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February, 2008
WSB (Atlanta) Channel 2 airs story on Harmful Ingredients in Cosmetics
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/15406847/index.html
August, 2007
USA Today article on hotels creating "green" rooms for allergy sufferers & the chemically sensitive
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2007-08-30-healthy-hotels_N.htm
May, 2007
Atlanta HEAL Members Interviewed by CBS News for a Story on MCS entitled "The Mist of Misery".
Great sympathetic & understanding section during the CBS 11:00pm news showing the plight and isolation of MCS sufferes in the Atlanta area.
February, 2007
New Hampshire Smoking Ban First Step Toward Fragrance Ban
January, 2007
5% of Canadians Have Unexplained Conditions - FoodConsumer.Org
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/01/12/medically-unexplained.html?ref=rss
June, 2006
Environmental Factors Cause 1/3 of Childhood Diseases - CBC News
August, 2005
Article In USA Today about the Dangers of Chemical Products that we use everyday.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-08-02-chemicals-hormones-cover_x.htm
July, 2005
Micro-exposures to common chemicals may cause big health problems - Wall Street Journal
http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2005/07/26/2/
May, 2005
Perfume Allergy Case Brings $10M Judgement
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=6&u=/nm/health_lead_dc
March, 2005
European Legislation Now Requires Perfume Labeling
New legislation requires European cosmetic fragrance manufacturers to list on their packaging 26 ingredients which are considered to cause allergic reactions. Although manufacturers regularly use up to 200 separate ingredients in a perfume, this is seen as an acceptable compromise. (Our Toxic Times - July, 2005)
February, 2005
Lead in Environment Causing Violent Crime - Study
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=6&u=/nm/health_lead_dc
January, 2005:
Denmark plans center for fragrance and chemical sensitivity:
The minister for the environment establishes an information center for fragrance & chemical sensitivity. MCS may affect up to 1% of the Danish population and this center is to help existing victims and prevent this illness in others. With a grant of about a half million Dollars, this center is intended to help MCS become a well-defined and accepted illness. (Our Toxic Times - February, 2005)
October, 2004:
US Scientists claim that Gulf War Syndrome does exist:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3748844.stm
August, 2004:
New book by Gunni NordStrom, a Swedish Researcher, that looks at environmental illness caused by electromagnetic fields and chemical emissions from modern appliances.
September, 2003:
Study by HEAL member Stan Caress shows 12.6% of Georgians have a hypersensitivity to common chemicals:
http://www.fpinva.org/EHP/5940/5940.html
September, 2003:
New study ranks the results of 101 treatments used by people with MCS:
http://www.fpinva.org/EHP/5936/5936.html
July 27th, 2002:
Atlanta HEAL member, Ian Greenberg, writes letter to the editor of the Atlanta Journal & Constitution in response to an article on Sick Buildings:
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0703/27letters.html
Latest news coverage on NBC, PBS & CBC on the dangers of common household chemicals:
April 29th, 2000:
Nova Scotia bans fragrances and chemical hair products in public places:
http://www.fumento.com/halifax2.html
November, 2000:
Germany puts MCS in its International Classification of Diseases:
This is the first country in the world to list MCS in it's edition of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Here is the full story, plus a list of organizations that recognize MCS:
http://sacfs.asn.au/about/chemical/mcs_basic.pdf
Petition: Save Natural Medicine:
Petition to preventing unfair regulation of Natural Medicine. Click Here to read and sign this petition.
Petition: Chemical Security Legislation:
This would require facilities using large amounts of highly hazardous materials to use safer chemicals or processes where available, and mandate security standards. Click Here to read and sign this petition.
Email to Senator Zell Miller to Recognize MCS:
February 18,2002
Honorable Zell Miller
257 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Miller,
In late October, 2002 I originated a letter campaign asking your help in initiating a letter to the CDC,NIEHS and ATSDR asking that these federal agencies sponsor a series of meetings proposed by the Chemical Injury Information Network (CIIN) to develop a research case definition for multiple chemical sensitivity(MCS). These government agencies oversee public health and have insisted that a case definition must be issued for MCS before any serious research can be undertaken.
I know for a fact that over 50 letters were sent to your assistant, Lane Church but no one has ever received a response from your office even acknowledging a single letter. I recognize that you are a very busy person and cannot answer every piece of mail personally. But surely a response to your constituents is not too much to ask for.
