Chemical sensitivity (or "multiple chemical sensitivity") is a term used to describe people with numerous troubling symptoms attributed to environmental factors, from simple housepaint to complex building structures: and materials in offices and schools. Many such people are seeking special accommodations, applying for disability benefits, and filing lawsuits claiming that exposure to common foods and chemicals:. has made them ill. Their efforts are supported by some physicians who use questionable diagnosis and treatment methods, while critics charge that these medical approaches are bogus and "chemical sensitivity" is not a valid diagnosis.
The complaints associated with chemical sensitivity include depression, irritability, poor memory fatigue, drowsiness, constipation, sneezing, wheezing, skin rashes, headache, chest pain, pounding heart, swelling, upset stomach, paralysis, AIDS-like illnesses, psychotic experiences, and just about every other symptom noted in medical textbooks. One prominent clinical ecologist even claimed that chemical sensitivity patients may well be human "canaries" on an increasingly poisoned planet, and others have actually labelled chemical sensitivity as a disease. While some people am adversely affected by exposure to some chemicals, there is an overwhelming increase in false claims and reports from mislead, obsessive patients and opportunist doctors.
Chemical Sensitivity: The Truth About Environmental Illness examines this phenomenon in depth and the scientific, legal, ethical, and political issues that surround it. The authors show that none of the speculations about environmental exposure is consistent with scientific knowledge of human physiology, allergy and immunology, pathology, toxicology or clinical medicine. The authors also find that many the cases of chemical sensitivity lack consistent characteristics or uniform cause, were not subjected to controlled tests, and many symptoms. were brought on by psychological factors rather than physical ones. Chemical Sensitivity also debunks claims related to "sick building syndrome," "mercury-amalgam toxicity," "yeast allergy," and Gulf War syndrome.
STEPHEN J. BARRETT (Allentown, PA), a retired psychiatrist, is a nationally renowned consumer health advocate and nutrition quack buster. He is consulting editor of Nutrition Forum and the editor/co- author of forty-four books, including The Health Robbers and The Vitamin Pushers. RONALD E. Gots (Rockville, MD), CEO of the International Center for Toxicology and Medicine, is the author of four books, and has had health articles published in Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, and Self among other publications.
212 pages (index) ISBN 1-57392-195-5 Cloth
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