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Chemicals and Health

February 20, 2012

In case you were wondering why MCS is afflicting more people all the time, consider this: in the U.S. we now release 27 trillion pounds of chemicals into the environment – every year. Very few of those chemicals have been tested for human safety. And yes, that’s “trillion” with a “t”.

Those numbers are from a recent interview with Dr. Richard Dennison of the Environmental Defense Fund. The interview has been posted on the Living on Earth site as “Chemicals and Health”, and is also available as an MP3 download from the site.

 

 

Posted in Air Quality, Autoimmune, Birth Defects, Cancer, Chemical News, Children, Environment, Expert Opinions, MCS, MCS News, Obesity, Perchloroethylene (Perc), Perfluorinates, Phthalates | Leave a Comment »

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The Truth About DDT

June 1, 2011

Rachel Carson, Mass Murderer?

The creation of an anti-environmental myth

By Aaron Swartz

Sometimes you find mass murderers in the most unlikely places. Take Rachel Carson. She was, by all accounts, a mild-mannered writer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—hardly a sociopath’s breeding ground. And yet, according to many in the media, Carson has more blood on her hands than Hitler.

The problems started in the 1940s, when Carson left the Service to begin writing full-time. In 1962, she published a series of articles in the New Yorker, resulting in the book Silent Spring—widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The book discussed how pesticides and pollutants moved up the food chain, threatening the ecosystems for many animals, especially birds. Without them, it warned, we might face the title’s silent spring.

Farmers used vast quantities of DDT to protect their crops against insects—80 million pounds were sprayed in 1959 alone—but from there it quickly climbed up the food chain. Bald eagles, eating fish that had concentrated DDT in their tissues, headed toward extinction. Humans, likewise accumulating DDT in our systems, appeared to get cancer as a result. Mothers passed the chemical on to their children through breast milk. Silent Spring drew attention to these concerns and, in 1972, the resulting movement succeeded in getting DDT banned in the U.S.—a ban that later spread to other nations.

And that, according to Carson’s critics, is where the trouble started. DDT had been sprayed heavily on houses in developing countries to protect against malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Without it, malaria rates in developing countries skyrocketed. Over 1 million people die from it each year.

To the critics, the solution seems simple: Forget Carson’s emotional arguments about dead birds and start spraying DDT again so we can save human lives.

Worse than Hitler?

“What the World Needs Now Is DDT” asserted the headline of a lengthy feature in the New York Times Magazine (4/11/04). “No one concerned about the environmental damage of DDT set out to kill African children,” reporter Tina Rosenberg generously allowed. Nonetheless, “Silent Spring is now killing African children because of its persistence in the public mind.”

It’s a common theme—echoed by two more articles in the Times by the same author (3/29/06, 10/5/06), and by Times columnists Nicholas Kristof (3/12/05) and John Tierney (6/05/07). The same refrain appears in a Washington Post op-ed by columnist Sebastian Mallaby, gleefully headlined “Look Who’s Ignoring Science Now” (10/09/05). And again in the Baltimore Sun (“Ms. Carson’s views [came] at a cost of many thousands of lives worldwide”—5/27/07), New York Sun (“millions of Africans died . . . thanks to Rachel Carson’s junk science classic”—4/21/06), the Hill (“millions die on the altar of politically correct ideologies”—11/02/05), San Francisco Examiner (“Carson was wrong, and millions of people continue to pay the price”—5/28/07) and Wall Street Journal (“environmental controls were more important than the lives of human beings”—2/21/07).

Even novelists have gotten in on the game. “Banning DDT killed more people than Hitler, Ted,” explains a character in Michael Crichton’s 2004 bestseller, State of Fear (p. 487). “[DDT] was so safe you could eat it.” That fictional comment not only inspired a column on the same theme in Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald (6/18/05), it led Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok.) to invite Crichton and Dr. Donald R. Roberts, a longtime pro-DDT activist, to testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

But other attacks only seem like fiction. A web page on JunkScience.com features a live Malaria Death Clock next to a photo of Rachel Carson, holding her responsible for more deaths than malaria has caused in total. (“DDT allows [Africans to] climb out of the poverty/subsistence hole in which ‘caring greens’ apparently wish to keep them trapped,” it helpfully explains.) And a new website from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, RachelWasWrong.org, features photos of deceased African children along the side of every page.

Developing resistance

At one level, these articles send a comforting message to the developed world: Saving African children is easy. We don’t need to build large aid programs or fund major health initiatives, let alone develop Third World infrastructure or think about larger issues of fairness. No, to save African lives from malaria, we just need to put our wallets away and work to stop the evil environmentalists.

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy.

For one thing, there is no global DDT ban. DDT is indeed banned in the U.S., but malaria isn’t exactly a pressing issue here. If it ever were, the ban contains an exception for matters of public health. Meanwhile, it’s perfectly legal—and indeed, used—in many other countries: 10 out of the 17 African nations that currently conduct indoor spraying use DDT (New York Times, 9/16/06).

DDT use has decreased enormously, but not because of a ban. The real reason is simple, although not one conservatives are particularly fond of: evolution. Mosquito populations rapidly develop resistance to DDT, creating enzymes to detoxify it, modifying their nervous systems to avoid its effects, and avoiding areas where DDT is sprayed — and recent research finds that that resistance continues to spread even after DDT spraying has stopped, lowering the effectiveness not only of DDT but also other pesticides (Current Biology, 8/9/05).

