These tips were provided by Mary Lamielle,
National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, Inc.
“Addressing the Needs of People with Chemical and Electrical Sensitivities and Fragrance-Free Policies in Emergency Preparedness,”
New Jersey GAINED, January 25, 2012.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Disability, EHS, Human Rights, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Laundry Decontamination Protocols

Posted on September 8, 2012 | 62 comments

Safe clothing can be a huge challenge for people with MCS/ES. Most clothing is not chemical free. Even organic clothing can be treated and finished with the same toxic chemicals found in regular clothes (see link at the end of this post for more details)

Sometimes it is possible to detox regular clothing. For mildly sensitive people it might just take a few regular washes with a tolerable detergent. For more sensitive people, a more involved protocol may do the trick. For others, we often end up without much in the way of clothing and bedding, because even the trace chemicals can be too much.

Here are some methods many people have used to successfully detox their clothing. As always, individual results may vary according to personal sensitivities, water conditions, products available, and whatever might be in the clothing to begin with.

Updated Version of Ellen’s Laundry Decontamination Protocol

Originally posted at MCS-Canadian-Sources and at The Canary Report        (copied with permission)

When I joined the MCS… list in 2005, I learned what other members of the list were doing to decontaminate their new clothes. I made some changes, the main one being that I soak the new items in plastic bins, rather than soaking them in my washing machine.

I have an expensive front-loading washing machine, with a maximum soaking time of 35 minutes, which is totally inadequate for decontaminating new or really smelly fabrics. I continue to make changes as I find problems or improvements.

If you have a top-loading washing machine, soaking times can be set much longer, because the timer can be turned off after the soaking ingredient and machine water are completely mixed.
I am including the latest version of my protocol here.

Please note that I have only tested this protocol on cotton, cotton/bamboo blends, cotton/polyester blends, and a very few totally synthetic fabrics. It is not safe to use on silk.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Chemical Free Clothing, Environment, Health, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Undisclosed chemicals in fragranced products (new video)

Posted on August 15, 2012 | 9 comments

Independent researcher Dr. Anne Steinemann was recently interviewed by Dr. Joseph Mercola about undisclosed toxic chemicals found in laundry products, air fresheners, cleaners, lotions and other (mostly) fragranced consumer products.

She will be testing foods found in supermarkets for fragrance chemicals. Many of us have had to stop buying food from supermarkets etc because they taste like fragrance and cleaning product chemicals.

She also notes that just because a product is “fragrance free”, doesn’t mean it really is, or that it doesn’t contain other harmful chemicals.

Important, worthwhile interview, especially if you don’t know what all the “fragrance-free” fuss is about.

For more info, see Dr. Steinemann’s website

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Posted in Disability, Environment, Fragrance, Health, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Products

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Diagnosing Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity and “The effects of invisible waves”

Posted on August 14, 2012 | 1 comment

The Environmental Health Clinic at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto recently held an educational event on the environmental health condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EMS, aka EHS). Dr. Ray Copes, chief, environmental and occupational health, Public Health Ontario, Dr. Magda Havas, associate professor of environmental and resource studies, Trent University, and Dr. Riina Bray, medical director, Environmental Health Clinic, WCH were among the speakers.

“We need to create more awareness about this condition,” said Dr. Riina Bray. “Health-care practitioners need to better understand EMS (EHS) so they can help their patients prevent and manage their symptoms. The public needs to know how to protect themselves from the broad range of health impacts electromagnetic fields have on their minds and bodies.”

Recognition of EHS is slowly growing as more people are affected. The number of wireless devices is growing, and it’s difficult to avoid exposure. Smart meters on every house, cell phones in nearly every pocket, cell towers in every neighbourhood, wifi in every other café and home… Never before in human history have we been exposed in this way.

I personally am lucky that compared to some people, my EHS symptoms are mostly mild to middling, although they have been severe at times.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Disability, EHS, Environment, Health Care

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1844 Bloor St. West

Posted on August 7, 2012 | 10 comments

1844 Bloor Street West

(1991-2010)

From fixing up the run down house in 1991, to raising my two wonderful children, planting and tending a garden, living and celebrating life with friends and family, to getting sick, to almost dying…

Memories of life at 1844 Bloor St W 1991-2010.

My father, daughter and son on the porch… 91 or 92.

After cleaning and painting inside, I think it took almost 20 bags to remove the weeds and garbage and unearth the garden. Only the hollyhock, a red rose, and some alyssum in the rock garden were there when I moved in.

It took a few years to get the perennial garden going. My father’s old porch railing was re-purposed as a fence for a few years. People used to smile when they went by. More people who lived on Bloor St W started planting flowers in front. People often asked me if it was my garden when I was out shoveling snow, and told me how much they enjoyed seeing the seasonal changes.

When I got too sick to care for it because of the vehicle exhaust and laundry fumes from the apartment buildings, I watched from the windows as people stole plants, rocks and other items I’d placed there.