Cynthia Wilson of CIIN met with your legislative aid, Lane Church on September 4, 2002 and left a packet of information on the seriousness of this growing health issue. As my letter pointed out, a scientific sample of North Georgia population groups surveyed by Dr. Stanley Caress of the University of West Georgia, has documented that 4% of Georgians reported sensitivities severe enough to require major lifestyle changes. I am one of those individuals.
I can no longer go to stores, or homes where there is any fragrance used. There is fragrance used everywhere and in every product you purchase. I can no longer tolerate the exposure from others in the work force who wear fragrance of any kind.
It is almost impossible to find a public bathroom without heavy exposure to fragrance.
Those of us who are afflicted have nowhere to turn since these federal agencies have turned their backs on us. We basically have no hope other than through local support groups as Atlanta H.E.A.L. or CIIN. The members of this group are composed of every profession and background with one common enemy--our environment which is slowly but surely poisoning us. We are the "canaries" that were used in the coal mines at the turn of the century. They dropped dead from exposure to methane gas long before the miners were aware of its existence and provided the early warning to leave the mine.
Unfortunately no one is listening to us.
This health crisis is growing yearly because theses agencies have done nothing to even establish a case definition for MCS. When will this health crisis reach the attention of these health agencies? Will it take another 8% or perhaps 25% of our population sickened with chemical sensitivities in the next 10 years to gain their attention?
The quantity of chemicals that are untested and unleashed into our environment is in the millions of tons just in Georgia alone. Most of these are in consumer products that are untested by the FDA since they are "proprietary" and the manufacturers do not have to divulge the ingredients to anyone even the FDA.
I am simply asking you to do one thing and that is to direct a letter to these agencies and direct them to do what they have refused to do for over 12 years and that is set out a case definition for MCS. I was like most people two years ago, oblivious to the poisoning of our environment and ourselves. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is just the tip of the iceberg. However unless significant research can establish
a cause and effect with toxicity in the environment, the percentage of those individuals affected will only continue to grow yearly in Georgia and the rest of the country.
I sincerely hope you will aid us in this effort.
Sincerely
Joyce Taylor
Bill H.R. 1947 - Safe Notification and Identification For Fragrances:
Adapted from” A Letter from the Board of Directors,” “A Personal Note from Lynn Lawson, CanaryNews November/December 2002 , Also reprinted from Our Toxic Times Feb. 2003 issue.
In her “Personal Note…” in the last regular issue of CanaryNews, Lawson says she will use her remaining health to continue the battle against synthetic fragrances. On September 17, 1999, Lawson and her husband, Court, met with Representative Jan Schakowsky and a year later Rep. Schakowsky introduced and then reintroduced a bill, currently H.R. 1947, the Safe Notification and Identification For Fragrances (SNIFF) bill. The bill, if passed, will require all fragranced products containing known allergens or toxins to be labeled accordingly. Rep. Schakowsky will be reintroducing the bill yet again in the 2003 Congressional session.
All MCS victims and their families and friends should write their Representatives to get behind this legislation. To find a Congressional Representative who would introduce this type of legislation is very rare and we can all thank Lynn Lawson for using her considerable ability as an advocate for MCS sufferers around the country for this achievement.
EPA warnings about plug-in air fresheners. Warnings about cancer and brain damage risks removed:
The EPA website has a house showing the dangers of chemical products in each room. In the bathroom is an air freshener (stand-alone type) with a link to a general warning. In the bedroom is a plug-in air freshener with a link to a warning containing additional wording about cancer risk and brain damage: This bedroom link was removed last year. Here are the two warnings. Notice the difference in the wording:
Bedroom plug-in air freshener warning. Removed from EPA website
Bathroom stand-alone air freshener warning. Still on EPA website
Dangers of Perfumes & Other Fragrances
Mercury content in seafood - Safe fish to eat
Can electrical fields impact your health? The dangers of electromagnetic fields (EMFs)
Aspartame Disease: An FDA-Approved Epidemic 1/7/04
Home Construction Materials that Pose the Highest Health Risk
Common Household Chemical May Harm Lung Function (Air Fresheners & Other Deodorizing Products)