“No responsible person contends that insect-borne disease should be ignored,” Carson wrote in Silent Spring. “The question that has now urgently presented itself is whether it is either wise or responsible to attack the problem by methods that are rapidly making it worse. . . . Resistance to insecticides by mosquitoes . . . has surged upwards at an astounding rate.”

Unfortunately, her words were ignored. Africa didn’t cut back on pesticides because, through a system called the “Industry Cooperative Program,” the pesticide companies themselves got to participate in the United Nations agency that provided advice on pest control. Not surprisingly, it continued to recommend significant pesticide usage.
When Silent Spring came out in 1962, it seemed as if this strategy was working. To take the most extreme case, Sri Lanka counted only 17 cases of malaria in 1963. But by 1969, things had once again gotten out of hand: 537,700 cases were counted. Naturally, the rise had many causes: Political and financial pressure led to cutbacks on spraying, stockpiles of supplies had been used up, low rainfall and high temperatures encouraged mosquitoes, a backlog of diagnostic tests to detect malaria was processed and testing standards became more stringent. But even with renewed effort, the problem did not go away.

Records uncovered by entomologist Andrew Spielman hint at why (Mosquito, p. 177). For years, Sri Lanka had run test programs to verify DDT’s effectiveness at killing mosquitoes. But halfway through the program, their standards were dramatically lowered. “Though the reason was not recorded,” Spielman writes, “it was obvious that some mosquitoes were developing resistance and the change was made to justify continued spraying.”

But further spraying led only to further resistance, and the problem became much harder to control. DDT use was scaled back and other pesticides were introduced—more cautiously this time—but the epidemic was never again brought under control, with the deadly legacy that continues to this day.

Instead of apologizing, the chemical companies went on the attack. They funded front groups and think tanks to claim the epidemic started because countries “stopped” using their products. In their version of the story, environmentalists forced Africans to stop using DDT, causing the increase in malaria. “It’s like a hit-and-run driver who, instead of admitting responsibility for the accident, frames the person who tried to prevent the accident,” complains Tim Lambert, whose weblog, Deltoid, tracks the DDT myth and other scientific misinformation in the media.

Front and center

Perhaps the most vocal group spreading this story is Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM). Founded in 2000 by Roger Bate, an economist at various right-wing think tanks, AFM has run a major PR campaign to push the pro-DDT story, publishing scores of op-eds and appearing in dozens of articles each year. Bate and his partner Richard Tren even published a book laying out their alternate history of DDT: When Politics Kills: Malaria and the DDT Story.

A funding pitch uncovered by blogger Eli Rabbett shows Bate’s thinking when he first started the project. “The environmental movement has been successful in most of its campaigns as it has been ‘politically correct,’” he explained (Tobacco Archives, 9/98). What the anti-environmental movement needs is something with “the correct blend of political correctness ( . . . oppressed blacks) and arguments (eco-imperialism [is] undermining their future).” That something, Bate proposed, was DDT.

In an interview, Bate said that his motivation had changed after years of working on the issue of malaria. “I think my position has mellowed, perhaps with age,” he told Extra!. “[I have] gone from being probably historically anti-environmental to being very much pro–combating malaria now.” He pointed to the work he’d done making sure money to fight malaria was spent properly, including a study he co-authored in the respected medical journal the Lancet (7/15/06) on dishonest accounting at the World Bank. He insisted that he wasn’t simply pro-DDT, but instead was willing to support whatever the evidence showed worked. And he flatly denied that AFM had ever received money from tobacco, pharmaceutical or chemical companies.

Still, AFM has very much followed the plan Bate laid out in his original funding pitch to corporations: First, create “the intellectual arguments to make our case,” then “disseminate these arguments to people in [developing countries]” who can make convincing spokespeople, and then “promote these arguments . . . in the West.” The penultimate page gives another hint that stopping malaria isn’t the primary goal: “Is the DDT problem still relevant?” is listed as an “intellectual issue to be resolved”—once they got funding. (When asked for comment on this, Bate became upset and changed the subject.)

Bate continues to insist that resistance isn’t much of an issue, because its primary effect is to keep mosquitoes away from DDT-covered areas altogether. Instead he claims “resistance was a useful device by which it was easy to pull the plug” on an anti-malaria campaign that was failing because of administrative incompetence. “You’re not likely to see an aid agency [admit this],” he said when asked for evidence. “I’m not sure what you want me to say. If you read enough of the literature, you get that strong impression.” But few experts aside from those affiliated with AFM seem to have gotten the same impression.

DDT’s dangers

These myths can have serious consequences. For one thing, despite what is claimed by the right, DDT itself is quite harmful. Studies have suggested that prenatal exposure to DDT leads to significant decreases in mental and physical functioning among young children, with the problems becoming more severe when the exposure is more serious (American Journal of Epidemiology, 9/12/06; Pediatrics, 7/1/06), while the EPA classifies it as a probable human carcinogen.

For another, resistance is deadly. Not only has DDT’s overuse made it ineffective, but, as noted, it has led mosquitoes to evolve “cross-resistance”: resistance not only to DDT but also to other insecticides, including those with less dangerous environmental effects.

