Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from January 2001

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from January 2001

Letter from the Publisher.
January 1, 2001... This issue of the Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients is special and deserves to be read and reread as well as shared with your colleagues, academic friends, and legislators. Chemical sensitivity has been mocked by all parties of industry,...

A Voice for People with MCS.
January 1, 2001... Thank you for making multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) the subject of this issue. This will give patients a much needed morale boost as there has not been much progress on this issue for the last several years. If anything, the industry view...

Mercury Crosses Blood-Brain Barrier.
January 1, 2001... The blood-brain membrane barrier prevents many toxins in circulating blood from infiltrating the brain and cerebrospinal fluid, but it does not prevent heavy metals from entering the brain via sensory nerves. Researchers at the Maurice...

Chemical Contamination & Human Detoxification.
January 1, 2001... At the International Conference on Chemical Contamination and Human Detoxification, (December 1-2, 1995, Los Angeles, California), many presenters reported benefits from using L. Ron Hubbard's detoxification procedure to eliminate chemicals and...

MCS and Muscle Weakness.
January 1, 2001... Verifiable physiological symptoms in people with multiple chemical sensitivities have been studied since the 1960s. In an article for Our Toxic Times, the late Cindy Duehring summarized a 1966 double-blind study by Eloise W. Kailin, MD and...

MCS and SPECT Scans.
January 1, 2001... Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD and colleagues in Massachusetts performed a study that used single photon computed tomography of the brain (SPECT) to identify differences in brain function in people with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), chronic...

Plastic Wrap Toxins.
January 1, 2001... As a seventh grade student, Claire Nelson learned that di(ethylhexyl) adepate (DEHA), considered a carcinogen, is found in plastic wrap. She also learned that the FDA had never studied the effect of microwave cooking on plastic-wrapped food....

Power Plant Mercury Emissions.
January 1, 2001... In July 2000, a panel of 10 scientists convened by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced that the amount of methylmercury in the environment should be reduced. Methylmercury, a highly toxic form of mercury, results from the...

Going Barefoot.
January 1, 2001... Going barefoot in public is frowned upon in the US. Children are usually the only ones to feel the world through their feet, and they are constantly reminded to put their shoes on. The Dirty Sole Society (www.barefooters.org) was formed a few...

Multiple Chemical Sensitivities & Roadblocks to Research.
January 1, 2001... More energy has gone into ignoring or trying to discredit multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) as a physiological illness than has gone into understanding it, identifying causes, and finding effective treatments. Despite obvious signs of...

Environmental Testing Fraud.
January 1, 2001... In September 2000, a US federal grand jury charged five supervisors and eight chemists at Intertek's environmental testing laboratory in Richardson, Texas, with fraud. Government prosecutors say that test results were falsified and laboratory...

Integrated Defense Systems & MCS.
January 1, 2001... In his article for Environmental Health Perspectives (February 1998), Dr. Steven C. Rowat of Grantham's Landing, British Columbia, Canada, explains how disruptions in the body's integrated defense systems (IDS) could lead to multiple chemical...

Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Under Siege.
January 1, 2001... Chair, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Task Farce of New Mexico Movies like Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action depict the true stories of communities whose members became ill from drinking water contaminated with industrial waste. Their...

Plastics: The Sixth Basic Food Group -- Part 1.
January 1, 2001... Readers who saw the 1970's film The Graduate, starring a young Dustin Hoffman undecided about a career path, may recall the scene at his graduation party where an older family friend places an arm around young "Ben" and utters, "In one word -...

How Do You Work with Highly Sensitive Patients?
January 1, 2001... Andrew Gaeddert[C] Many patients who cannot tolerate drugs are drawn to herbal medicine. Treating sensitive patients can be challenging. There maybe a higher degree of intolerance to herbs, and patients' expectations are often higher than...

Graduating from Homeopathic Treatment: Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Following Dental Amalgam Removal.
January 1, 2001... The Homeopathic View of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) Homeopathy treats people, not diagnoses. There are some conditions, that can create an identification so strong that the person literally becomes her illness. Consider an...

Caring for People with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities: Creating Access to Health Care.
January 1, 2001... chief writer, The Human Ecologist Human Ecology Action League, Inc., Atlanta Georgia [*] What happens to patients with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) when they seek health care for conditions not related to MCS? Thirteen years...

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Understanding Causative Factors.
January 1, 2001... Increasing worldwide pollution coupled with overcrowding, contaminated water and food, and indoor air contaminants gives a friendly welcome to a wide spectrum of serious and complex diseases. Escalating levels of these pollutants build up in...

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity...From Treatments to Cure.
January 1, 2001... Multiple chemical sensitivity or environmental illness is by far one of the fastest growing commodities on the riddle list of the American disease care industry. According to the National Academy of Sciences published in 1987, up to 15% of the...

Environmental Medicine: Excerpts from Articles on Current Toxicity, Solvents, Pesticides and Heavy Metals.
January 1, 2001... Abstract: Chemical compounds ubiquitous in our food, air and water are now found in every person. The bioaccumulation of these compounds in some individuals can lead to a variety of metabolic and systemic dysfunctions and in some cases,...

