There is a lot of conversation these days on how toxic our environment has become but little has been written on how these toxins are affecting our health. In the U.S. and throughout the world more and more people are being affected by what these toxins are doing to us. Most U.S. doctors don’t make the connection between toxins and illness as myself and countless others have found out. Although medical science has named some of the illnesses caused from environmental toxins, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is the umbrella term used to describe this cluster of multi-system and multi-symptom illnesses. Allopathic physicians are trained to treat each symptom as a separate illness when they should be looking at exposure to toxins as the root cause of most, if not all symptoms.

What are toxins and how do they end up in our bodies? Toxins are any substances harmful to the body. Our bodies treat them as poisons needing to be eliminated. Toxins can enter our body in three main ways: Through our skin, from ingestion and through the air we breathe. Some common sources of toxins are: Lotions and makeup, fragrances, cleaning agents, fabric softeners, air fresheners, inks, toxic molds, building materials, plastics, industrial wastes in our water and streams, genetically modified foods, pesticides, vehicle exhaust, dental materials, power lines and transformers, cell towers and cell phones.

One example of how chemical toxins can affect us is the FEMA trailers that housed some of the workers during the clean-up after hurricane Katrina. Many workers got sick from overexposure to formaldehyde in the trailers. The same problem can exist in new homes. We are all exposed to many toxins 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in varying degrees. The relentless toxic exposures endured by our bodies has a wearing down effect from years of trying to keep up with detoxification. Past generations weren’t exposed to the massive amount of toxins we are today. My parents and grandparents lived into their 80s and 90s, but so many of my friends in their 60s have passed away. I have also taken note that the past generation grew much of their own food and were not using GMOs as they had not been invented and patented.

The birds and the bees. Another clue as to how toxic our world has become was reported in several newspapers stating that in addition to the bees disappearing, now frogs and tens of millions of birds are also disappearing across North America and all along the West coast from Oregon to Baja, California and into Mexico. Is this a sign like the proverbial canary in a coal mine? Our wildlife are also being exposed to too many toxins in the environment which is likely the reason certain species are virtually disappearing at an ever increasing rate.

Immune function overload. For persons with MCS, their detoxification system tries harder and harder to keep up with the removal of toxins. But as they are exposed to more and more toxins, the detoxification system has to work that much harder to remove toxins from their bodies until finally their immune system breaks down. By then the body has become hypersensitive to many toxins. The body is letting you know it is not happy that it is being exposed to so many toxins that cannot be detoxed or dumped fast enough. By the time most individuals with MCS figure out something is wrong, almost all have multiple system problems such as leaky gut, fatigue, inflammation, arthritis, severe allergies, candida overgrowth, thyroid and liver dysfunction, and a weakened immune system. The best defense is to avoid as many toxic exposures as possible but this is hard to do in an extremely toxic world.

If the source of the constant exposures is not avoided or minimized, MCS moves on to the next stage. The person will not only become hypersensitive to additional toxins, but will become sensitive to non-toxins like certain foods. As a result, many people must rotate their foods every four days to keep from developing food sensitivities. When someone becomes sensitive to almost everything, this is referred to as the "Spreading Phenomenon." This phenomenon to an MCS person feels like the kiss of death.

A normal person would not even notice perfumes, smoke or new building materials but for an MCS person such exposures set the stage for a chain reaction that may bring on such symptoms as headaches, nasal and sinus congestion, gastrointestinal difficulties, flu-like symptoms without a fever, blurred vision, poor memory, depression, anxiety, joint pain, asthma and itching, to name a few. This is really inflammation in the body as a result of a toxic reaction. One way to help with this is tri-salts (calcium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, and sodium bicarbonate) or bi-salts (calcium carbonate and potassium bicarbonate). This can help lessen the inflammation process and reaction by moving the blood from a low, acidic pH to a more normal, alkaline pH.

More common in women. For some reason women seem to have a worse time with MCS than men. About 70 percent of those who come down with MCS are women compared to about 30 percent of men. Some researchers believe testosterone helps protect men, leaving women more vulnerable. MCS also tends to run in families; I have witnessed entire families diagnosed with MCS receiving treatment.

Doctors who know and doctors who don’t. Good Dr. Doris Rapp, author of "Our Toxic World: A Wake Up Call – How to Keep Yourself and Your Loved Ones Out of Harms Way," points out that ADD and ADHD are really under the umbrella of MCS, relating the disorder to toxic schools with new carpeting, glues and paints. The worst part is how it is affecting young children’s brain function and immune systems. She also produced a DVD called "Environmentally Sick Schools" which should motivate parents into getting involved in creating environmentally-safe learning environments for their children.

Very few doctors have a clue about MCS and the growing number of people being devastated by it. Given that 15 percent of the population has been reported to have MCS, it is logical to conclude that doctors are seeing patients who have it but are unaware of the condition or how to treat it.

MCS was discovered by Dr. Theron G. Randolph in the early 1950s. Afterwards, Dr. William Rea in Dallas, Texas, got MCS and it changed the direction and purpose of his practice to the treatment of MCS patients. To date, Dr. Rea claims to have treated over 40,000 patients since the 70s. Another doctor is Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker of Pocomoke, Maryland, who knows molds better than anyone I have come across. A few other progressive doctors, mostly environmental doctors, are aware of treatment for MCS but most deal solely with the initial stages of the disease.