And perhaps most importantly, the pro-DDT line is a vast distraction. There are numerous other techniques for dealing with malaria: alternative insecticides, bed nets and a combination of drugs called artemisinin-based combination therapy, or ACT. ACT actually kills the malaria parasite fast, allowing the patient a quick recovery, and has a success rate of 95 percent (World Health Organization, 2001). Rollouts of ACT in other countries have slashed malaria rates by 80 to 97 percent (Washington Monthly, 7/06).

But such techniques require money and wealthy nations are hesitant to give it, especially when they think they can just avoid the whole problem by unbanning DDT. “DDT has become a fetish,” says Allan Schapira, a former senior member of the malaria team at the World Health Organization (Washington Monthly, 7/06). “You have people advocating DDT as if it’s the only insecticide that works against malaria, as if DDT would solve all problems, which is obviously absolutely unrealistic.”

As a result, senators and their staff insist that DDT is all that’s necessary. And the new director of WHO’s malaria program, Arata Kochi, kicked off his tenure by telling the malaria team that they were “stupid” and issuing an announcement that “forcefully endorsed wider use of the insecticide DDT” while a representative of the Bush administration stood by his side. Half his staff resigned in response (New York Times, 9/16/06).

There are genuine issues with current malaria control programs: incompetent administration, misuse of funds, outdated techniques, a lack of funding and concern. And, much to their credit, many on the right have drawn attention to these problems. Africa Fighting Malaria has frequently called for more effective monitoring, and conservative Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) has used his influence to fight corruption in anti-malaria programs.

But the same Tom Coburn recently held up a bill honoring the 100th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s birth on the grounds that “millions of people . . . died because governments bought into Carson’s junk science claims about DDT” (Raw Story, 5/22/07). Even AFM’s Bate was quoted as finding this a bit too much, pointing out that Carson died in 1964, just two years after Silent Spring was published (Washington Post, 5/23/07). But apparently getting a few digs in at the environmental movement is just too hard for conservatives to resist.

From FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, September/October 2007

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3186

Posted in Birth Defects, Cancer, Chemical News, Children, Costs, Culture, Environment, MCS, Neurological, Pesticides, Politics | Leave a Comment »

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Chronic Pain – and its Costs

February 6, 2011
NY Times, February 4, 2011

Treating Chronic Pain and Managing the Bills

By MICHELLE ANDREWS

MAYBE the question is not who suffers from some type of chronic pain, but who doesn’t?

“If you tally up everybody who has chronic, recurring back, headache and musculoskeletal problems, it includes almost everybody by the time people get into their 30s,” said Dr. Perry Fine, a professor of anesthesiology at the Pain Research Center and the University of Utah and incoming chairman of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Given the prevalence of chronic pain — often defined as recurrent pain that lasts more than three to six months — you might expect that by now medical science would have figured out how to alleviate it and that health insurers would routinely cover its treatment.

If only it were that simple. Pain is a sneaky opponent. Invisible, it cannot be detected with a blood test or a scan; sometimes it has no identifiable cause. Pain is perception, and what one person considers intolerable may be only moderately uncomfortable to another.

This makes treatment challenging. And insurers often do not make it any easier.

For the last 15 years, Ernie Merritt III, 46, has been coping with the aftermath of a back injury he suffered working as a pipefitter in southeastern Maine. At the time, he thought he had just pulled a muscle. But after an M.R.I. revealed a herniated disc pressing on his sciatic nerve, he underwent the first of four operations.

Surgery has not been enough. Mr. Merritt’s back still hurts, and now he must wear a brace full time to stabilize it. He has developed carpal tunnel syndrome and shoulder problems. The nerves in his legs are damaged, and doctors cannot figure out why.

Because Mr. Merritt is disabled, he qualifies for Medicare, but he says he had to drop the Part B outpatient portion of the coverage. With all of his doctor visits — neurologists, orthopedists and physical therapists, not to mention his regular primary care physician — the 20 percent co-insurance charges were more than he and his wife could afford.

Now he pays $3,000 a year for coverage with his wife’s health plan through her job at the county courthouse. Specialist co-payments are a flat $15 per visit, and he can see his primary care doctor free.

Given his medical needs, it was the right decision, he said: “I have so many things going on that they can’t explain.”

If you have chronic pain, chances are you have discovered that getting the care you need at a price you can afford can be, well, excruciating. These suggestions may help.

A MEDICAL ‘HOME’ The most common causes of chronic pain are musculoskeletal conditions — including arthritis, lower back problems and fibromyalgia — and recurrent headaches. Chronic pain also afflicts many patients with such serious illnesses as cancer, AIDS and irritable bowel syndrome.

Pain management almost always involves medication, and physical or occupational therapy is common. But there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and patients often see several doctors on a regular basis.

It is important to find a primary care provider who will serve as your “medical home” and will work with you to coordinate care. You will avoid duplicative tests and procedures, and you are more likely to find the care you need.

In addition, many primary care doctors provide therapies like nerve blocks, said Dr. Roland A. Goertz, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. A savvy primary care physician can help keep expenses in check.

MENTAL HEALTH People with chronic pain are twice as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety as the general population, but insurance coverage for mental health problems often is inadequate for these patients. Fortunately, the recently passed mental health parity law should help make those services more available.

Until then, consider some alternate community resources. Stanford University, for instance, has developed a chronic disease self-management program that is available in nearly every state through local area agencies on aging. The six-week program teaches participants relaxation and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, among other things, and is free in many areas.

