Program Description

The Environmental Causes of Illness (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) Program Initiative is intended to support progressive basic- and clinical-science research efforts toward understanding the etiology of a variety of different conditions that stem from exposure and sensitivity to toxic chemicals found in our environment. Although there are numerous substances that are linked to illness progression, the human body has a limited number of avenues to handle these insults. Thus, the future of research for prevention and treatment relies on obtaining critical information on the causative agents and an understanding of the common pathways that become compromised and lead to disease formation.

The following list of illnesses is a small sampling of those that have been linked to environmental chemical toxicity:

• MS (Multiple Sclerosis)
• Alzheimer Disease
• Parkinson Disease
• Autism
• Allergic Asthma
• Tourette Syndrome
• Fibromyalgia

Environmental Causes of Illness:
Are we doing it to ourselves?

Environmental illnesses are on the rise. Common, chronic medical and neuropsychiatric illnesses appear to be triggered or worsened by environmental factors. Chemicals are in our bodies and in the products we use every day, and many or most of them have been poorly tested. We are all exposed to hundreds or thousands of chemicals, and even if each one is at a low level, they add up to overwhelm the body's defense systems. As the levee goes down we start to get sick.

The body's defense systems can be impacted by many things, but they have a smaller number of ways of reacting. When they work well they handle many stressors. When they work poorly we are vulnerable to many injuries. We can support these systems biochemically through nutritional support of the enzyme systems we need for handling environmental stressors.

Medical research needs to pay more attention to measuring the levels of environmental chemicals in our bodies and their impacts on our functioning. It also needs to pay more attention to how we can protect ourselves. We need more support for innovative research to address these problems.

What can we do?

1. Avoid exposures as much as possible, such as by eating organic food and minimizing household chemicals.
2. Protect and support our body's defense systems, through diet, nutrition, good rest and exercise.
3. Work to make our products safe.
4. Support research about toxic exposures and supporting the body's defense systems.

For more information relative to this topic select one or more of the following links:

Autism: A Brain Disorder or a Disorder that Affects the Brain? Click here
Autism Biology and the Environment Click here
The Science of Wisdom Click here
Sophistry or Sensitive Science? Click here
How Toxic is Your Bathroom? Click here

The following links and references provide additional information about the association between environmental toxins, the body's ability to handle them, and illness:

www.bodyburden.org
www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2
www.preventingharm.org

The Age of Extinction and The Emerging Environmental Health Movement"
by Michael Lerner
www.commonweal.org/pubs/lerner/article_extinction.html

New Thinking on Neurodevelopment , by Michael Szpir, Environmental Health Perspectives , February, 2006.
ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2006/114-2/focus-abs.html

Collaborative on Health and the Environment
www.cheforhealth.org

Two NIH Initiatives Launch Intensive Efforts to Determine Genetic and Environmental Roots of Common Diseases
www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2006/nhgri-08.htm

Potential association between autism rates, environmental mercury other toxins in Texas. Palmer, et al., Health and Place, 12 (2006) 203-209
The idea that things should be proven safe first rather than waiting until injury happens.