Tag Archives: health

You Can Help Provide Medically Required Safe Housing!

Posted on May 3, 2013 | Leave a comment

Safe, non-toxic housing is the primary medical need of people with MCS/ES and EHS. The number of lives affected and needing this kind of medically required housing is growing, and far too little is being done by the various governments or medical associations to address the needs of all the people who are being injured and disabled by common everyday chemical and EMF/EMR exposures.

For us, safe housing is like the cast after we break a bone. It protects us and allows us to heal while preventing re-injury, especially if the housing is in an area where the outdoor air is also safe for us to breathe. Especially for those of us who have been repeatedly and seriously injured. That means no dryer vents that emit hazardous laundry chemicals, no pesticide use, or industrial emissions or busy roads nearby.

The good people at  the Environmental Health Association of Québec (ASEQ-EHAQ) see and understand the need and are working to do something about it, by developing an ECOASIS in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, but they need your help to make it happen.

Help Provide An ECOASIS

If you are already convinced this is a great cause to support and just want the link to where you can donate, then please click here.

♥

If you need to know more about why this is so important, then please keep reading…

Continue reading →

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Posted in Accessibility, Disability, Environmental Sensitivities, Green Building, Health Care, Housing, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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“You Are a Guinea Pig”

Posted on April 29, 2013 | 5 comments

We all are!

Three articles that crossed my path today illustrate the challenges we face (trying to stay healthy) while alive. Of course there are more issues, (like fracking, GMOs and processed food) but these three are more than enough to show us that “lifestyle choices” are not enough to keep us healthy.

This article  by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz is a must read!

You Are a Guinea Pig

How Americans Became Exposed to Biohazards in the Greatest Uncontrolled Experiment Ever Launched

“The culprit behind this silent killer is lead.  And vinyl.  And formaldehyde.  And asbestos.  And Bisphenol A.  And polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).  And thousands more innovations brought to us by the industries that once promised “better living through chemistry,” but instead produced a toxic stew that has made every American a guinea pig and has turned the United States into one grand unnatural experiment.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rosner/hazardous-chemicals_b_3175796.html

“The groups that produce these miracle substances — like the petrochemical, plastics, and rubber industries, including major companies like Exxon, Dow, and Monsanto — argue that, until we can definitively prove the chemical products slowly leaching into our bodies are dangerous, we have no “right,” and they have no obligation, to remove them from our homes and workplaces. The idea that they should prove their products safe before exposing the entire population to them seems to be a foreign concept.”

…

Please read the whole article, it’s worth it.

guinea pig

But wait, there’s more!!!

Continue reading →

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Posted in Environmental Health, Health, Health Care, Pollution, Public Health, Toxic Trespass

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Voices from the Shadows, a Film About ME/CFS From the UK

Posted on April 28, 2013 | 1 comment

People with visible and invisible disabilities are often not only discriminated against, but far too often abused. Some of the abuse is from ignorance. Other times it is systemic and sometimes it is political.

ME/CFS, FM, and MCS/ES are often overlapping conditions. Canadian diagnosis stats with more details are here or a simple chart is at the bottom of the page here.

There are 3 dedicated clinics in Canada for diagnosing these conditions (and more, such as EHS). One is in Toronto (with a perpetual long wait list) and a new one just opened in BC with Dr Bested as the clinic director and was immediately overwhelmed with people seeking appointments. There is also one in  N.S.

Some provinces have a diagnostic code for ME/CFS now, and for FM, but not for MCS/ES. The CDC has also recognized it. In the US, people can look for doctors on the AAEM website. (there may be others, I am not as familiar with the US resources).

People in the UK and elsewhere are still trying to get proper recognition and protocols in place so that patients there are also not subjected to more abuse on top of these already devastating conditions.

Watch the trailer of the film here, then  you can link to the full length film from the Voices from the Shadows website. Continue reading →

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Posted in Environmental Health, Fibromyalgia, Health Care, Human Rights, Images, MCS/ES, ME/CFS

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Do No Harm? Disabilities and Discrimination: Elaine’s Story

Posted on April 26, 2013 | 8 comments

When we are disabled, we can be vulnerable to discrimination, systemic abuse, and having our basic human rights violated. Like Paul Caune points out in the film Hope Is Not A Plan, “When your civil rights are violated you don’t need a good hug, you need a good lawyer”.

At the very least, we need a good advocate by our side.

Despite Human Rights “recognition”, people with MCS/ES are systemically denied safe access to even the most basic institutions of “care” that most people take for granted  due to chemical (and attitudinal) barriers and discrimination, like with the health-care systems, the very system where our health is supposed to be cared for.  I do believe there’s even an oath that some providers take to “do no harm”, but sadly, as those of us with MCS/ES have experienced, that is rarely the case when chemical and environmental sensitivities are concerned. Add more disabilities, and it can become even more challenging and rare to have our needs met with equality, dignity, and respect.