For a quicker fix, check out the American Chronic Pain Association’s free five-minute relaxation guide.

STRETCHING OUT “People in pain don’t exercise,” said Penney Cowan, founder and executive director of the American Chronic Pain Association. Big mistake. Exercise is one of the most effective and most affordable ways to manage chronic pain. Gentle stretching and exercises to increase range of motion and strength training are all helpful. (Get the go-ahead from your doctor before starting, though.)

Although physical and occupational therapy are often recommended for people with chronic pain, insurance plans typically cover only a limited number of sessions. Make the most of your visits by asking the therapist to teach you what you can do on your own, said Dennis Turk, a professor of anesthesiology and pain research at the University of Washington.

“Eight to 15 sessions of physical therapy may be more than enough if the patient is learning what to do on their own,” he said.

INSURANCE APPEALS Insurance coverage for many types of pain management treatment is often inadequate, say advocates and physicians who treat it. Medication and interventional therapies like nerve blocks are more likely to be routinely covered than physical or behavioral therapy.

Part of the problem is that pain management is complex, and people respond to therapies differently. “When people keep coming back and saying something’s not working, insurers begin to doubt that reality,” Ms. Cowan said.

If your plan turns down your request for physical or behavioral therapy, or any other treatment, get a copy of the policy and read the fine print, said Jennifer C. Jaff, executive director of Advocacy for Patients With Chronic Illness.

If the policy says therapies are covered only if they are medically necessary, for example, you may be able to challenge the denial in an appeal. Sometimes insurers say they are denying coverage because you have not shown improvement, a standard that someone with chronic pain may find impossible to meet. Appeal those decisions, too. Ms. Jaff’s organization files free insurance appeals for patients.

AFFORDABLE DRUGS Medication is a mainstay for people with chronic pain, and drug therapy is one of the few chronic pain treatments that insurance plans reliably cover, said Mr. Turk.

Even if you have coverage, however, it can be tough to figure out which drugs will effectively manage your pain. People with severe chronic pain may take prescription opioids like codeine and oxycodone, as well as antidepressants and muscle relaxants.

Some insurers require that patients do “step” therapy: trying to relieve symptoms with aspirin for a few months, for example, before going on to a more powerful painkiller. In addition, some doctors are reluctant to prescribe some analgesics because they fear serious side effects and worry that patients may become dependent on them.

It is important to find a doctor who will work with you to find a drug regimen that manages your pain and who will advocate on your behalf with an insurer. As with any drug, it pays to ask your doctor if an older, generic drug might be a reasonable substitute for a brand-name prescription.

If you do not have insurance or if a drug you need is not on your plan’s list of covered drugs, check out needymeds.org, a clearinghouse for programs that provide free or discounted drugs to people, generally based on income.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/health/05patient.html
FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (C ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

Posted in CFS, Chronic, MCS | Leave a Comment »

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Sick Housing

February 5, 2011

Sweden has its own sickness

By Ritt Goldstein
DALARNA, Sweden – As shock waves continue to emanate from Stockholm’s recent terror bombing, such an event appearing all but unthinkable given the Sweden most people perceive, ongoing revelations highlight that Sweden has had some disturbing changes. In many ways, today’s Sweden faces the same problems as other countries, including corruption and the sometimes nightmarish impact of it.

Emphasizing Swedish corruption’s gravity, the vast bulk of cases that have come to light are occurring in municipal housing companies and the construction industry, with the substantive “human costs” of these scandals only beginning to be appreciated. So-called “sick houses”, the significant health issues they’ve meant, are a recognized problem in Sweden, with the ongoing scandals now suggesting why.

“This is something that really needs to be looked upon and looked into,” said Justice Chancellor Anna Skarhed of the scandals’ health impact, sternly observing for Asia Times Online that “there is even more of this [the effects of corruption] than we’ve already seen, which is quite enough, and too much as it is.”

China’s infamous melamine scandal is said to have affected 300,000 people, or about .024% of its populace. But over 10% of Sweden’s people are suffering varying degrees of ill health effects from badly constructed or maintained housing, with a not insignificant number suffering quite severely.

In 2008, Scandinavia’s largest paper, Aftonbladet, noted, “In a new study from [Sweden's] Umea University, it was found that 45% of those affected by sick buildings – and who received medical treatment at a hospital clinic – are unable to work. Of these, 20% receive a disability pension, and 25% are on sick leave.”

For much of its recent history, Sweden has represented what many consider the embodiment of governmental integrity and efficiency, with typical Swedes following rules so closely that virtually none even “jaywalk”. Decades of cradle-to-grave government benefits have created a deep-felt faith in the authorities, present events providing a decidedly rude awakening for most, though not all.

Leif Kavestad – author of the Swedish book Sick Houses, building engineer, and a former environmental inspector who was personally decorated by the prior prime minister – has charged that “when residents complain about health hazards and health problems in municipal housing, it’s not uncommon for the municipality to hire ‘consultants’ that will declare the property safe.” Kavestad pointedly told ATol that “in legal disputes, the environmental agency always accepts the word of the municipality’s ‘bought’ consultants. Tenants which complain over sick buildings with health complaints are sometimes threatened – the parties together can act like a mafia against the tenants.”

In Sweden, municipal housing provides the majority of the country’s rental apartments, some being “high-end” properties.

