City Pesticides Pose a Severe Dilemma for Sufferers, Says Group

Posted under: Health

By Hanneke Brooymans, The Edmonton JournalJune 8, 2009 7:06 AM

Albi Hawkeye suffers from a controversial condition known as multiple-chemical sensitivity.

Albi Hawkeye stood chatting on a sidewalk near her house when a school bus drove by, stopping her in mid-speech and creating a look of anxiety.

Fifteen seconds later, Hawkeye’s voice was a faint squeak. It sounded like her throat was closing.

Before she lost her ability to speak, she managed to whisper that it was the diesel fumes from the bus that caused the problem.

It was a startling example of her life dealing with what is known as multiple-chemical sensitivity.

The condition is controversial. People who have it experience a wide range of symptoms when exposed to a bewildering variety of chemicals, from air fresheners
to pesticides.

Sufferers can take advantage of Edmonton’s medical-alert pesticide program. It keeps city pesticide spraying away from their property.

However, the number of people enrolled has dropped in the last few years, statistics show. Fifty-six were enrolled last year, down from a high of 65 in
2005.

Hawkeye, who registered for the program this year, isn’t allergic to pesticides, but says she can taste and smell them as soon as they’re applied. They
make her so nauseous she has to vomit.

The Canadian Cancer Society believes the city should officially ban the use of cosmetic pesticides, says community services co-ordinator Karlee Stevens.

Edmonton’s vegetation management supervisor, Gary Chan, says that’s not possible at this time, but the city is working towards that goal.

In Canada, about 2.4 per cent of the population suffers from chemical sensitivity, according to data collected by Statistics Canada in 2002.

The people afflicted by it tend to run into problems with both diagnosis and treatment. And when they do find someone they think can help them, treatment is not covered under provincial health insurance.

“Before I got this, I certainly never heard of it,” said Roberta Bradley, vice-president of the Environmental Health Association of Alberta, a group formed recently to support people with environmental illnesses. “I know my doctor had never heard of it. I finally had to find myself a doctor who specialized in environmental medicine.”

The association wants to raise awareness about the disability, Bradley said.

“We need to do something out there or there will be a lot of people like us. And most of our membership can’t work.”

Bradley said sufferers live ordinary lives, immersed in the sea of everyday chemicals we all take for granted, until one day their bodies overload on toxic chemicals and begin reacting negatively .

“It didn’t happen overnight for me. I’ve been building this up my whole life little bit by little bit. It’s things you don’t even think about, like sanding a vehicle without wearing a mask. Then you blow your nose and look at all the stuff that comes out of it. Well, your body absorbs that.

“And I put on body lotions every morning for years. The stuff that’s in that lotion goes in through your skin and is in your bloodstream within five minutes. What’s in your toothpaste? What’s in your shampoo?”

Linda Nolan-Leeming, president of the Environmental Health Association of Ontario, said it’s like a rain barrel filling up drop by drop until it overflows.

Dr. Stuart Carr, a local allergist and immunologist, said multiple-chemical sensitivity is a recognized psychiatric disorder and the treatment is for anxiety or depression.

He points to research that shows if patients are exposed to the chemical they think is causing them problems but they can’t see it and don’t know it’s there, they don’t react. But when they can see it, they react.

“That doesn’t mean the person is faking it … Psychosomatic symptoms are very real. They’re not imagined; they’re just not for the reason people think they are.”

He adds that there are many lung conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, “where I could absolutely, without hesitation, see pesticides, or any other chemical irritant, being a problem.”

Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, who was a practising doctor when she contracted multiple chemical sensitivity, operates a clinic in Ontario.

In the past 12 years, she has treated hundreds of people with environmental illnesses.

She said in Germany it is a recognized physical illness, not a mental illness, and that the Ontario College of Family Physicians has a checklist of symptoms on its website.

Her patients need to be detoxified and learn how to prevent exposure to the chemicals that their bodies don’t like.

Nolan-Leeming thinks everyone is susceptible to the condition.

“Everybody has daily exposures in everything they eat, breathe and rub on their skin, and all of these chemicals need to be detoxified.”

hbrooymans@thejournal.canwest.com

City Programs

Medical Alert Pesticide Program:

Registrants can ask to be notified prior to any spraying that takes place on city property within 100 metres of their home. Parkland Services is also required not to spray within 30 metres of the home. The application form has a space for a doctor’s note, though none is legally required. Fifty-six people were enrolled last year.

Herbicide Program:

Applies to city turf areas abutting residential property. Citizens have the option of maintaining this area themselves without herbicides.
Last year, 27 people were registered.

Petition Program:

Allows citizens who oppose herbicide use on neighbouring parkland to eliminate it from specific city turf inventories.

When 66 per cent of residents living adjacent to or abutting a site sign a petition for the discontinuance of herbicide treatment, Parkland Services will not spray the area until a petition to reverse the first petition passes. The program has had 21 sites registered in 15 years.

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