Environmental Illness & Y2K

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Pre-Y2K: A Growth in Ailments Resulting from Exposure to Toxic Chemicals

A silent epidemic of chemical injuries has already claimed many human beings in this country, often causing permanent disability, and loss of health and livelihood. There is an immense pressure from industry to deny this problem and its human victims, as accepting responsibility for these ailments and removing toxic chemicals from consumer products will be extremely costly to countless industries and have a great impact on our economy. The following is an extremely simplified description of the problem.

Between 15-30% of the American population is currently estimated to experience health problems due to exposure to common chemicals (Centers for Disease Control). These exposure symptoms may include asthma and other respiratory ailments such as ear and sinus infections; central nervous system problems such as headaches, dizziness, lethargy, "brain fog," memory loss, inability to concentrate, sudden rage, and seizures; gastrointestinal problems such as nausea or diarhhea; muscle or joint pain: etc. leading sometimes to severe conditions known as chronic fatigue (CFIDS), fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), fatal asthma attacks, "Gulf War Syndrome," "Sick Building Syndrome," etc.

Injurious exposures to toxic chemicals occur on the job and at home, mostly from pesticides, herbicides, cleaning products, perfumes and scented personal care and household products, "air fresheners," new carpeting and many building materials, paints and coatings, dry cleaned clothing, etc. Most of these products are not adequately tested before they are marketed to the public and the combined effects of many of these products have never been tested (this problem cannot be handled using traditional scientific methodologies).

These products often harm people by (1) adversely affecting indoor air, which becomes filled with volatile organic compounds and other harmful substances; (2) becoming small particles which can be trapped in carpeting and picked up by children on the floor who then ingest the particles on their hands (lead particles, for example); (3) entering the body through direct application to the skin, and then lodging in fatty tissues (such as the liver and the brain.) Scientific studies which demonstrate the toxicity of such products are seldom accessible to the layperson, and are found mostly in medical journals, such as Archives of Environmental Health.

Women and children are most susceptible to the effects of toxic chemicals. In addition, many of these products play a role in the newest drug abuse epidemic--inhalants. Many children and teenagers are permanently injured, and some even die from "Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome," when they use some of these products as "inhalant" drugs. Many people who develop full blown MCS eventually commit suicide as they cannot find safe housing, adequate medical care and non-toxic home attendants, access to government benefits or safe jobs, safe food, and/or they are abandoned by family and friends who do not understand their condition.

Preparation for Y2K or other disasters is especially difficult for people who have been chemically injured, as they cannot use chlorine to purify water, store food or water in plastic containers, or count on "fragrance-free" or "pesticide-free" shelters if they must evacuate their homes. Many people who are partially or totally disabled through chemical injuries must use oxygen, wheelchairs, and costly medication. Finding food will be difficult as they often have an array of food allergies, and must avoid all food additives and pesticides.

Post Y2K: Expect a Huge Increase in Chemical Injuries and a Public Health Disaster

There are two things which will probably contribute to this increase:

(1) Many people are stockpiling these same toxic consumer products and storing them near their food supplies which may then become contaminated with the toxic chemicals used in "air fresheners" (stored for use in outhouses or makeshift restroom facilities), cleaning products, perfumes (stored for barter), pesticides, etc. Remember, plastic is permeable to gases and most plastics themselves contain harmful "endocrine disrupting" chemicals which eventually leech into stored food and water. We can expect an increase in chemical injury symptoms as a result of this contamination and living at close quarters with large amounts of toxic, stockpiled goods.

(2) This year a huge increase in problems related to chemical exposures will soon be apparent in New York (because of the recent heavily concentrated malathion spraying), in North Carolina (because of toxic contamination of water after the Hurricane Hugo flooding) and in California's Central Valley and Bay Area because of a "tire fire" that may burn for a year. Imagine what will happen if Y2K "glitches" cause accidental releases of chemicals from manufacturers across the nation.