“It’s a big problem, and it’s a big problem for the trust in the authorities and the trust in the kommun [municipality] … it has to be dealt with, and seriously,” said Gustav Gellerbrant , spokesperson and political advisor for Justice Minister Beatrice Ask, regarding the human consequences of housing corruption.

Over the past months, increasing numbers of Swedes are examining their surroundings through new eyes. “Bribes are more common than we thought”, “Bribery cases in many municipalities”, “Corruption and abuse of power in Swedish municipalities” – these headlines representing but a few of the recent months’ revelations. Law-enforcement authorities have seen a change.

Prosecutor Gunnar Stetler, director of the Swedish prosecution authority’s National Anti-Corruption Unit (Riksenheten mot korruption), described for ATol the current level of municipal corruption complaints to his office as “at least 50% higher” than the same period last year. A new investigative group within the National Police to investigate corruption – including cross-border questions and financial crime – is also now being worked on, Stetler emphasized, describing expectations that the yet ongoing discussions would be finalized “during December, or during January”.

Both Stetler and Justice Chancellor Skarhed are among a handful of key contributors to the new police group’s formation, Chancellor Skarhed noting “the information I have from the prosecutor’s office and the Riksenheten mot korruption strongly indicates that the resources the police have given to these [corruption] investigations have not been adequate for quite some time.” The chancellor expects the new group to be formed in January.

Adding another dimension to the corruption problem, in September three rights groups filed a criminal complaint against Saab, alleging bribery was involved in the sale of Swedish fighter aircraft to South Africa. Prosecutor Stetler describes the status of this case as under “active consideration”, a determination on the opening of a preliminary investigation yet to be forthcoming. But Stetler’s unit has been busy.

Corruption revelations began detonating in April, with an investigative TV program resembling a Swedish version of 60 Minutes entitled Uppdrag Granskning (UG), exploding municipal corruption onto the national agenda. Their report centered on “bribery and corruption in Gothenburg”, Sweden’s second-largest city, and today a place where all four of the city’s municipal housing companies have come under the National Anti-Corruption Unit’s investigation.

Following the UG reports, charges ranging from aggravated corruption and fraud to breach of trust and embezzlement have become among those being investigated. Individuals focused on include local officials, municipal company executives, and construction industry figures.

Drawing considerable outrage, funds earmarked for construction and renovation of municipal housing appear to have gone to luxurious additions to officials’ private homes. “If you are ‘well-connected’ locally … there might be people then who are prepared to ‘bend the rules’ to give you favors, and maybe they get favors back. And we know that this happens in municipalities,” said corruption expert and political scientist Staffan Andersson of Sweden’s Linne University, cutting to the issue of so-called local “strongmen”, an issue well publicized as a key corruption problem.

This autumn, Swedish National Television (SVT) aptly kicked off a new comedy series about an inept and corrupt municipal politician,Strong Man (“Starke man”), parodying the kinds of corrupt behaviors that have been making headlines.

Over the past 20 years, Sweden privatized increasingly large segments of its public sector, particularly in municipalities. It set up hybrid companies that were owned by municipalities but operated as semi-independent firms, firms with far looser controls than when their work was done as an official municipal organ. “We have been so focused on productivity, efficiency, and cost savings … but there’s also another side,” Andersson explained. He added that when it came to effective controls within these new entities, events have “not been running as quick as we have done with productivity”, questioning whether today’s controls fit “the kind of administration we had 20years ago”.

Illustrating his point, Andersson emphasized for ATol that “there are a lot of instances where … municipalities are actually carrying out authority in a way which is regarded as illegal by courts, administrative courts, but they actually do it anyway”. Paralleling this, an October SVT news report had earlier revealed how some municipal auditors whitewashed wrongdoing, then received legal immunity from the municipality for their actions, leaving no one legally culpable.

Pockets of widespread and deeply entrenched municipal problems have been increasingly seen.

In Falun, the municipal housing company, Kopparstaden, is particularly noteworthy, first making national headlines in 2009 with a story about its chief executive officer (CEO) and pornography. Following this, the CEO violated company rules by purchasing property for Kopparstaden’s new headquarters from a close friend.

The transaction was first stated as approximately 3 million Swedish kronor (US$440,000), then later “revised” to about five million. Subsequent research revealed that the “revision” was due to debt which was acquired by Kopparstaden with its property purchase, though, according to the City of Falun’s accounting firm, KPMG, apparently no documents were presented to Kopparstaden’s board regarding that debt.

Kopparstaden’s new headquarters eventually cost a third over budget, KPMG reporting that the firm’s internal controls “had not worked”, and that its CEO had wanted a 295,000 kronor tennis court at the new office. Subsequently, the CEO was quoted by a local paper as claiming KPMG was in error on its cost figures, that the new headquarters was in reality “great business“.

When contacted, Kopparstaden refused to be interviewed for this article.

Prosecutor Stetler noted that the KPMG report indicated Kopparstaden violations of “law or regulation”, but he added that under current Swedish law, it was necessary to prove “intent” in order for a prosecution to occur. Wrongdoing in itself is not actionable.

Andersson blamed weak municipal scrutiny and weak legal sanctions as key corruption problems.