The Role of the Brain and Mast Cells in MCS.
January 1, 2001... Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) was first described in the 1980s, yet it has remained controversial. The resistance to the concept of MCS has come from scientists who pointed out the lack of solid scientific diagnostic tests. It has also...

Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance -- An Emerging Theory of Disease?
January 1, 2001... This paper attempts to clarify the nature of chemical sensitivity by proposing a theory of disease that unites the disparate clinical observations associated with the condition. Sensitivity to chemicals appears to be the consequence of a...

The QEESI[C].
January 1, 2001... The Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI[C]) was developed as a screening questionnaire for multiple chemical intolerances (MCI). The instrument has four scales: Symptom Severity, Chemical Intolerances, Other...

Hazards on the Homefront.
January 1, 2001... Oil-Based Paints and Solvents Hazard: Petroleum-based solvents (such as acetone, toluene, xylene, mineral spirits, methyl ethyl ketone and methylene chloride) are among the most hazardous products in the home. Exposure can lead to a range...

Agrochemicals and Health: An Anthropological Perspective.
January 1, 2001... Novel, human-made, chemicals in the environment are increasingly linked to a variety of health disorders including cancers and chemical sensitivities. By far the greatest source of these chemicals is modern agriculture. While the negative...

Enzyme Therapy: Part II.
January 1, 2001... Preface: In Part 1, the first four of seven subtopics were assayed for their occurrence in the literature. They were 1. Macromolecular (e.g. enzymes) transit through the GI tract; 2. The absorption and functioning of macromolecules from the...

Letters to the Editor.
January 1, 2001... Pesticide Poisoning Inside the Home Editor: On November 29, 1996, our family -- Joe Crozier, wife Yvette Maiangowi, and four-year-old son James -- moved into a home in Scottsdale, Arizona that we had bought the month before. We were...

The Nose Knows -- Or Does It? Questioning Our Sense of Smell.
January 1, 2001... Almost everyone with chemical sensitivities has probably been in a situation like this: Someone's strong perfume is causing you to have a significant reaction. When you attempt to explain the problem, hoping to get some accommodation and...

Justice in the Workplace and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
January 1, 2001... The rejection felt by the person with sensitivities to low level chemical exposure is enormous. Caught between the need for a job and the realization that going to work is making one sick is, for many, a crisis which can be overwhelming. Add to...

"Harvesting" the Patient's Money.
January 1, 2001... I recently consulted with a patient who has been looking for a way to treat a type of cancer for which conventional medicine has little to offer. Prior to seeing me, he had gone to a prominent "alternative" practitioner to discuss his options....

The New Martyrs.(Review)
January 1, 2001... Living With Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Narratives of Coping by Gail McCormick, MS Foreword by Pamela Reed Gibson, PhD, James Madison University appendices include medical overview and resources for support and information 2000,...

Environmentally Induced Illnesses: Ethics, Risk Assessment and Human Rights.(Review)
January 1, 2001... by Thomas A. Kerns ISBN: 0-7864-0827-8 272pp. appendices, bibliography, index $39.95 softcover 2001 The growing epidemics of chemically-induced illnesses in both developed and developing nations have begun to draw the attention of...

Chemicals in War and Peace.(Review)
January 1, 2001... Gulf War Syndrome: Aftermath of a Toxic Battlefield Produced by Alison Johnson and Richard Startzman MCS Information & Exchange, 2 Oakland Street, Brunswick, Maine 04011 USA, 207-725-8570 78 min. video, 2000, $20.00 plus $3 book...

A Noteworthy GAO Report.(Review)
January 1, 2001... Toxic Chemicals: Long-term Coordinated Strategy Needed to Measure Exposures in Humans May 2000, GAO/HEHS-00-80 Single report gratis, additional copies $2 each. Order free copy from US General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015,...

When You're Sick...But Look "Just Fine".(Review)
January 1, 2001... A Delicate Balance: Living Successfully with Chrome Illness by Susan Milstrey Wells Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Massachussetts; 212-207-7528 2000, quality paperback, $16 US, $24.50 Canada, 289 pp. People used to have acute...

Traditional Herbalism and Natural Medicine.(Review)
January 1, 2001... Herbal Medicine From the Heart of the Earth by Sharol Tilgner, ND Wise Woman Herbals, P.O. Box 279, Creswell, Oregon 97426 USA; 541-895-5172; 800-532-5219 1999, softback, 384 pp. Herbal Medicine From The Heart of the Earth is...

Can healthy people benefit from folic acid supplementation?
January 1, 2001... Twenty healthy volunteers (aged 18-33 years) were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 10 mg/day of folic acid or placebo for 2 weeks. After an eight-week washout period they received the alternate treatment for an additional...

Can depressed people benefit from folic acid supplementation?
January 1, 2001... One hundred twenty-seven patients with a new episode of major depression (i.e., the first episode in at least 6 months) were treated with 20 mg/day of fluoxetine (Prozac) and were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, either...

