Tag Archives: wireless

Electromagnetic Fields: The Chemical Connection

“In other words, though work to reduce toxic chemical exposures can be viewed as quite distinct from efforts to address EMF exposures, both EMFs and EDCs can disrupt the critical signaling systems in the body and lead to problematic health endpoints.”

Nancy Hepp's avatarOur Health and Environment Blog

written by Elise Miller, MEd
CHE Director

Elise Miller, MEdAs you probably remember from your high school biology class, our bodies function using electrical impulses to communicate between cells, such as telling your heart muscles to contract or signaling your brain that you just stubbed your toe. Since everything relies on these signals, any breakdown or disruption in your body’s electrical system can become a real problem.

We also know that certain toxic agents, such as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), can alter our bodies’ hormonal messaging systems (which, by the way, uses electrical signals to communicate). When exposures to these chemicals, even in tiny amounts, happen during critical windows of development, then a wide range of health problems can result over a person’s lifetime.
So what do EDCs and electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have in common? As Henry C. Lai, professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle and an expert…

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A Story That Needs To Be Heard: Part 2

Noise Sensitivity and “Frequency Effects”

beachy 1

The following sound-video is 6 1/2 minutes long and adds some detail to one of the health challenges described in

A Story That Needs To Be Heard: Part 1

(please listen to Part 1 first, if you can)

Here is Part 2

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Teaching Doctors About the Health Effects of Wireless Technology

Health Effects of Wireless Technology Dr

The updated contents of this post may now be found here:

Learning About the Health Effects of Wireless Technology

https://seriouslysensitivetopollution.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/learning-about-the-health-effects-of-wireless-technology/

Severe MCS/ES… What Does It Mean?

To some degree, severe MCS/ES (like pain) is subjective. In other ways it’s a moving target, as we can be fine (or almost fine) one minute, and be completely incapacitated the next hour (day, week, or month) from an exposure, or combination of exposures. One day, a perfume exposure during lunch with friends might “just” give someone a throbbing headache for the rest of the day, but the next day, because there was also a cloud of diesel smoke, a fragrance contaminated piece of mail, someone installed wi-fi in the apartment next door, and someone else’s dryer vent was pumping out chemicals when we walked by with the dog, the same 3 breaths of perfume at the pet store we were trying to buy dog food from, could send us to bed for a week, or longer.

To make matters more difficult for others to accurately assess (and assumptions and clueless opinions are rampant where invisible disabilities are concerned), the recovery period, when most incapacity takes place, occurs when no-one is around to witness the effects, as many symptoms are delayed reactions. This means that people with severe MCS/ES are usually only seen during better moments, not when we’re at our worst.

severe mcs es

Something else I often see is that people’s ability to tolerate change and adversity varies greatly. Some people fall apart when faced with the slightest challenge, while others can endure unbelievably difficult circumstances and suffering without ever complaining.

One person’s severe is another person’s “just another day”. And, as I found out, when we think things are as bad as they can possibly be, they can get 1000 times worse (especially where brain function is concerned). This can really confuse people, ourselves included…

That said, there are tools that have been designed to help medical professionals assess all kinds of health and disabilities. And accurate assessment is especially important when applying for disability benefits.

What follows are a few tools that can help us understand. This information is not meant for acquiring disability benefits. I’m providing it for educational purposes only.

How can “sensitivity” symptoms affect life?

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Put Away Your Devices and Look Around

put away your devices

For some of us, this (electronic social media) is all we have to ease our isolation, not because people won’t put down their wireless devices (although this is a factor for reasons not brought up in the video), but because people won’t stop buying and using products made with fragrance and other toxic chemicals.

A lot of people and sites are sharing this video (it has been viewed over 17 million times in the week since it was posted, and with good reason). Too bad there is no mention of the adverse health effects wireless radiation can cause.

What else aren’t we seeing?

MCS/ES Awareness Month 2014

 It’s that time of year again. Welcome to MCS “Awareness” Month!