Beyond financial issues, Kopparstaden has made headlines regarding tenant health problems, some health issues being severe, one even life-threatening. Notably, similar to its pronouncements on KPMG’s “error”, in court documents the firm describes an apartment the local environmental authority condemned as uninhabitable to be without any serious damage; though, substantive injuries to the tenant had resulted, and tests revealed the apartment had “unusually high” levels of toxic chemicals such as chloroform and benzene, plus a “powerfully elevated” mold level.

Notably, a report published by Swedish corruption researchers in November 2008, “Public Corruption in Swedish Municipalities – Trouble Looming on the Horizon?”, did warn of potential problems with the municipal hybrid firms.

In subsequently explaining how Sweden’s municipal corruption grew, one of the report’s authors, political scientist Gissur Erlingsson of Linkoping University, placed blame on both the creation of “fast and loose” municipal hybrids, and an erosion of whistleblower protections beginning in the mid-1990s, saying “people got more and more wary and afraid of losing their job”.

Examining another aspect of events, Dr Daniel Burston (PhD Psychology, PhD Social and Political Thought), chair of Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University psychology department, observed a culture of corruption always contains a large “group of passive and increasingly indifferent people who simply ‘go along’ with the status quo”. “They try to avoid losing what they have by not opposing the strongmen and their agents, and offering them bribes or ‘cover’, when necessary”, Burston outlined for ATol, adding that such conduct “becomes the ‘new normal’, and so routinized, in many ways, that it becomes completely unconscious – a tacitly accepted part of prevailing social and cultural expectations.”

In societies where those in authority are particularly respected, Burston observed that public opinion, combined with the phenomenon of “group think”, might well enable “corrupt leaders to gather the mantle of respectability around their shoulders, and then operate unhindered as ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’.”

“Prosecution has preventative effects,” law professor Claes Sandgren of Stockholm University emphasized, “you don’t just prosecute to put just one individual in prison, you also prosecute to deter others.”

Ritt Goldstein is an investigative political journalist whose work has appeared widely, including in the US’s Christian Science Monitor, Spain’s El Mundo, Austria’s Wiener Zeitung and Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, as well as with other significant members of the global media.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/LL22Aa01.html

FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (C ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

Posted in Air Quality, CFS, Chemical News, Chronic Fatigue, Costs, Culture, Housing, MCS, MCS News, Mold, Politics | Leave a Comment »

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“I Never Wanted to be a Quack!”

February 5, 2011

The link below is to one of the most interesting, informative and well-written pieces we have come across in the annals of MCS. It deals with the many important realities of a section of this site called: 2 – OUTMODED MEDICAL PARADIGM AND PERVERSE INCENTIVES.

Article citation:

“I Never Wanted to Be a Quack!”: The Professional Deviance of Plaintiff Experts in Contested Illness Lawsuits: The Case of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, by Tarryn Phillips, Anthropology and Sociology, University of Western Australia, from MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp. 182–198, ISSN 0745-5194, online ISSN 1548-1387. C   2010 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1387.2010. 01096.x

In this paper, Tarryn Phillips only deals with the constraints within the medico-scientific communities. However, it is a powerful piece, very well researched, and very important to understand what it’s like for physicians and other medico-scientific experts when they become advocates for the chemically sensitive — in brief, how  horrible and wearing and challenging it is, and how terribly stigmatizing.

Certainly, in Canada, in Ontario and Quebec, physicians who became strong advocates have paid the ultimate price as physicians, i.e., lost their licenses, been driven away or lost many years of income and peace of mind to persecution by bodies of their peers — an even higher price than has been paid by the people Phillips documents in Australia.

It is interesting to read that Phillips concludes that researchers are already at the point where about 50 percent support the diagnosis of chemical sensitivity as against 50 percent who don’t; whereas among clinicians the percentage of skeptics is much, much higher, over 90 per cent.
From the article: “Indeed, to repeat a point that cannot be emphasized too strongly, the science and research on causes and treatments of environmentally-linked diseases – conducted by pioneering scientists and physicians — including on MCS are much, much farther ahead than the mainstream of clinical practice in the vast majority of doctor’s offices and hospitals, and certainly than in the government or private insurance offices that calculate fee schedules and remuneration for medical procedures.”

MCS plaintiff experts – Med Anthro 2010 (PDF)

FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (C ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

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Book on ME/CFS, FM, MCS – in Spanish

February 5, 2011

ME/CFS, FM & MCS: FREE BOOK IN SPANISH

Spain, January 2010

We are happy to be able to send you, in digital form, the new communication manual in Spanish we have published for health professionals on ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and MCS, “New challenges in the doctor’s office: What to do with Fibromyalgia, ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. A communication manual” (Bilbao, Spain: ONEditorial 2009) . (The version on paper is being distributed, by the company that payed the printing, to 10,000 primary care doctors in Spain. But we, the authors, have rights to the digital form). We hope it will of use to all of you who work with Spanish-speaking patients and that you will feel free to hang it on your home page and e-mail it to patients, doctors, etc.

Although this book is mainly on how to communicate efficiently with the patient and on the social impact of these illnesses, we have included a chapter on the medical/scientific aspects of each one of these illnesses.

You can learn more about the book, and obtain a copy, from here:

http://www.ligasfc.org/?p=173

 

The content of the book is the following:

Introduction

Chapter 1: What is happening to this patient? Central Sensibility Syndromes, What they have in common, Society facing CSS, The environment, Do no harm.

Chapter 2: An endless pain: Fibromyalgia. A real pain, Etiology, How can you know it is Fibromyalgia, Treatments and recommendations, Prognosis.

