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Glossary: EI: Environmental Illness, MCS: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, EHS/ ES: Electro-Hypersensitivity
Tips for Decorating
Decorating products can cause reactions. If you have severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) avoid decorating until you are well enough to thoroughly test materials. Choose water based paints rather than solvents, but be aware that these can contain plasticisers and can still cause reactions even if they say they are suitable for MCS. Always try to decorate during the summer when you can have the windows and doors open. Always test products before using. Cut out a small piece of card and coat thoroughly in the paint etc. Let it dry then place in a sealed glass jar. Put an unpainted piece of card in another jar as a control to check you're not reacting to the card or the jar. Place both jars in a warm place for 24 hours, then sniff cautiously. This will be the worst that this product will smell, so if you can cope with that, you should be ok. Try the test again to be sure by putting the jars in a warm place for 3 days. Do not sleep in the room that you are decorating until the smell has gone which might be several weeks. Try to avoid using vinyl wallpapers. Use plain wallpaper pastes without fungicides. |
Spinach and Avocado Salad with Mozzarella
Corn, egg, gluten, milk, nightshade, nut, peanut, sesame, soya & wheat free
A lovely, light salad which you could eat as a starter or as a light lunch dish. If you cannot tolerate any animal milks, you could use a soya 'mozzarella' or just leave the mozzarella out and add some extra avocado. Click here for the full recipe. Thanks go to FoodsMatter for kindly letting us reproduce this dish.
Helen's Blog
I have just read a book recommended to me called 'Beat Cancer' by Prof. Mustafa Djamgoz and Prof. Jane Plant. A few people close to me have unfortunately succumbed to the illness. The book looks at ways to help yourself if you have cancer and also at ways to try to prevent yourself from getting the disease. I found it interesting how there was a whole chapter on environmental chemicals. Although I have heard that chemicals can potentially be linked to cancer, it was interesting to see some of the research. It suggests avoiding the 3 P's, pesticides, plastics and perfumes. All things recommended for MCS.
Is Modern Life Poisoning me? I took the Tests to find out.
We are exposed to synthetic chemicals in plastics, cosmetics and food every day. Could it be making us toxic? Emily Holden, an environment reporter with the Guardian newspaper was tested for over 1,530 chemicals to find out.
Sitting on a plastic chair in a small office, I’m wearing medical scrubs rolled up to my knees and I have an X-ray machine strapped to my shin. The machine is scanning my bones for lead as an expert monitors readings streaming on to a screen. Earlier that day, after arriving at a Mount Sinai facility in New York City, I dropped off a urine sample that will be studied for 81 chemicals in lab tests far more advanced than at a regular doctor visit. A couple of weeks earlier, I spent five days wearing a silicone wristband designed to measure dangerous chemicals in my environment. I wore it while I cleaned my apartment, applied cosmetics and commuted to work. All this testing came during a six-month journey to try to answer what sounds like a very simple question: how toxic am I? As an environment reporter for the Guardian in Washington DC, I had noticed a growing number of experts expressing concerns about how Americans are exposed to potentially toxic chemicals just by living our everyday lives.But how concerned should individuals be? How worried should I be?
Our ‘body burden’
Humans are more vulnerable to chemicals in utero and in youth, so my concerns aren’t unreasonable. Even the most health-conscious people have carcinogens and other harmful chemicals in their bodies – from plastics, cosmetics, cleansers, pesticide-soaked food, polluted air and water and the many other exposures that are a part of modern life.All the chemicals together form what is known as a person’s “body burden”. Almost none of us can test ourselves to see our own body burdens. Doctors’ offices don’t offer the option and private labs don’t routinely test individuals and cost thousands of dollars. With that in mind, I set out to quantify one person’s health risks from chemicals. As the complex world of toxicology unfolded, I realized just how much none of us know.
Quick guide
Are Americans getting sicker? Of the tens of thousands of chemicals in commerce, scientists have closely studied the health impacts of roughly 50 to 100. The CDC records some of the average levels shown in the bodies of a representative sample of Americans. We know what levels are average, but we don’t know what levels are safe. We also don’t know how various chemicals react together in the human body. Individually, some of the chemicals commonly in use and in human bodies are known to be linked with cancer, organ problems, reproductive difficulties, endocrine disruption, obesity, diabetes, birth defects, neural issues and developmental delays. Together, we don’t know what they do. One analysis of CDC data found that mixtures of chemicals can heighten toxicity in the body. But chemicals are typically studied only for their individual effects. And the existing research covers only a small fraction of chemicals people are exposed to – many more are unknown. To read the rest of this article, which was first published online on 22nd May 2019, click here.
Latest News
Chemical found in soap and toothpaste linked to osteoporosis in women
British Society for Ecological Medicine - 5G The facts, risks and remedies conference on September 27th London
Auckland councillor wants city to stop using Roundup weedkiller
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