Hi - guess I came across as a paranoid worry-wart - I agree with you, there
is no sense in sitting around worrying about what might happen to oneself at
x - or y- point in time. But as a nurse who has seen so many people so very
sick, and because I am now chemically sensitive (I have had Multiple
Chemical Sensitivity for 10 years now) myself, it is very upsetting when one
reads an article about a chemical spill, or 5-mile drift of sprayed
chemicals, or that some product that we have been using daily - with our
hands or on our bodies - is dangerous, and then a followup article that says
that this company has been aware of this for some years, but it sold well
($$$) and so didn't say anything. This happens all the time, whether we are
aware of it or not. Additionally, the EPA has tested approximately 600
chemicals for toxicity out of over 60,000 - now to me, that is scarey. Even
with MCS, I don't sit around and worry about what might happen to me today -
one can't live like that (although when I was first diagnosed, I was
terrified to go outdoors for fear someone had sprayed their grass with
Malathion, or that some store had done their insecticide spraying during the
night and now, shopping, I would be exposed and become ill - this DOES
happen all the time, but I worry about it when it happens); but one CAN be
AWARE of KNOWN carcinogens or toxins in areas, or that certain stores are
just very toxic, or not to walk in a neighbor's yard without slippers (I
live in Hawaii, where everybody sprays for all kinds of insects - our
climate is very bug-friendly and they abound!) because I know they spray off
and on. It is only this AWARENESS that can protect us from harm that we
KNOW can befall us, as it has before. Otherwise, one just uses common
sense, and if a building bothers one, leave it; if one smells a chemical
being sprayed, get in the car and leave for an hour (also be aware that
these chemicals then sit in your home, getting into carpet, drapes, chairs
etc, and so the toxic levels within homes in locales like Hawaii where
insecticide sprays are used routinely - we also track this stuff in - are
much higher than even the area that was once sprayed - and one can't just
mop the floor to get rid of it; alot of them adhere due to an oily substance
as one of the inert ingredients. These inert ingredients are also a
problem, because the EPA has not required that manufacturers list the inert
ingredients in their products, and there is also precious little testing
done on these chemicals. They are added to potentiate the insecticide, and
so of course may be worse for us either in themselves or in combination with
other chemicals), etc. While this seems like a big pain, it is absolutely
necessary for someone like me in order to remain well. There is one last
premise I would like to share, and that is that researchers suspect that
approximately 60 to 80% of our every-day illnesses, such as heart disease,
hypertension, thyroid problems (rampant in women), endometriosis, hormone
problems in women, early puberty (and I mean EARLY - age 3 is one I just
heard of, a young girl child showing breast development!), prostate problems
in men, circulatory problems throughout the body, heart disease, kidney
disease, cancer of course, asthma, just name any disease and it could be on
the list - are caused by our chronic, low-level exposures to dozens and
dozens of chemicals on a daily basis. It is a very sad thing (especially
for me) when someone like me, who IS sensitive to the chemicals in the
environment, am now looked at as the "canary in the mine" - if I am with a
group and I begin to feel odd or sick (which is NOT one of my usual
behaviors!), they all now decide to leave and go somewhere else; this is
because several of them, who are not (yet!?) diagnosed as chemically
sensitive, have become quite ill from something that I too have reacted to.
