Tag Archives: asthma

Canary Separates and Onesies aka Hazmat Gear

A few of us were talking about the steps some of us canaries have to take to be able to go places: masks, respirators, scarves to cover hair, lab coats, long skirts, outdoor only clothes that are removed before entering our safe homes, and clothes  that are  never worn inside due to picking up so much 2nd and 3rd hand fragrance contamination.

And  the removal and bagging for later washing of everything we did wear or have with us, and the showers we have to take as soon as we get home.

Then there’s the lunch kits and other accessories we need to pack, but that’s another blog post or three.

I’ve posted before about using tyvek suits, both to wear in order to protect us from exposures when we go out, or to have others wear to protect us from exposures to their products off-gassing when we need them to enter our space.

This time though, someone mentioned that they wanted to go to an event that lasted long enough that they would need to use the washroom while out, so a one piece tyvek suit wasn’t going to cut it.

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If Only You Could See

Guest post and art from Gloris Smith Young 

You look at me
You look away

I see it every day
If only you could see

This could be you
Instead of me

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Help for How to Be Fragrance-Free

All it takes is a decision to go fragrance-free!

It should be easier than quitting smoking since there aren’t supposed to be addictive chemicals in fragrances, right?

Due to the fact that so many people are now experiencing adverse effects from fragranced products (34.7% in 2016), we are well on the way to having fragrance-free policies everywhere for the sake of protecting public health just as was done with smoking bans. It’s not just those of us who suffer immediate and disabling adverse effects from the products (1st, 2nd, and 3rd hand), but for everyone.

Here are some great resources (in no particular order) to help you go fragrance-free:

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Corporate Gaslighting and Conflicts of Interest at the Women’s College Hospital

I saw something that shocked me, and I don’t know how anyone involved with this could have thought it was a good idea.

This is what I saw

If you are a Canadian, you will probably understand.

.

It’s pretty much the same thing as this (slightly revised) image:

(pretend it’s done all the way)

What would you think if you saw that?

Shoppers Drug Mart is the antithesis of scent or fragrance free!

 

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Françoise Gourd 1950 – 2017

Shared by Doug Atwood

In June 2017, we lost a friend and active member of our community.


Françoise Gourd

 

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A Universally Recognized Accessibility Symbol for Environmental Sensitivities?

 

We need an easily recognizable accessibility symbol for non-toxic, wireless, VOC, scent, and fragrance-free places that show they are accessible to people with MCS/ES, asthma, COPD, migraines, and others who need healthy environments in order to remain functional and not become physically or cognitively impaired.

These signs would be used only in places that actually enforce the policies.

The standard accessibility signs have white symbols on blue backgrounds like these:


I’ve never seen anything like this to signify healthy wireless, scent, and fragrance-free indoor air, but these are some others I have found or assembled that might give a designer ideas to run with:

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Bubbled People

 

I ran across some striking photos by Alex Kisilevich (you can see them in the banner above if you squint) and I shared the link with  the intro “Food for thought… what’s outside the bubble preventing access?”  Someone responded with  “tell me about it”, so I wrote a short story before seeing what the photographer’s intent was, if it was indeed as a writer wrote, to say:

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60 MiNueTs: Short Video Series on Environmental Health

 It’s hard to get anyone to take the time to read (let alone  understand) scientific research, but it’s so important that we educate ourselves when the opportunity arises. People have short attention spans these days, probably from all the neurotoxins and wireless radiation we’re all being exposed to on a daily basis, so it’s great when we find information that is short and to the point.

Here is a great short video series from

the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment.

Please watch and share!

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Endangered Human Art Project: Bringing Awareness to Chemical Sensitivity

WHO Says We Need Fresh Air?!

Guest Post from Marie LeBlanc

Bringing awareness to chemical sensitivity
Marie LeBlanc at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg. May 12th 2017.

I am an artist  in Winnipeg who lives with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and environmental illness caused by mold exposure. My art has been in relation to multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)/Environmental Illness (EI) and toxic environments.

“WHO says we need fresh air?!” is a series of quotes from sufferers of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Environmental Illness, Mold Exposure, Electrohypersensitivity Syndrome, Lyme Disease and other conditions related to Chronic/Complex Immunological Neurological Diseases.

The art installation was on display during the evening of Fri. May 12, on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)/Environmental Sensitivities Awareness Day,  outside the Centennial Concert Hall (with a few quotes displayed on the indoor screens), and is dedicated to my friend Eliana from Mexico.

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Dr Molot Urges Everyone to Support the Canaries

Please take a minute and eleven seconds  to watch this video from Dr.  John Molot where he talks about MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities) and how we (the people who developed MCS) have been stigmatized and that we really are canaries. He speaks about some of the other serious health problems the chemicals that disable us are causing in those who do not have MCS.
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