Tag Archives: toxic chemicals

“Artificial scents have no place in our hospitals”

Posted on October 5, 2015 | 24 comments

Canada’s top medical journal, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), says
“Artificial scents have no place in our hospitals“

Hospital NO Fragrance

“These patients may be involuntarily exposed to artificial scents from staff, other patients and visitors, resulting in worsening of their clinical condition. As patients,
family members and emergency physicians will attest, the attacks can be quite sudden and serious. There is little justification for continuing to tolerate artificial scents in our
hospitals.” …

Continue reading →

24 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Disability, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Health, Health Care, Hospital Protocols, Policy, Precaution, Public Health

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Guest Post: Euthanasia and Disability Rights

Posted on August 23, 2015 | 42 comments

Monique and I both live in Ontario, Canada, where there are new discussions happening both provincially and federally regarding “assisted suicide”, “death with dignity”, the right to die, and euthanasia (I may have missed a few other terms used).

We both have MCS/ES, and are confronted with systemic discrimination and barriers to access with almost every breath we take. Breathing is not optional. And we are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of us in Canada, and millions around the world.

Open letter in support of Euthanasia and Rights for those with diseases that defy accommodations

Guest Post by Monique

I Am Easy to Ignore

I am female
I am over 60
I am divorced and alone
I am a student
I have lower employability
I have invisible disability
I was abused
I have depression + ADD.
I do not feel strong

The biggest and most painful ordeal is people who lack the ability to reduce the perfumes they wear in public… who value their vanity above the good of others. I cannot exist without the kindness of strangers. I do not want to live without my Right to life-sustaining air. I do not want to explain why I cannot breathe your scents and subsist in the lifestyle you value and have grown attached to. I cannot live in your chemical soup.

I am a canary. I have MCS. Although canaries have saved many from disasters, their deaths are never celebrated. I feel like I will soon be sacrificed so that many will continue to breathe good quality air.

I would like to give a voice to those canaries. I’d like to call upon every canary on this planet to stand up and be counted. I want every canary not to die in vain. Continue reading →

42 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Disability, Environmental Rights, Human Rights, Policy

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When They Poisoned the Pests, I Didn’t Care

Posted on August 4, 2015 | 12 comments

waves 1c

 

 

 

 

When they poisoned the pests,

I didn’t care, because I wasn’t a pest…

When they poisoned the frogs,

I didn’t care, because I was not a frog…

When they poisoned the birds,

I didn’t care, because I wasn’t a bird…

When they poisoned the air,

I didn’t care, because it was on the other side of the planet…

When they poisoned the ocean,

I didn’t care, because I wasn’t a fish…

When they poisoned the lands,

I didn’t care, because it wasn’t near my land…

When they poisoned the people,

I didn’t care, because it wasn’t anyone in my family…

(besides, those people with MCS/ES were acting all crazy, wanting me to change my laundry products, stop using fragrances, and get rid of my wi-fi, among other things)

Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Action, Chemicals, climate change, Ecocide, Environmental Health, Writing

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Webinar to Increase Smoke-Free Policies in Federally Assisted Housing (US)

Posted on August 3, 2015 | 2 comments

Smoke and chemicals (such as fragrances, air “fresheners”, laundry products, pesticides, and other VOCs) do not respect property lines as they travel throughout space, often making others quite sick, even disabling them in their own homes. This is especially a problem in multi-unit housing, and where housing units are built close together.

This is also a very serious accessibility issue for people with MCS/ES, as there are few affordable housing options available, and most of these put people at risk of further  harm due to indoor air pollution issues, despite HUD and other federal agencies in the US and Canada recognizing MCS/ES as a disability that needs to be accommodated.

The following webinar is about addressing smoke, but the issues are applicable to other forms of indoor air pollutants as well. It should also be available as a podcast later.

For those of you who are interested and able,  the webinar is being offered on Wed, Aug 5, 2015 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT by the Asthma Community Network

Breathing Easy at Home: Partnering to Increase Smoke-Free Policies in Federally Assisted Housing

live smoke free webinarMore info: Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Environmental Health, Housing, Indoor Air Quality, Pollution

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The Effort and “Inconvenience” of Single-Handedly Trying to Remove Systemic Barriers to Access

Posted on June 29, 2015 | 8 comments

.

When she needed accommodation, you won’t believe the rigmarole that ensued.

(unless you have MCS/ES)

equal opportunity 1

“They should not have to make significantly more effort to access or obtain service. They should also not have to accept lesser quality or more inconvenience.”

.

Someone with MCS (who wishes to remain anonymous) was asked about how her efforts to receive appropriate, safe, accommodation were going, so she could see a health care provider. She is one of a growing number of people who become disabled from exposures to toxic chemicals found in many everyday products and materials, especially in fragrances.