Chapter 3: A lot more than fatigue: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). How the illness develops, How to diagnose, Tests, Functional evaluation, Conclusion.

Chapter 4: Not only smells: Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). MCS, Treatments and Environmental Control, Information for hospital nurses (if you patient has MCS).

Chapter 5: Invisibility, not being believed, not being understood: the added suffering. “They don’t belive me”, Grieving, When “nothing” is wrong.

Chapter 6: The challenge of these illnesses. Not being taken seriously, The concept of “curing”, Fluctuations, Invisibility, The notion of time, Are health care professionals becoming “chronic”?, Always the same story, Satisfaction.

Chapter 7: Communication with patients with FM, ME/CFS and MCS. What are you thinking about the patient? The work with FM, ME/CFS and MCS, How to communicate, Sometimes it is hard to listen, Being there, Therapeutic communication, Empathy, Believing the patient.

Chapter 8: Helping and supporting the patient with his or her challenges.

What can I do? The patient’s emotions, Discouragement, Anxiety and fear, Anger, The importance of being neutral.

Chapter 9: How to be efficient in concrete situations. When the patient does not have a diagnosis yet, After the diagnosis, When the patient gets worse, Uncertainty and invisibility, The patient’s economic and work situation, Challenging the notion of living the illness “well”.

Chapter 10: A family member with FM, ME/CFS or MCS. Family dynamics when there is FM, ME/CFS or MCS, Emotions, Communication challenges between family members, Families with children with ME/CFS.

Chapter 11: The voices of doctors and patients (quotes).

Bibliography

Thank-you to my co-authors, Iñaki Markez MD PhD and Cristina Visiers MA, for their talent and their commitment to change and education.

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MCS: from Spain

February 5, 2011

INTERVIEW WITH EVA CABALLÉ ABOUT MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES

Eva Caballé is the author of the recently published book in Spanish Desaparecida. Una vida rota por la sensibilidad química múltiple (Missing. A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) published by El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, Spain, 2009.

By Salvador López Arnal

November 2009

“Yes, there is something hidden in this silence. It is the interests of the chemical and pharmaceutical companies so that people won’t know that their products are causing new and terrible illnesses like Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). Actually, recently it has been demonstrated that MCS is a psychological illness and that old studies that said that were fabricated to protect the interests of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries”.

Eva Caballé

Eva Caballé is a 37 year-old Barcelona economist who lives with MCS. She was a bank employee and was a member of the rock group Lefthanded and now is the author of the recently released book (in Spanish) published by the publishing house, Libros de El Viejo Topo: Desaparecida. Una vida rota por la sensibilidad química múltiple (Missing. A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities). In the book’s introduction, Clara Valverde, says: “…But Eva is not weird. It is known that 0.75% of the population now lives with severe MCS and that up to 12% with mild or moderate MCS. All those people who are bothered by smells, those are part of that 12%. But most doctos and the majority of society are not aware of this and that is why it has taken Eva so many years to receive the right diagnosis. That is why Eva only has the help of her immediate family. That is why there are no demonstrations about this out on the streets nor it is on the front page news.”

Eva Caballé is also the author of the blog “No Fun”. She says: “No Fun is a blog about Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME and Fibromyalgia with information and advice for people who are sick and for anyone who wants to live a healthier life free of toxics”.

López-Arnal: Let’s start with a definition. What is MCS?

Eva Caballé: MCS is an aquired chronic illness, not psychological, which manifests itsefl with multisystemic symptoms as a reaction to a very small exposure to chemical products, normal everyday chemicals but unnecessary ones, like perfumes, air fresheners or laundry softeners.

The symptoms, which are chronic and they become acute in a crisis, include fatigue and respiratory, disgestive, cardiovascular, dermatological and neurológical problems.

MCS is a syndrome with three grades of severity, so not all of us who are sick suffer the same level of disability and isolation.

It is an illness which is known since the 1950s, but it has yet to be recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), despite that there aremore than 100 research articles that support the organic basis of MCS, that the number of people affected is increasing rapidly, at a younger age, and that the European Parlament inclues MCS in the growing number of illnesses related to environmental factors.

LA: You say that MCS is not recognized by the WHO despite the number of scientific articles that support the organic basis of this illness. Why do you think that the WHO is so skeptical, so cautious?

EC: We know that the WHO has been debating the MCS issue for years. But the process of recognizing the illness is taking longer than usual due to the pressure that the chemical and pharmaceutical industries are pubbing on the WHO, as they are not interested in having it known that they are directly responsible for this illness.

Without going any further, in Germany, where MCS is recognized as an illness, the industries continue exercicing their control through tools like Wikipedia. This was denounced by the CSN Association in article which I translated and published on my blog.

The article about MCS in Wikipedia in German is edited each day, sometimes every few minutes, because the administrators, who have interests in the industry, veto the information trying to make sure that MCS is not known or if it is, that it be thought of as a psychosomatic illness.

LA: You also say that the number of people with MCS is growing rapidly. Can you give us any data to illustrate this?

EC: I am quoting Dr J Fernández-Solà (an Internal Medicine specialist from the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona) who, in an interview that was done with him at the beginning of this year for an article on MCS in the Spanish magazine, Interviu, said that the amount of patients who were seeking medical help for this illness is growing rapidly. In his hospital, each year, they get between 50 and 60 new patients. That means one new patient a week.