While I didn't mean to sound paranoid and worry-prone in my email, I do
resent that I am made ill, and got this way 10 years ago, from exposure to
the usual yard and home chemicals for bugs; had I know how toxic they were,
I certainly would not have been using them; I would have found
environmentally and person-friendly alternatives, though they are often more
costly or time consuming to use. Oh - a friend who is a teacher has a
student who began to have what has been diagosed as migraines, newly-evident
learning problems (never before, a very good student, NO probloems in
school), at the age of 8, from a couple of things that were tested in the
room because he was so ill and everything else had been ruled out - and a
couple of other kids were not doing well either - the newly-installed carpet
(which had not only chemicals for dyeing of color and treating the fibers to
be woven, but also pesticides and formaldehyde in it - which I have learned
is pretty common - and the carpet then "off-gasses" these chemicals into the
air in the room - which if there is no air circulation with open doors and
lots of windows, or in an air-conditioned room,just continues to
accumulate!), they new pesticide the school was using to fumigate the entire
school with each month, and oddly enough (when some learning problems and
headaches, though much less severe and disabling), the fluorescent lights in
the rooms (he was instructed for a while in another place that had not been
sprayed and had no carpet etc.). I was sceptical of this fluorescent light
business, but unhappily, did find research on this and indeed, such is the
case. Researchers are now concerned that the rising number of ADD-ADHD kids
(and adults) may be from these chemical exposures and the lighting. Sad day
for us all. BUT: just stay aware and remove yourself if something doesn't
seem right after you've been in the room. Some common symptoms are building
headache, visual problems, problems in thinking and remembering that weren't
existing previously, nausea, trouble walking in a straight line (weaving,
loss of balance one usually depends on, even though intermittent), plus
others. Rmember hearing about sick-building syndrome making people sick at
work or at school? Well, this is it. Wishing and working for well-health
for all of us, Limaloa
-----Original Message-----
From: vikki charles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: STUDIES IN WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thursday, November 11, 1999 2:33 AM
Subject: Re: leaky plastics
>I know we're all being victimised, but is it really worth
>worrying about deodourant giving you cancer or this and
>that? You could still go to work and get hit by a bus. Life
>is too short to waste worrying about things like that. Like
>people that give up chocolate because it makes them fat
>even though it's their favourite food int he world. Okay,
>stupid analogy, but you could spend your entire life being
>afraid you'll get cancer or whatever and spend the whole
>time running away from it and then get hit by a bus or
>blown up by some maniac bomber next week. I don't know
>about anyone else but I don't want to be on my death bed or
>die and sit there in heaven thinking about what I could or
>ahould have done with my life.
>On Tue, 9 Nov 1999 12:16:04 -1000 Spencer Adams
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> Hi Vicki - I agree with your basic premise, as we all die sometime, but
the
>> big problem here is that we are ALL being victimized by mega-industries
that
>> are manufacturing all this poison, without regard to human, animal or
plant
>> life - the only goal is to make money. So the point about "just not
getting
>> it", the cancer: HOW does one go about doing this, when there is now
>> NOWHERE on earth that doesn't have toxic chemicals polluting it? Even
the
>> North and South Poles, and everywhere they have tested in the deepest
>> forests of the Amazon. Very frightening. We can all stop using these
>> products, but when we inadvertently come into contact with them, we are
>> still exposed unwittingly, and then, our risk of cancer et al rises (with
>> each exposure). A very big concern for all of us is, if we need surgery
of
>> some kind, or are hospitalized for some reason and have to have
intravenous
>> fluids, we are then exposed directly to this plastic-leaching chemical,
>> right INTO our bloodstream! I am NOT AT ALL comfortable with that, and
>> while there are alternatives available, the standard hospital doesn't
carry
>> them (though they can be ordered specially - but an emergency doesn't
allow
>> that to happen) routinely. I am certain that they are also more
expensive
>> than the currently used plastics. I would also like to mention that
oxygen
>> masks, tubing for same, tubing for any drainage tubes one has in one's
body,
>> urinary catheters, plastic-based/covered devices implanted during surgery
>> etc, ALL leach the same toxins, right inot our bodies. So I guess we
just
>> pray for no emergencies, and ask our hospitals to please order
alternatives.
>> Limaloa
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: vikki charles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: STUDIES IN WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Date: Tuesday, November 09, 1999 2:24 AM
>> Subject: Re: leaky plastics
>>
>>
>> >Does it matter? Everything will kill you eventually if you
>> >let it. It's a question of not letting it...
>> >On Mon, 08 Nov 1999 22:19:12 -0600 Gwendolyn L Griffin
>> ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >
>> >> i have heard much about the fact the plastics leach toxics into
whatever
>> >> food substance they are holding (incl. plastic soda bottles, plastic
>> >> baggies, tupperware . . . .)
>> >> that they indeed leach hormonal disrupters which are causing girls to
>> >> reach puberty prematurely, for one . . .other effects i cannot
remember
>> >> . . .
>> >> does anyone have information on this?
>> >> thanks!
>> >> gwendolyn griffin
>> >>
>> >
>> >----------------------
>> >vikki charles
>> >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >
>>
>
>----------------------
>vikki charles
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
