Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) no further is an enigma in our society. Unfortunately, more and more people own it in some form or another as many in the health care industry are accepting it as a concrete diagnosis. What's it? MCS is defined as a multi-system disorder usually due to toxic exposure to a chemical or chemicals. The exposure can be acute, i.e. a wide range of a toxin over a brief period (hours to days) or it could be long-term, a low-level exposure over a period of weeks, months or years.

An example of an acute exposure is a chemical spill and an example of a long-term exposure is a person surviving in a home that has been tented to kill termites and gets progressively sick.

MCS on the long haul depletes an individual's nutritional stores and causes problems in many different systems and organs in the body. Hence the term multi-system disorder. Anyone becomes sensitized to this chemical. With repeated exposure, the sensitivity increases.

Also, there's what is called a spreading effect where the average person is bothered by a lot more different chemicals. As this happens, more body systems become involved. MCS typically effects the Central Nervous System.

According to the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) the diagnosis, treatment, and etiologic assessment of MCS had remained a difficult medical and social concern for individuals, physicians, government and organizations. Also, according to the ACOEM, the situation was initially described in 1952 and has since amassed over 20 different names, including "environmental illness", "total allergy syndrome", "20th Century disease" and "Chemical Aids" ;.Our favorite is 20th Century disease.

In my mind, this name is wholly appropriate since our society's quest to preserve sets from food to building materials has created this mess.

ACEOM recognizes that there surely is a lack of scientific research about MCS. However, they support tentative conclusions about MCS. These conclusions are: 1) that there is no immunologic basis for MCS. 2) that there is an overlap between MCS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and other historic non-specific condition.

A write-up by Japanese physicians from the University of Tokyo School of Medicine is more or less in agreement with the statement of the ACOEM. Baisky AJ,Borus from the Division of Psychiatry at Birgham and Womens Hospital in Boston Massachusetts in articles titled Functional Somatic Syndrome that will be another method of saying MCS states that although physical causes may ultimately be present in patients with MCS, the suffering of those patients is exacerbated by a self perpetuating, self-validating cycle where common endemic, somatic symptoms are incorrectly attributed to serious abnormality reinforcing the persons belief that she or he has a serious illness. Put simply, although there might be just medical reason for this problem, a lot of the symptoms are psychological. I am altogether disagreement with this specific statement as I believe and will make an effort to prove to any or all that MCS is a toxic reaction to chemicals that creates abnormal physiological function in the body.

In 1999, consensus criteria for the definition of MCS were formulated because even though there continues to be too little objective physical evidence that support the diagnosis of MCS, government studies in the U.S., U.K. and Canada revealed 2-4 times as much cases of chemical sensitivity among Gulf War Veterans than soldiers who weren't deployed to the region.

Also, state health department surveys of civilians in New Mexico and California revealed that 2-6% respectively, have now been diagnosed with MCS and that 16% of civilians reported and "unusual sensitivity to common everyday chemicals. Those criteria.