Take Elaine for example. Elaine has MCS/ES and used a wheelchair full-time for nine years because of a hereditary neurological disorder, Spino-cerebellar ataxia.  With luck, medication, some amazing people, and a reduction in toxic environmental contaminants, her mobility is now much improved.

However, due to these disabilities, she had her basic rights violated at a time when she was most vulnerable, when she required health care.

Elaine’s Story

Continue reading →

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

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

Posted on April 10, 2013 | 3 comments

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
Continue reading →

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Posted in Accessibility, Dental Care, Disability, Health Care

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

Posted on April 3, 2013 | 4 comments

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…

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Dental Care, Disability, Health Care, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Ecocide as a Crime Against Humanity

Posted on March 14, 2013 | 2 comments

Do you live in the EU? If so, please sign on to the current campaign to end Ecocide in Europe. Opportunities for  global involvement also exist (see below).

This short video describes the issue, please watch and get involved. We need legally binding laws for things to change, and this would be a good one.

“Ecocide is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystems of a given territory.  Ecocide should become a crime for which companies and individuals can be held responsible according to criminal law and the principle of superior responsibility.”

The Problem: Ecocide

Ecocide, the extensive destruction of ecosystems, is occurring today. For example:

  • Large-scale land use change that causes the direct destruction of habitats – as is the case with deforestation in most tropical rainforests;
  • Significant pollution whether deliberate or incidental – such as oil dumping and spills;
  • Open cast mining where entire landscapes are removed – as is the case with oil sands and some coal and gold mining;

http://eradicatingecocide.com/overview/what-is-ecocide/

Wish to End Ecocide

See  End Ecocide in Europe for more information on how you can get involved there.

Eradicating Ecocide has more information on global efforts.

Everyone can sign on here

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Posted in Ecocide, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Rights

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Phthalates in Supermarket Foods

Posted on March 9, 2013 | 22 comments

Finally.

Someone tested it.

And just like many of us who have MCS/ES have been saying for years:

Supermarket food is contaminated with fragrance and plastic chemicals.

supermarket food contaminated

Continue reading →

22 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Chemicals, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Images, Public Health

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Women’s Voices for the Earth Report on “Secret Scents”

Posted on February 25, 2013 | 2 comments

Women’s Voices for the Earth recently released a new report, called “Secret Scents“. It  highlights the need for ingredient transparency by the companies that create fragranced products, since right now we have almost no way of knowing what is causing the fragrance allergies and other serious health effects people experience when exposed to  fragrances. These adverse health effects are increasing, especially in children.

Amazingly, companies are not required by the FDA or EPA to disclose fragrance ingredients, so it is difficult for anyone to pinpoint specific fragrance allergens and sensitizers among the hundreds of ingredients that can make up a scent.

Another report  was also just released, this one on endocrine disrupting chemicals. Some fragrance ingredients, like phthalates (see below) are also endocrine disruptors, while others are known carcinogens and/or neurotoxic!

Continue reading →

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Posted in Accessibility, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Images, Public Health

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Affordable, Healthy Housing Project in the Laurentians Deadline Extended

Posted on February 22, 2013 | 13 comments

This is good news for people who are willing to give up their proximity to friends and family in order to live in a medically required healthy housing community. I’ve filled out my application. I can’t wait to live somewhere I can safely go outside again without being assaulted by chemicals from other people’s dryer vents or chimneys. The Laurentians are a beautiful place to be.

The Laurentians

From Association pour la santé environnementale du Québec – Environmental Health Association of Quebec | 6 Trianon, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec H9A 2H8

Affordable, healthy housing project in the Laurentians deadline extended to March 1st, 2013

Have you registered? Did you fill the NEW form and return it to us?

If you haven’t done this yet and you are interested in living in affordable, healthy housing for people suffering from environmental sensitivities (multiple chemical sensitivity and electro sensitivity), please call us immediately at (514) 683-5701.

You can find the form on our website (by clicking on the brown button ‘Affordable Housing’, which is on our Home page), fill it out, print it, sign it and mail it back to us.

If you need help filling out the form or if you don’t have a printer and/or cannot leave your home to post it, please contact us. We will help you fill the form! It is important that your form reaches us on March 1st 2013 by 5 p.m.

Did you buy your bricks?

banner_english_fundraising-4

13 Comments

Posted in Environmental Sensitivities, Housing, Medically Required Housing, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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