Tag Archives: MCS/ES

When Keeping Your Job Depends On What Other People Do

When we develop MCS/ES, one of the first concerns we have is how to keep our job when other people keep using products and materials that disable us.

Some people are able to negotiate a legally required accommodation  policy, but sadly, too many people find these policies are rarely or effectively enforced as they should be.

no enforcement lost my job

Recent research from Dr Anne Steinemann shows there are serious adverse  impacts due to fragrance use:

“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. Also, 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.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11869-016-0442-z

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Here are some Human Rights resources on various laws, regulations, and solutions that, when enforced, can help people remain employed without losing their health and abilities:

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What Do You Think About Accommodating Someone With MCS/ES or Allergies?

Some people think they have the right to do whatever they want, regardless of how it affects anyone else around them. Sometimes what they do is from ignorance (not knowing or understanding causes and effects), sometimes it’s a deliberately hurtful, even criminal action. Either way, what they do causes all kinds of suffering that is fully preventable.

Here are a few images you can think about and share if they “speak” to you:

telling 1

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Lynn Lawson Received NCEHS EI Pioneer Award Weeks Before Her Death

1-2 Lawson - Lynn Lawson Holding NCEHS Award December 14, 2015 Lynn Lawson with award, December 14, 2015

Ninety year old Lynn Lawson of Evanston, IL passed away on January 30, 2016

In September, 2015, Mary Lamielle, Executive Director  of the National Center for Environmental Health Strategies,  named Lynn Lawson the first recipient of the NCEHS EI Pioneer Award:

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Loneliness, Posttraumatic Growth, and Invisible Disabilities

Amelia Hill shared an eloquent post about enduring and working with loneliness (see below).  Amelia and I are both  housebound (and have been so for years), but she is currently confined to a much smaller space in her home than I am in mine.

loneliness - Amelia HillFrom Heal Amelia’s Life:

Loneliness. I’ve kinda learned to override the often relentless waves of loneliness one feels living an isolated existence like mine.I don’t deny the feelings of loneliness or push them down in an unhealthy way. But it’s more like a repetitive cycle of acknowledging it & letting it go, acknowledging it & letting it go. It’s how I survive.

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First Municipal Government Adopts Life Saving Plan for People With MCS/ES, CFS/ME, and FM

Good news for some people who have MCS/ES, CFS/ME, and FM

Tarragona SPAIN

RESCUE PLAN FOR PEOPLE WITH CENTRAL SENSITIVITY SYNDROMES:

THE CITY OF TARRAGONA (CATALONIA, SPAIN) IS THE FIRST MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT THAT IMPLEMENTS IT!

The first municipal government that has stepped forward to implement this plan, is the City of Tarragona Municipal Government (Tarragona is a major city 100 kilometres south of Barcelona). In the plenary session held last November 30th, the “Institutional Declaration of support for people with Central Sensitivity Syndromes” was approved, which consists of a concrete programme of measures. This is a historical step.

In part, the agreement includes:

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2015 – A Retrospective

I was hoping to be able to share some good news with you all, and here it is. We ARE making progress! It is unfortunate that it has taken this long, but I believe we are almost at the point where we will see an “overnight” shift happen.
Here’s what Dr John Molot (the author of “12,000 Canaries Can’t Be Wrong”) has to say:

johnmolot's avatarJohn Molot

2015-summaryIt’s the end of 2015, a time to celebrate the promise of the coming year but also a time to reflect on the 12 months that have just passed. It was an incredibly exciting year for me professionally. As a physician who advocated for my patients for so many years, I no longer feel that I am paddling upstream against the hardline, medically conservative current that has discredited environmental medicine for decades. The patient groups that I work with have realistic hope for improved care in the near future.

My 2015 :: Science :: Media
Medical Profession :: Insurance Companies :: The Canaries
What’s to come?

My 2015

This year, I have had several opportunities to effectively represent the people with environmentally linked conditions. I have been actively involved with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in the development of the promised (2014) Task Force on Environmental…

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Industrial Engineering Students Learn That EHS is a Functional Impairment… and More About Wireless

This presentation by Professor Olle Johansson about the biological and health effects of  electromagnetic pollution was given to a group of Industrial Engineering students in Barcelona, Spain and was recorded in October 2015. We are fortunate to be able to have access to easy to understand scientific presentations of this caliber.

Pr Olle Johansson presentation

Professor  Johansson, from the Neuroscience department at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, starts by saying the first problem is that they have no women in the class and then discussed how EHS is recognized as a functional impairment in Sweden, and how the environment must be modified to accommodate and include people with a functional impairment. (His recently published paper on the subject is also available below). He went on to describe other issues with wireless radiation and encouraged the class to come up with solutions.

I think it’s worth taking the time to watch, but I like learning about the things that are affecting our lives, and what we can and have to do now and to protect future generations, so that they have a chance at more than mere survival.

Adverse health effects of modern electromagnetic fields from wireless telecommunication, such as mobile phones and WiFi

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Research Shows Harmful Chemicals Can Remain In Clothing Even After Washing

“Exposure to these chemicals increases the risk of allergic dermatitis, but more severe health effect for humans as well as the environment could possibly be related to these chemicals. Some of them are suspected or proved carcinogens and some have aquatic toxicity,”

textile chemical release

Giovanna Luongo found that there are harmful chemical residues left in clothing even after 10 washes and presents the information in her Doctoral Thesis, Chemicals in textiles A potential source for human exposure and environmental pollution.

This scientifically validates what some of us have been saying for years, that some harmful chemical residues can be extremely difficult if not impossible to remove, (as the rigmarole we have to go through in an attempt to have safe to wear clothing to wear attests), and that normally undetectable trace levels can cause disabling effects.

Many chemicals present in clothing (and bedding) enter the human body via dermal absorption, and can be detected in urine hours later!

This poster shows how chemicals enter our bodies:

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When Programmers Send Old Computers Into ICU and Palliative Care

My computer and old Operating System have seen better days. Things are crashing almost hourly now. I am so grateful that the original donor was twice able to get this computer back up again (with telephone advice) after a partial freeze and fully appearing meld-down, but it is still malfunctioning online, so I have to shut it down frequently, as the sites I use seem to have updated using technology that is no longer inclusive of XP and my  minimal RAM (adding more would be cost-prohibitive).

I  therefore find myself in critical need of a new computer, even with all the toxicity and adverse health risks involved, and without the time to mitigate them (like running things somewhere else that is also fragrance free, for however long it takes to off-gas everything).

Eeks! image from pixabay 2

Here are some details:

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Scent-Free Buildings Guide from CCIAQB

From The Canadian Committee on Indoor Air Quality (CCIAQB) 

“This Module provides building owners and managers with information about the sources and effects of scents and fragrances. It also suggests ways to move toward scent-free buildings. The information covers scents and fragrances brought into a workplace by people wearing personal products such as perfume as well as those scents and fragrances that originate from custodial products such as washroom hand soap.”

scent-free buildings guide banner

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