It will soon become glaringly apparent how little there is in the way of resources of any kind for people who can no longer tolerate even minute skin or respiratory exposures to paints, bleach, synthetic carpeting, fragrance chemicals, petroleum, cleaning products, detergents, plastics, etc. Most housing, medical facilities, and public and private buildings, transportation and food will become completely inaccessible and unusable by a large portion of our population. Doctors who have spent a great deal of time denying the impact of toxic chemicals on human health will suddenly find themselves swamped with patients complaining of numerous symptoms affecting every organ system of the body. How will they treat them? Sustainable Business Practices, Consumer Knowledge, and Awareness of Environmental Health are the Keys to Preparing for Our Future--No Matter What Happens with "Y2K" Many people can make eloquent, well-researched arguments for all aspects of the above statement. Please research organizations and publications that deal with ecology, environmental health, consumer product awareness, and "sustainable futures." Question the contents of every bottle or box you buy--ask your retailers for "material safety data sheets" and remember that many toxic ingredients in many products are not listed anyway due to "trade secrets laws" (perfumes and fragrance chemicals) and "inert ingredients" (pesticides.) Remember that indoor air in this country is already more polluted than the air around most toxic waste dumps and that most carpets contain enough toxic particles to be declared "super fund sites." ("Everyday Exposure to Toxic Pollutants," Ott and Roberts, Scientific American, Feb. 1998)

People who are already environmentally ill have been forced by their condition into becoming consumers of safe, environmentally healthy products and are living a life that is simpler and thus more "sustainable." As such, we have valuable skills and information to offer those people who are not yet sick. We are in the vanguard of the new "post Y2K paradigm," assuming we can last long enough to see it!

For more information on environmental illness and environmental health, and for organizations which have important information on causes and prevention, please visit the site and outbound links of the Environmental Health Network: http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/ehnindex.htm

-- Amy Marsh (canaryclub@aol.com), October 12, 1999

Answers

It's always something. Eh Amy?

I'm having trouble tracking down and verifying a shocking statistic I read recently:

Over 40% of our highly-vaunted medical industry/establishment is devoted to treating or curing "environmental" ailments---that is, sickness acquired from exposure to toxins in our environment or from poor lifestyle choices.

If anyone has come across a source for this, I'd appreciate knowing.

A great part of our problem coping with these subtle maladies is our adherence to the "Cartesian" paradigm a full half-century after its fallacies have become apparent. Fritjof Capra goes on at length about this epistemological error in "Turning Point." (Another one for the recommended reading list, Ed.)

Hallyx

"Everything has changed save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift towards unparalleled catastrophes."---Albert Einstein

-- Hallyx (Hallyx@aol.com), October 14, 1999.


Any chemical plant explosions, chemical spills, etc. will only make matters worse...not a pretty thought.

"What will happen to..." Obviously, if people are hyper-sensitive (to anything) and cannot get away from that material, they will suffer the consequences of being exposed to that material. Worst case, consequences could include death. There is a reason why so many deaths are predicted...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 14, 1999.


I noticed the URL didn't print out correctly above. It is http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks.ehnindex.htm

-- Amy Marsh (canaryclub@aol.com), October 14, 1999.

Y2K storage advice is well to heed for a variety of reasons. One that just struck our neighborhood was a broken water main. It was excellent to have safe water on hand.

And, while we store safely for Y2K ... a natural disaster such as hurricanes or earthquakes could lead many to shelters in which they will become exposed to the highly toxic volatile organic compounds in commonly used cleaning/maintenance products, not to mention the fragrant personal care products in use by staff and refugees.

"Buyer beware!" was never a more important adage to keep firmly in mind at all times. Remember, the health you save may be your own.

-- barb wilkie (My convention is prevention)

-- Barb Wilkie (wilworks@lanminds.com), October 15, 1999.


Amy, Please state an URL for your statement about CDC figures on incidence of the diseases you mention. They sound higher than the CDC would ever admit. There are also many factors besides chemical exposure which factor into occurance of these diseases such as genetic predisposition, possible viral causes, physical or mental stress, etc.

-- Evelyn (equus@barn.now), October 18, 1999.


Evelyn -- There are also many factors besides chemical exposure which factor into occurance of these diseases such as genetic predisposition, possible viral causes, physical or mental stress, etc.

There is some truth to what you say...but with a health care industry whose major focus is on protecting those that increase "the physical and mental stress" and thereby increase everyone's "predispostion" to weaknesses there is not much chance that we will ever see clear information and certainly not truth in regard to what is the most damaging to our health. These powerful industries would much rather have us focus upon our "unhealthy lifestyles" rather than their products...sort of like the FAA -- it's usually pilot error don't ya know.

-- Shelia (gnmassey@gte.net), October 18, 1999.


Hi Evelyn, I will look around and get my references straight for you regarding the CDC estimates of percentage of environmental illness. There are other estimates from other sources that vary. This will take me a little time, but I will post when I get them. I am sorry I didn't have those right up front in my first posting.

-- Amy Marsh (canaryclub@aol.com), October 19, 1999.

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