Vitamin therapy produces regression of atherosclerosis.
January 1, 2001... One hundred-one patients (mean age, 53 years) with multiple risk factors for atherosclerosis, most of whom also had clinically manifest atherosclerosis, were treated daily with folic acid (2.5 mg), pyridoxine (25 mg), and cyanocobalamin (250...

Can patients with celiac disease eat oats?
January 1, 2001... Ten children (mean age, 6.8 years) with newly diagnosed celiac disease were prescribed a gluten-free diet, but were asked to consume an instant-oatmeal breakfast cereal each day for approximately six months. During that time, the mean...

Soy protein for postmenopausal osteoporosis.
January 1, 2001... Forty-eight nonsmoking perimenopausal women (mean age, 50.6 years) who were experiencing at least 10 hot flashes or night sweats per week were randomly assigned to consume, in double-blind fashion, 40 g/day of supplemental protein in the form...

Omega-3 fatty acids lower blood pressure.
January 1, 2001... Ten healthy elderly individuals (aged 70-83 years) were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, one capsule daily containing either 1) 150 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), 30 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 1 mg of vitamin...

Eating walnuts lowers serum cholesterol.
January 1, 2001... Fifty-five men and women (mean age, 56 years) with hypercholesterolemia were randomly assigned to a cholesterol-lowering Mediterranean diet or a diet of similar energy and fat content in which walnuts replaced approximately 35% of the energy...

Dietary treatment of multiple sclerosis.
January 1, 2001... Sixteen consecutive patients (mean age, 32 years) with newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis (mean duration of illness, 1.6 years) were studied. The patients were advised to limit the intake of saturated fat from meat and dairy products, eat fish...

Self-Treating Stiff and Sore Muscles.
January 1, 2001... It was a crisp, bright spring-like January morning when Charles finally got around to loading and delivering the 20something tons of well-rotted cow manure that a kindly neighbor had offered me, several weeks earlier. Being an organic farm and...

The War on Cancer.
January 1, 2001... Every October for the last 34 years, practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) have taken over the spa town of Baden-Baden for a huge conference called "Medicine Week." A central part of Medicine Week is the meeting of the...

Valerian: Improved Sleep without the Hangover.
January 1, 2001... Two recently published studies add to the growing body of evidence [1] that valerian improves sleep quality [2] without impairing morning performance. [3] The earlier of the two studies examined the influence of valerian treatment on reaction...

Assessing Herbal Hepatotoxicity.
January 1, 2001... Sporadic reports have appeared in the literature linking hepatotoxicity to the use of both western and Chinese herbs. While in some cases this has been clearly linked to specific herbs such as greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) and germander...

Ginkgo and Alzheimer's Disease.
January 1, 2001... Two recently published studies would seem to suggest that Ginkgo biloba standardized extract (GBE), using evidence-based criteria is now the treatment of choice for early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The first paper compared the efficacy...

Topical Comfrey Helps Sprained Ankles.
January 1, 2001... In Germany, a double-blind, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial on 142 patients suffering from unilateral acute ankle sprains (mean age 31.8 years, 78.9% male) conclusively demonstrated the efficacy of a comfrey root extract...

Homeopathy and Electro-Dermal Screening (EDS).
January 1, 2001... My introduction to homeopathy was in the late 70's. A physician friend invited me to his office to experience a "unique machine" that was able to evaluate the need for homeopathic products by measuring the energy of acupuncture meridians. No,...

Evening Primrose Oil.
January 1, 2001... (Oenothera biennis L.) History The evening primrose plant has been commonly known as tree primrose and sundrop. Evening primrose can be found in many parts of North America and are native in the northern temperate zone, especially at...

Eulogy for Glenn Warner, MD.
January 1, 2001... In our day, when doctors are noted for their wealth and comfortable lifestyles, Glenn Warner, MD was noted for his unassuming nature. He definitely did not assume personal wealth. A physician who cannot muster a single year of a six- or...

Nutritional Strategies for Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -- Part 3: Accessory Nutrients.
January 1, 2001... L-Carnitine Because of its important role in muscle metabolism, a carnitine deficiency may well impair mitochondrial function. If so, it would cause symptoms of generalized fatigue along with myalgia, muscle weakness and malaise following...

Cortex Eucommiae Ulmoidis (Du Zhong) & Latex Allergy.
January 1, 2001... In an article titled "Allergic to Latex? That's Probably Not All," Sara Latta writes that "[allergic] reactions to latex proteins have risen sharply over the last 15 years." [1] Commercial latex comes from Hevea brasiliensis, the Rubbertree....

Air Salon Does Hair and Air.
January 1, 2001... Advanced Air Treatment Clears the Air of Perms and Other Odors Odors from permanents, dyes and nail finishes once filled the air at the Razor's Edge in South Plainfield, New Jersey. "Clients used to come in complaining of the odor," says...

Wellness Market Hits $66 Billion in Annual Sales.
January 1, 2001... The Hartman Group has released results from The Wellness Lifestyle Shopper Study. the company's most comprehensive syndicated research study of the wellness consumer market. The study's Findings indicate US consumers spend $5.5 billion each...