Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Multiple chemical sensitivities has been proposed as a name of a new disease in which the affected patient has adverse reactions when exposed to numerous items encountered under ordinary, daily conditions. The items, referred to as chemicals, include organic solvents, pesticides, paints, new carpets, household detergents, new clothing, building construction materials, and many others. Reactions consist of subjective symptoms without accompanying physical signs or biochemical abnormalities. Patients have many and varied symptoms, but the ones they report most frequently include fatigue, malaise, headache, lack of concentration, memory loss, and spaciness. Many of these patients report similar intolerances to many foods and almost all drugs. In a few cases, the onset of illness appears to coincide with a reported single high-dose exposure to a specific chemical, usually in the workplace. This subgroup of patients has been particularly perplexing to specialists in occupational medicine [1].

Multiple chemical sensitivities was first proposed as a new disease in the 1950s, at which time it was called environmental illness [2]. For many years, proponents of the existence of environmental illness, or multiple chemical sensitivities, have theorized that the disease results from an immunologic dysfunction caused by inhalation of fumes from various chemicals. The chemically induced toxic damage to the immune system is postulated to then lead to sensitivities to other chemicals [3]. Recently, a neurologic …