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.

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The Saints Rise Up

It’s hard to believe the Super Bowl has come and gone again. Last year we watched Arizona play Pittsburg in our new rental home. As the Cardinals succumbed to defeat, so did we. (My post from last year describes this in detail.)

Chris had just made the 13-hour journey from Colorado to Tucson with a U-Haul full of mattresses and radio equipment. I had just moved out of our vacation rental where we had lived for 6 weeks while Chris tied up loose ends in Colorado.

We were reunited at last and prepared to officially begin our de-tox together. Life was going to get better, we felt sure.

By the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl, Feb. 1, 2009, it became clear that the rashes, nosebleeds, and breathing problems were not dissipating. We had been in the home 24 hours and we were sick. Very sick. We moved several of our mattresses outside, hoping by morning the house would feel different and we could move back in.

Little did we know the homeowners had just sprayed for termites inside the home.

Little did we know we were chemically sensitive, a common occurrence for victims of toxic mold exposure.

Little did we know we were going to lose many of our possessions once again.

I don’t remember the ending to the game. Chris does. He was convinced our adjustment to the home would pass quickly. I had a sinking feeling that lasted well beyond the 4th quarter.

By 4:00 the next afternoon the children and I packed a few clothing items and drove off in search of a safe hotel. Chris stayed behind to work out the details with the homeowner. The homeowner did nothing wrong. We never asked him if he had sprayed for pesticides. We didn’t know to ask.

It’s a haunting memory.

Life did not get better as hoped. It got harder. We spent two weeks searching for a safe home and longer recovering from the exposure. We couldn’t get the pesticide smells out of the mattresses, so we abandoned them. We learned that the type of pesticides that were used, pyrethroids, attack the lungs and the brain.

The next home was much smaller. Eight of us slept in one room, on air mattresses. We lived in that home for 6 months, hoping to return to Colorado. By summer we knew that recovery--if there was to be a recovery--would require much longer than 6 months.

We’re still in Arizona. We’re in our 5th home since vacating our Colorado home 16 months ago. We continue to adjust to our new “normal.” We now comprehend the harsh reality that life will never be the same . We’re even beginning to see the beauty that comes from the ashes of suffering.

I guess that’s why this year’s Super Bowl impacted me more than others. If the Saints, representing people and an area devastated by disaster, can rise up, maybe we can too.

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Household Products to Avoid

I read an article the other day that would have overwhelmed me a year ago. Given our life now, I found it immensely helpful. I have asked myself repeatedly, "If we had not been exposed to mold would I still make these changes, knowing what I now know?" The answer is unequivocally, undoubtedly, absolutely, categorically YES. Poisons harm the body. The food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe all matter.

The article is titled "Ten Dangerous Household Products You Should Never Use Again." It's not just a list of "don'ts." There are lots of alternatives included.

It has taken me 9 months to make these changes. Many of them we had to do immediately. Some of them have taken longer. Just yesterday I bought my first cast iron pan.

Ten Household Products You Should Never Use Again


"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.

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