Environmental Awareness in Canada

It took three years to diagnose her mysterious symptoms, and ten years to reduce her toxic load, but Rohini Peris used her experience to form the Environmental Health Association of Quebec. According to this recent article in the Montreal Gazette:

When inflammation, bruises and pain began appearing in her body in 1993, Rohini Peris had no idea what might have been the cause.

She saw several doctors and they too were stumped, Peris recalled.

Three years later, the Dollard des Ormeaux resident finally got a diagnosis: Tests at a U.S. laboratory revealed high levels of the chemical Lindane (a chlorinated pesticide used to exterminate spiders) and pesticides DDT and DDE in her blood.

Her husband, son and daughter exhibited similar symptoms, and what followed were 10 years of intense detoxification to eliminate these chemicals from their bodies.

They suffered from what is known as environmental/multiple chemical sensitivities, a chronic condition with multi-organ symptoms recognized in Ontario and Nova Scotia and by the World Health Organization – but not yet in Quebec.

According to the Environmental Health Association of Quebec, which seeks to promote awareness of this condition, it can develop in response to relatively low levels of exposure to multiple and unrelated chemicals.

Peris, who is the association president, says it took her 10 years of “intense detoxification” and elimination of many products from her household – from cleaning products to perfumes – to get her toxification down by 40 percent.

The Environmental Health Association website offers information on EMF sensitivities, an article by MCS researcher Dr. Martin Pall, and an excellent press release stating the specific needs of people suffering from environmental sensitivities.