~

Many birthdays were celebrated in 1844…

Continue reading →

10 Comments

Posted in Air Quality, Government, Health, Health Care, Housing, Human Rights, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Support

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The documentary video Homesick about MCS and housing is almost done

Posted on July 4, 2012 | 4 comments

From Susan Abod, Producer of Homesick:

Announcing an opportunity to be included in the documentary video Homesick about MCS and housing

The film is almost done, but I am looking for pictures of MCSers and where they live to create a collage showing there are lots of us out there around the world. You can view an 8 minute video clip and read more about the project on the Homesick website: http://homesick-video.com/.

If you are interested, please send a photo of yourself where you live. It could be a room that you consider your “safest” place, a picture of your whole house, or your neighborhood or surrounding area. It may look “normal” or it may have been foiled or fixed up showing what it took to make to make it safe for you. If you live in a car, trailer, or tent, send a picture of that. I hope to include people with all levels of health and show a wide variety of living situations, whether the situation is working for you, or not.

You can email me the picture as JPEG, PDF, or TIFF file to: mail@homesick-video.com. Please include your city, state, and country. You can also send your picture through the mail to: Homesick: Pictures, c/o Susan Abod, 11 Balsa Court, Santa Fe, NM 87508. Note that sending your picture grants permission for its use in the film.

If you have any questions you can email me at: mail@homesick-video.com. Please feel free to forward this to other MCSers that you may know of anywhere on the globe who might like to participate!

For more video and info visit: http://documentaries.org/cid-films/homesick/

Thank you and all the best,

Susan Abod
Producer, Homesick

4 Comments

Posted in Housing, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Rigpa Glimpse of the Day for Jun 9 2012

Posted on June 8, 2012 | 4 comments

“If we are interdependent with everything and everyone, even our smallest, least significant thought, word, and action have real consequences throughout the universe.
Throw a pebble into a pond. It sends a shiver across the surface of the water. Ripples merge into one another and create new ones. Everything is inextricably interrelated: We come to realize that we are responsible for everything we do, say, or think, responsible in fact for ourselves, everyone and everything else, and the entire universe.”

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Posted in Dharma, Interconnectedness, Responsibility

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Not so Equal Access to Health Care in Ontario or Systemic Barriers to Access for People with MCS/ES

Posted on May 27, 2012 | 13 comments

Some places like Ontario, where I live, have disability access laws that state service providers, including those in healthcare, must accommodate people who are disabled.

On a government website, it states:

Barriers to accessibility are obstacles that make it difficult — sometimes impossible — for people with disabilities to do the things most of us take for granted — things like going shopping, working, or taking public transit… 

(or receiving health care services)

When we think of barriers to accessibility, most of us think of physical barriers — like a person who uses a wheelchair not being able to enter a public building because there is no ramp.

The fact is there are many kinds of barriers. Some are visible. Many are invisible:

•    Attitudinal barriers are those that discriminate against people with disabilities.

•    Organizational barriers are an organization’s policies, practices or procedures that discriminate against people with disabilities.

•    Architectural and physical barriers are features of buildings or spaces that cause problems for people with disabilities.
Chemical or “environmental” barriers prevent people like myself who have disabling medical conditions from breathing and functioning properly when exposed to these invisible, toxic and disabling barriers, resulting in both short and long term impacts.

How many of us do not have safe access to healthcare in Ontario?
How many of us do not have safe access to healthcare in Ontario?

In the ” Guide to the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service, Ontario Regulation 429/07″,  it says that Hospitals and health services provide goods or services  and as  designated public sector organizations should have been in Compliance by January 1, 2010…

It also states:
Continue reading →

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Posted in Disability, Government, Health Care, Human Rights, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Chemical Industry Blocks Attempts to Create Healthier Buildings and Materials

Posted on May 23, 2012 | 2 comments

Hot on the heels of several eye-popping reports about how toxic chemicals and industry bought politics are  impacting our health, including the Chicago Tribune’s expose of  how the chemical industry has succeeded in getting toxic flame retardants added to home furnishings in amounts that harm us but do nothing to prevent fires,  indeed making fires more toxic too, from Bill Walsh at the Healthy Building Network comes news of how the chemical industry is blocking efforts to create healthier buildings.

No wonder healthy housing is so hard to find!

Chemical Giants Target the USGBC: Part 1

Bill Walsh
Bill Walsh

By Bill Walsh, Executive Director
Healthy Building Network

May 22, 2012

The credibility of the US chemical industry has taken a beating in the press this month. But instead of apologizing, pledging to reform its ways, or disciplining a “few bad apples,” for being caught lying red handed, the industry has doubled down and launched an all out attack on the US Green Building Council.[1] The focus of the attack – modest amendments to the LEED Rating System, two voluntary credits that address the presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and other toxins in LEED-rated buildings.

continue reading at : Healthy Building Network

 

 

2 Comments

Posted in Environment, Government, Health, Housing, Products

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