People with disabilities have the right to equal treatment and equal access

Barriers to access can be physical, attitudinal or systemic. Conveniences can also create barriers. If you are unable to remove a barrier to accessibility, consider what else can be done to provide services to people with disabilities. No-one should live without safe access to the necessities of life.

What is disability? (Ontario Human Rights Commission)

“Disability” covers a broad range and degree of conditions, some visible and some not visible. A disability may have been present from birth, caused by an accident, or developed over time. There are physical, mental and learning disabilities, mental disorders, hearing or vision disabilities, epilepsy, drug and alcohol dependencies, environmental sensitivities, and other conditions.”

Removing barriers and designing inclusively

Persons with disabilities face many kinds of barriers every day. These can be physical, attitudinal or systemic. …

Identifying and removing barriers also makes good business sense. As well as meeting the needs of customers or employees with disabilities, removing barriers can also help other people…

Employers, unions, landlords and service providers can start by doing an accessibility review of their facilities, services and procedures to see what barriers exist. You can then make an accessibility plan and begin to remove the barriers.

It is also helpful to create an accessibility policy and a complaints procedure. These steps will help you remove existing barriers and avoid making new ones. The best way to prevent barriers is to design inclusively

Barriers aren’t just physical. Taking steps to prevent “ableism” – attitudes in society that devalue and limit the potential of persons with disabilities – will help promote respect and dignity, and help people with disabilities to fully take part in community life…

The duty to accommodate

Even when facilities and services are designed as inclusively as possible, you may still need to accommodate the individual needs of some people with disabilities. Under the Code, unions, landlords and service providers have a legal “duty to accommodate” persons with disabilities. The goal of accommodation is to allow people with disabilities to equally benefit from and take part in services, housing or the workplace.

Accommodation is a shared responsibility. Everyone involved, including the person asking for accommodation, should work together, exchange relevant information, and look for accommodation solutions together…

 

Some Resources: Continue reading

Can a New Normal Be a Good Thing?

Over the years, when discussing life with MCS/ES, it is often mentioned that this is a life with a new normal. It’s a new normal that none of us asked for, and too often, it is not a very nice new normal at all.

Recently, I’ve been able to explore some of Charles Eisenstein’s work and ran across this quote:

ANewNormal

I’m pretty sure he wasn’t thinking about MCS/ES when he said that, as we aren’t the only ones on this planet who are experiencing radical changes, but those of us with MCS/ES have been learning important lessons that we can share as a part of this new way of being that is slowly emerging.

When we develop MCS/ES, everything (or almost everything) changes.

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TTC launches wi-fi network at two subway stations

Great (not)… The TTC is erecting more accessibility barriers for people who are disabled with EHS, and it’s a big move backwards for protecting the health of children and pregnant women.

Accessibility wise, this is similar to removing ramps for people who are mobility disabled. It creates barriers to access and also subjects some people to further pain, suffering and disability.

Blanketing the subway system with microwave radiation is NOT a good idea when independent research shows enough harm caused by exposures that wireless is now declared a class 2 carcinogen…

Using the precautionary approach would be the wise thing to do.

See C4ST for more information about wireless technologies and health.

Frank Clegg, the former CEO and President of Microsoft Canada is the CEO of C4ST.

Fragrance-Free and Healthy Schools (updated)

Are you sick from sick schools?

How Healthy is Your SchoolTeachers and students suffer when school buildings are not healthy, sometimes even developing permanently disabling conditions as a result.

MCS/ES. Asthma. Autism. Learning disabilities. Behavior problems…

Unhealthy school buildings can present real barriers to access.

It shouldn’t be like that. You shouldn’t lose your health or your job or have your child’s health and future suffer because there’s something unhealthy in the air at school.

There are enough examples of the benefits of a healthy learning environment over an unhealthy one (from toxic chemicals, molds and wi-fi for example), and tools for how to make change happen.

Here are some resources (in no particular order):

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Fragrance-Free and Healthy Schools

I’ve updated this post here:

https://seriouslysensitivetopollution.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/fragrance-free-and-healthy-schools-updated/