Several departments in the U.S. government, including Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the American Disability Insurance Act, accept MCS as a qualifying illness. Even so, most medical doctors reject MCS as an illness, which has left many MCS patients without any effective treatment options. As a result, MCS patients are often prescribed medications to mask the symptoms or antidepressants to dull the brain. These medications actually exacerbate the problem in MCS patients.

The first thing doctors should instruct their chemically-sensitive patients to do is avoid toxins and molds.

It is time for medical doctors to come out of the dark ages and do what they are supposed to do as caring doctors, treating MCS patients with respect while directing them to the best available treatments. Instead, U.S. doctors just blame the patient, which seems to be what most doctors do today when they don’t have a clue about an illness and don’t want to deal with a problem they don’t understand. We have found that doctors who have first hand experience with MCS, either because they have it or a family member does, are more understanding and accepting of MCS as an illness.

If you find yourself or know someone who might have this problem, they need to seek medical advice. However, good medical doctors for MCS are hard to find so it is vital to spend the necessary time looking for the right doctor.

The problem is growing. I wrote this article to express my opinions and my experience of having MCS over a period of 5 years. If you are not experiencing MCS symptoms, you are lucky, but we are finding that, as the public is exposed to an ever increasing amount of toxins, more and more people are exhibiting MCS symptoms.

If I suspect someone has MCS, the first question I will ask, "Are you uncomfortable with, or allergic to, perfumes?"

If the answer is "yes," I ask them about other items that may be causing them to experience allergic reactions.

Another key question I will ask is, "Do you live in a musty or moldy home or did you grow up in one?"

Every week I meet someone who knows someone else with this "chronic" health problem, they just do not know what is wrong with them. If everyone with MCS knew it and could be counted, we would see that the disease is epidemic.

The best advice I can give is to stay healthy while avoiding or consciously minimizing exposure to all toxins including molds. Being healthy is your most important asset. You need to protect it. I wish I had.

The Chemical Injury Information Network, P.O. Box 301 , White Sulphur Springs, MT 59645 Phone: (406) 547-2255. Publisher of "Our Toxic Times" since 1990 http://ciin.org

"The Human Ecologist", the quarterly newsletter of the Human Ecology Action League (HEAL), P.O. Box 29629, Atlanta, GA 30359-0629 Phone: (770) 389-4519

Dr. Doris J. Rapp, a board-certified environmental medical specialist, pediatric allergist, and homeopath. www.DrRapp.com and www.azhrt.org Phone: (480) 905-9195 8 AM–3 PM M-F (PST) Support@DrRapp.Com

Dr. William Rea, Environmental Health Center , 8345 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 220, Dallas, Texas 75231 Phone: (214) 368-4132 www.ehcd.com

The Back to Basics article on MCS this month illustrates the real problem we are all facing: The impact that the poisoning of our air, food and water is having on our bodies and, therefore, our health. However, our current "disease scare" industry continually diverts our attention from the cause of the problem to placing blame for illness on bacteria, viruses and all manner of micro-organisms. Even natural health care proponents use the term antibiotic (anti-life) to describe natural substances that oxygenate our cells, raise our pH and promote detoxification. This focus on the "germ theory" rather than Antoine Bechamp’s "terrain" or "cellular theory" of disease empowers our corporate-influenced government to test, regulate and chemically-alter the building blocks of life—raw, unadulterated, "enzyme-rich" fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

The latest scare is avian flu. As Dr. Sherri Tenpenny documented so well in her book, FOWL! Bird Flu: It’s Not What You Think, the cases of bird flu were confined to southeast Asia and happened to occur in areas intensely contaminated with dioxins from Monsanto’s Agent Orange herbicide applications during the Vietnam War. She cited studies on mice where only those exposed to dioxin and then exposed to the H5N1 "virus" experienced intense inflammation in their lung tissue leading to death. The infamous 1918 flu pandemic was another example of mass poisoning: The administration of the typhoid and smallpox vaccines plus diphtheria and tetanus antitoxins, use of chemical warfare in World War I and overdosing victims with Bayer aspirin. It appears that the "inevitable" flu pandemic our world is preparing for will result from the massive poisoning of our air, food and water coupled with "live virus" vaccines so that the resulting cases of influenza will be blamed on a "germ" rather than the poisons with which our bodies are inescapably burdened. It must be noted that the symptoms of influenza are the same as pesticide/chemical poisoning which is why the statistics for flu deaths are so high: the CDC includes influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) in their statistics for annual flu deaths.

Many scientists have observed that various micro-organisms allegedly causing particular diseases occur naturally in the body and do not multiply unless cell respiration is compromised from dehydration, excess toxins and a lack of key nutrients. The term "virus" originates from Latin meaning "slimy liquid, poison, stench." Today the term virus means an "infective agent too small to be seen with a light microscope." This change in meaning has progressed with the takeover of medicine by the drug cartels and their medical monopoly of the "healing" arts. We need to revisit Bechamp’s cellular theory of disease causation if we are going to reverse the current trend of killing off micro-organisms in our body and the world around us with toxic weaponry since we are systematically destroying all life-forms on the planet under this culturally-conditioned misperception. (ILC)