Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Enzyme Related Toxic Overdose
More than 200 diseases have been linked to pollution by a recent study, according to an article published in The Independent. Although it has been known for some time that increased cancer incidence is linked to pollution, it is seldom we see an open acknowledgement in the mainstream press that we are actively poisoning ourselves with chemicals and other pollutants released freely into the environment. Those substances are so ubiquitous that most people have a toxic cocktail mixed in with their blood.
Although some tentative steps in the right direction are being taken - there is the recent announcement of a National Institutes of Health study that recommends Doctors and nurses be given more environmental health training to prevent, recognize, and treat diseases caused by environmental exposures, we are still a far way from really understanding just what we are doing to ourselves.
Unfortunately there is much politics involved and the sufferers from pollution are having a hard time to get their illness recognized, much less to be treated with anything but psychiatric medications, as the going explanation is that "it's all in your head". Martin Walker, author of "Dirty Medicine", has researched the pressures brought to bear against patients and physicians by the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in his latest book "Skewed". The book is revealing, although it does not attempt to explain causes or possible cures for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and related illnesses. It lays out what the politics are and gives us a good idea of the players involved.
There is an effort to attain global recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and related illnesses as real and caused by pollution, not by the imagination of those suffering. The Global Recognition Campaign site is run by Diana Buckland, a representative of the Australian Chemical Trauma Alliance.
Another Chemical Sensitivity campaign is located in Washington State, in the US. Don Richard Paladin of Bellingham, Washington State, gives us a succinct overview in his article which links chemical sensitivity to a deficiency in detoxification enzymes...
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Chemical Intolerance - Overcoming Psychogenic Psychobabble
There have been attempts to help explain why one person may have a low tolerance for a chemical and others may not.[1] Very recent research from Canada may demonstrate a relationship between deficiencies of enzymes and chemical intolerance.[2] The American Academy of Family Physicians, The American Medical Association and other medical associations need to review and become current on their positions on Environmental Intolerance (aka Multiple Chemical Sensitivity).
There is much literature sponsored by advocates for industry which attempts to minimize the consequences of synthetic toxic chemicals by suggesting that those who report symptoms from these chemicals have psychosomatic disorders. [3], [4] There are likely relationships between environmental triggers and psychological as well as other symptoms. Symptoms, however, are not causes.
Dr. Robert Haley has reported a relationship between Gulf War Syndrome and a deficiency of the enzyme serum paraoxonase (Pon-Q) that detoxifies organophosphates. He has concluded that a deficiency of this enzyme
can explain why one soldier may tolerate a higher dose of an organophosphate exposure and another may be damaged and become ill. [5]A report in the New York Times explains, "Citing new scientific research on the effects of exposure to low levels of neurotoxins, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses concludes in its draft report that "a substantial proportion of Gulf War veterans are ill with multisymptom conditions not explained by wartime stress or psychiatric illness. It says a growing body of research suggests that many veterans' symptoms have a neurological cause and that there is a "probable link" to exposure to neurotoxins." [6], [7]
Recent research by Ella H. Sklan et al may help explain the Panic Attack and anxiety connection to exposures to stimuli that may be toxic (like pesticides). "Serum AChE and PON enzyme activities were both found to be affected by demographic parameters, and showed inverse, reciprocal associations with anxiety measures." [8]
If one has a much lower level than normal of the enzymes involved in detoxification of any given stimuli (Pon-Q and organophosphates are the example being used), then one will have a lower TOLERANCE to the stimuli than those with a normal tolerance. It is interesting that a lower level of PON-Q and AChE may also be implicated in the precipitation of anxiety. This suggests the lower level of enzymes and other biochemicals may be responsible for symptoms of anxiety and panic disorders.
It is time we move away from a psychological explanation of the cause of chemical intolerance and try to understand the rudimentary biochemistry behind the illness. Not only will this information help those with antibody mediated allergies but also greatly help those with intolerance to environmental stimuli.
Since MCS (Chemical Intolerance, Environmental Intolerance) is not an antibody mediated allergy, allergy specialists and others should acknowledge they do NOT understand the mechanism of the disorder and quit trying to discount it with a "psychogenic" canard. Anyone with any knowledge of medical history knows that both antibody mediated allergies and asthma were once considered to be psychosomatic. There is a great deal we all don't understand. A little humility by the medical community would go a long way.
References:
1. Understanding Chemical Intolerance, an investigation by Don Richard Paladin,
2.Gail McKeown-Eyssen, Cornelia Baines, David E. C. Cole, Nicole Riley, Rachel F. Tyndale, Case-control study of genotypes in multiple chemical sensitivity: CYP2D6, NAT1, NAT2, PON1, PON2 and MTHFR , International Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/ije/dyh251 ,
3. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Under Siege by Ann MacCampbell, M.D.,Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients, January 2001, #210, p. 20 - 27 in which she writes. "When confronted by the harm they have caused, corporations typically blame the victims, deny the problem, and try to avoid responsibility for the harm caused. The corporate response to MCS has been no different."
4.THE CHEMICAL MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL ILLNESS BRIEFING PAPER, 1990 , in which they state: "Because it has the potential to impact many segments of society, many groups have an interest in placing environmental illness in its proper perspective. ... Because environmental illness is a health issue, the only people who can legitimize it are physicians, and they have not. Should environmental illness arise as an issue, a coalition with the state medical association is absolutely necessary."
5. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, UT Southwestern researcher finds genetic cause for Gulf War syndrome
6. Shane, Scott, Chemicals Sickened '91 Gulf War Veterans, Latest Study Finds, The New York Times, October 15, 2004
7. Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans‚ Illnesses, Scientific Progress in Understanding Gulf War Veterans‚ Illnesses: Report and Recommendations, September 2004, [The complete report may be downloaded in pdf format from this site.]8. Ella H. Sklan, Alexander Lowenthal, Mira Korner, Ya'acov Ritov, Daniel M. Landers, Tuomo Rankinen, Claude Bouchard, Arthur S. Leon, Treva Rice, D. C. Rao, Jack H. Wilmore, James S. Skinner and Hermona Soreq , Acetylcholinesterase/paraoxonase genotype and expression predict anxiety scores in Health, Risk Factors, Exercise Training, and Genetics study Biochemistry., April 13, 2004 | vol. 101 | no. 15 | 5512-5517
http://www.pnas.org/content/101/15/5512.full
Don Richard Paladin
Washington State Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Network
P.O Box 29722
Bellingham, WA 98228-1722
See also related:
CFS is Heart Failure Secondary to Mitochondrial Malfunction
... this is one of the most important handouts I have ever produced in terms of my understanding of CFS and what to do in order to recover! So please read this very carefully and several times over because for many sufferers it contains the keys to unlock their illness!Multiple Chemical Sensitivities
By Ronald J. Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O.Multiple Chemical Sensitivity - Causes, Treatments and the Links to Nitrites
Satori-5 - UK chapter of Global MCS recognition campaign
Satori-5 seeks to offer a variety of perspectives on the illnesses commonly referred to as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) or Environmental Illness (EI), and a whole range of illnesses created by a range of physically toxic energy emissions such as microwaves, radio waves, electromagnetic fields, geopathic stress and so on, to which I have given the collective umbrella term of Hazardous Radiations Sickness - or HRS for short.An interview with Martin Walker - and a way to get his book "SKEWED"
MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES UNDER SIEGE
by Ann McCampbell, MD - Chair, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Task Force of New Mexico.
Movies like Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action depict the true stories of communities whose members became ill from drinking water contaminated with industrial waste. Their struggles clearly show how difficult it is for people to hold corporations responsible for the harm they have caused. Whether individuals are injured by exposures to contaminated air or water, silicone breast implants, cigarettes, or other chemicals, their quest for justice is usually a David versus Goliath battle that pits average citizens against giant corporations.The Globe and Mail - I am polluted
... Besides my breath, researchers at Harvard's School of Public Health examined my blood, hair, urine, toenails and bones. It's all in the name of the emerging science of body burden, a concept referring to the amount of chemicals that accumulate in the human body. As it turns out, I am polluted. Everyone is to some degree. But as the list of toxic chemicals identified in people continues to grow, scientists are trying to figure out what the implications are for human health.A recent conference at McGill University, Montreal - PESTICIDES IN OUR BODIES / A TOXIC LEGACY
Considerations for the Diagnosis of Chemical Sensitivity
Multiple chemical sensitivity seen from physiological and genetic properties of human populations affected by chemical stress - Karl-Rainer Fabig
MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY (MCS) by Helke Ferrie - Pdf file for download
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity - The End of Controversy?
WARNING: UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit on Mental Health
Eileen Marshall Margaret Williams 26th May 2005
Currently, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) is a classified disorder of the brain, so could it fall into that category? It almost certainly will if, as anticipated, ME becomes subsumed into the heterogeneous label "CFS/ME" and becomes reclassified in the next revision of the International Classification of Diseases as a "Functional Somatic Syndrome" as psychiatrists of the "Wessely School" intend.
...people need to be aware of the relentless march of the Mental Health movement, because those proposals included provision for psychiatrists to be able to drug people, including children against the wishes of their parents, if they have "any disability of the mind or brain, whether permanent or temporary, which results in impairment of mental functioning"...New test identifies mysterious disorder
According to the Statistics Canada 2003 Canadian community health survey, some 341,126 Canadians have chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating disorder characterized by extreme, long-lasting exhaustion and flu-like symptoms. Since it was identified in 1984 by Drs. Dan Peterson and Paul Cheney in Incline Village, Nev., the syndrome has been accompanied by confusion and controversy. Many people -- including some health-care professionals -- don't believe it exists, attributing the symptoms to a variety of other causes, ranging from influenza to depression.New Scientist June 15, 2006: First official death from chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome has been given as an official cause of death - apparently for the first time in the world. On Tuesday, coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley of Brighton and Hove Coroners Court, UK, recorded the cause of death of a 32-year-old woman as acute aneuric renal failure (failure to produce urine) due to dehydration as a result of
CFS. The deceased woman, Sophia Mirza, had suffered from CFS for six years.Petition: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity - Recognize MCS as environmentally induced illness!
"...it is essential that MCS be immediately and fully recognized in America as an organic physiological disorder induced by toxic environmental insults. Environmental toxicants and irritants from perfumes, smoke, pesticides, industry, and building materials must be reduced or effectively regulated through legislation and enforcement to prevent injury to all citizens. Immediate accommodation with a safe environment for school, work, and housing should be granted to MCS victims who are still capable of working, while those permanently injured should receive disability benefits."Fatigue relief drug's heart hope
A Columbia University team found fatigue following exercise is caused by calcium leaking inside muscle cells.This is interesting in that it may be applicable to fatigue that is not connected with exercise, such as increasingly common 'chronic fatigue'. Finding what causes a leak of calcium from the cells in those cases might lead to an effective preventive strategy.
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Tuesday November 16 2004
updated on Thursday December 16 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/11/16/multiple_chemical_sensitivity_enzyme_related_toxic_overdose.htm
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