LA: What symptoms could make one think that they have this illness?

EC: Perhaps the most common symptom is to notice unbearable smells which one did not notice before. One stops tolerating various chemical agents like cleaning products, perfumes, tobacco smoke, car emissions, etc. When you have MCS and you are exposed to these chemical agents, a series of symptoms are triggered automatically and like choking, irritation of the respiratory tract, tachycardia, headaches, mental confusion, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, extreme fatigue and/or pain. These symptoms don’t get better until you stop being in contact with the chemical agent that produced it.

Normally you also stop tolerating alcohol, dairy products or gluten. You also develop intolerance to various foods and medications.

Often there are other environmental intolerances: to heat, to cold, to noise, to sunlight and to electromagnetic fields (computers, ….., telephones, cellular phone atennas, microwaves, etc).

LA: What differences are there between MCS and, let’s say, Fibromyalgia?

EC: MCS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephelitis (CFS/ME) and Fibromyalgia (FMS) are illnesses of the same family. In fact, many of us who have MCS, we actually have the three illnesses and more and more people with CFS/ME and FMS, with the years, also develop MCS.

We have a lot of the same symptoms, but the biggest difference is that those with MCS do not tolerate even the smallest exposure to chemical substances, which is the reason why we have to maintain a strict environmental control and we cannot go outside without a mask with a carbon filter to filter out the enviromental toxics.

LA: What medical treatment does a person with MCS receive from the Spanish health care system? Do you think it is adequate? Do you think it is fair?

EC: In Spain, MCS is not recognized as a illness and so health workers and the general population are not aware of this serious pathology.

Instead, countries like Germany, and recently Austria and Japan, have recognized it and other countries are on their way to doing so and offer health services to those who have it and are establishing protocols for prevention.

______________

Eva’s blog (in Spanish): http://nofun-eva.blogspot.com/

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MCS and Brain Dysfunction

February 5, 2011

Brain dysfunction in multiple chemical sensitivity

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19801154?ordinalpos=1&itool=Email.EmailReport\
.Pubmed_ReportSelector.Pubmed_RVDocSum

J Neurol Sci. 2009 Oct 2. [Epub ahead of print]
Orriols R, Costa R, Cuberas G, Jacas C, Castell J, Sunyer J.

Servei de Pneumologia, Hospital Universitari Vall d’ Hebron, Barcelona,
Catalonia, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Spain.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is a chronic acquired disorder of
unknown pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether MCS
patients present brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)
and psychometric scale changes after a chemical challenge. This procedure
was performed with chemical products at non-toxic concentrations in 8
patients diagnosed with MCS and in their healthy controls. In comparison to
controls, cases presented basal brain SPECT hypoperfusion in small cortical
areas of the right parietal and both temporal and fronto-orbital lobes.
After chemical challenge, cases showed hypoperfusion in the olfactory, right
and left hippocampus, right parahippocampus, right amygdala, right thalamus,
right and left Rolandic and right temporal cortex regions(p</=0.01). By
contrast, controls showed hyperperfusion in the cingulus, right
parahippocampus, left thalamus and some cortex regions (p</=0.01). The
clustered deactivation pattern in cases was stronger than in controls
(p=0.012) and the clustered activation pattern in controls was higher than
in cases (p=0.012). In comparison to controls, cases presented poorer
quality of life and neurocognitive function at baseline, and neurocognitive
worsening after chemical exposure. Chemical exposure caused neurocognitive
impairment, and SPECT brain dysfunction particularly in odor-processing
areas, thereby suggesting a neurogenic origin of MCS.

 

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Beauty Business = Risky Business

February 5, 2011

Risky Beauty Business

From American Public Media, North Carolina Public Radio WUNC, October 6, 2009

A group of advocates are concerned the chemicals used in manicures, and especially acrylic nails, are affecting the health of nail salon workers. Connie Nguyen has been doing hair and nails for 15 years. She’s experienced dizziness and difficulty breathing. Alisha Tran, a former salon owner, experienced nausea and was twice rushed to the emergency room before a doctor told her to quit the business.

Both women join Dick Gordon to talk about their exposure to the chemicals in nail salons and how difficult it is to do anything to change that. Many salon owners don’t want to spend money on different products or a good ventilation system. Most workers feel it’s impolite and awkward to wear a protective mask.

Listen to the podcast:

http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_875_Connie_Nguyen_and_Alisha_Tran.mp3/view

 

  • Learn more about the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative
  • Learn more about the Asian Law Caucus
  • Read Nail Salon Reports translated to Vietnamese
  • Find out if your beauty products are safe

Posted in Air Quality, Cardiovascular, Chemical News, MCS, Neurological, Politics | Leave a Comment »

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MCS “win” in Alberta

February 4, 2011

In a case versus the Worker’s Compensation Board (WCB), the appellant, in a letter to the Environmental Health Association of Ontario (EHAO, writes in part, in August of 2009:

“I finally won my WCB appeal after 5 plus years of struggling.  The appeals commission found that MCS exists, I have it and a workplace exposure caused me to become permanently disabled as a result.  WCB dug their heels in very hard for my claim to be denied; however, the appeals commission examined ALL the medical and decided in my favour.”

And here is the decision in full, in downloadable PDF form:

2009canlii59970


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