The basic concepts of allergies: pesticides


        THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF ALLERGIES: PESTICIDES
Prominent among the sources of indoor air pollution are the pesticides. These are toxic agents which people introduce into their homes, offices, and neighborhoods for the control of insects or rodents. Since World War Two, there has been an explosive increase in the use of these agents. The foundations of houses are now routinely treated with a powerful insecticide to deter termites. Many persons contract with exterminators for the periodic treatment of their homes. Apartment-dwellers are encouraged, or pressured, by landlords to permit extermination to be done on a periodic basis. External mosquito-abatement programs are carried out in many communities, and rural areas are saturated with farm and forest pesticide programs. To a greater degree than almost anyone realizes, a kind of pesticide fog now hangs over the United States and some of the other industrialized countries.
Yet many people are highly susceptible to these agents. Pesticides are among the leading health dangers for those with the chemical problem. In some cases, exposure to pesticides may trigger acute episodes of distress. Ellen Sanders almost died from a particularly heavy exposure (Chap. 3). Other patients trace the onset of their worst symptoms to massive contact with pesticide spray.
More commonly, undetected, long-term health problems are brought on by daily exposure to spray. Unexplained chronic illnesses develop as a reaction to spray, possibly in combination with other chemical or food susceptibility. A woman with arthritis, for example, will rarely associate her joint pain with the brightly colored fly-killing pest strip hanging in her kitchen. Much less will anyone connect a general feeling of malaise and fatigue with the exterminator who comes knocking once a month.
Once pesticides are applied in the home, it is extremely difficult to remove them. Even minute amounts of residues can perpetuate symptoms. When my special facility, the Ecology Unit, was first set up, in the ward of a hospital, for the diagnosis and treatment of environmental disease, it was found that we could not clear some patients of their symptoms. The difficulty was ultimately traced to the fact that this ward, along with the rest of the hospital, had previously been sprayed with pesticides. The only solution was to rip up the floors and baseboards and replace them with unsprayed materials. In some extreme instances, patients have had to sell their homes and move, after their dwellings had been carelessly treated with pesticides.
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Allergies

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