This is pretty much how the story goes:

She contacted a health care provider by phone and talked to a receptionist.

She asked her if they had a scent-free policy and was told they didn’t.

Continue reading →

8 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Chemicals, Disability, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Human Rights, Indoor Air Quality, MCS/ES, Policy, Precaution

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When Women Don’t Relinquish Fragrance

Posted on June 20, 2015 | 14 comments

Guest post by By Heidi Utz

Several years ago, I posed to my women’s group a simple question: Can we ask members not to wear fragrances here? A hush fell over the room, then a silence so vast you could have heard a vial of Obsession drop. The same sweet women I’d grown to respect morphed into a pack of rabid wolves. No perfume?! It was as if I’d proposed giving up coffee, sugar, and styling gel in one fell swoop.

Since then, I have spent much time puzzling over their response. Are we so addicted to our scented products that the very notion of relinquishing them strikes terror in our hearts? Or is it more that the perfume industry has done such a stellar job in marketing its wares? Even in Santa Fe, where a comparatively high level of health-consciousness exists, we’re still susceptible to those redolent magazine ads, featuring the young and glossily naked in their evidently perfume-induced attractiveness.

But what if perfumiers, like chemical producers, were forced to include in their ads the manufacturer’s safety data sheets (i.e., the very interesting ways each spritz affects your liver)? Sound far-fetched?

Continue reading →

14 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Fragrance, Health

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Fragrance Facts Brochure

Posted on May 28, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve been looking through some of my old files and ran across this printable brochure about fragrances. Made by Betty Bridges in 2002, it has very useful information that is still relevant.

What has changed since then is that fragrance industry members voluntarily disclosed over 3000 ingredients that they commonly use (only they know how many were not disclosed, as the fragrance industry is still not regulated), and more research has come out on how harmful many of the fragrance ingredients are.

Additionally,  many  more people have become permanently disabled with MCS/ES, often originally triggered from fragrance chemical exposures (in Canada, there was a 31% increase in people diagnosed with MCS between 2005 and 2010, with many more undiagnosed due to a lack of doctors trained in environmental health matters), and  now it has become impossible to avoid 1st, 2nd and 3rd hand fragrance chemical exposures in the “developed” world, so everyone is constantly being exposed to these chemicals.

Fragrance Brochure 1- horz screenshots

Screenshot of brochure. Download the document at link below.

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Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Air Quality, Chemicals, Education, Fragrance, Health, Public Health

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Fragrances, Hormones, Women, and Children

Posted on May 19, 2015 | 2 comments

While these resources are primarily directed at women of childbearing age and children, they are really applicable to all of us. If a mother stops using perfume, but the father still piles on the scented deodorant, aftershave, and cologne, then his sperm, the mother, and children (born or unborn) are still being exposed to harmful chemicals.

If other family members, friends, and places like daycares are using scented laundry,  personal care, and cleaning products, they too are putting moms-to-be and kids at risk.

The adverse effects from these chemicals can be life-long, even longer. Our exposures can affect our grandchildren. Eliminating them from our lives now will ensure better health all around, including downstream, where fish and wildlife are also being affected.

WECF Pregnancy and EDCs

The short video below, produced by Women in Europe for a Common Future  (WECF), provides simple, important information on how you can protect yourself and your child from Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs). They are found in so many places now.

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WECF have also developed a new website, NESTING, which is another good resource for all of us. They have assembled a lot of good advice there.

Here’s an example from their Cleaning & personal care page:

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Air Quality, Brain, Chemicals, Child Health, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Health, Precaution, Pregnancy

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Do It Yourself Air Filtering Mask

Posted on May 16, 2015 | 51 comments

When air is polluted both indoors and out, when people use fragrances and other products with toxic chemicals, when we are made ill and disabled by the pollutants, then we can’t wait for better regulations to take effect, we need to do something to protect our health now.

Sometimes we can buy masks that work for us, especially if we tolerate synthetic materials, but sometimes making our own is the only way. When we make our own, we can use safe-for-us fabrics and even coordinate them to our outfits (if we’re lucky enough to have safe-to-wear outfits).

Some people use scarves as masks. You can sew a pouch on the inside to hold filtering Continue reading →

51 Comments

Posted in Air Quality, Environmental Health, Fashion, Health, Pollution, Precaution

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3o Things

Posted on May 10, 2015 | 11 comments

30 Things

The following is a list of products many of us use or have contact with every day. Each and every one of these usually contains unregulated synthetic chemical ingredients, many of which pose known health hazards.

How many of these things did you touch or breathe in today?
What is protecting you?

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in Chemicals, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Health, Products

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