Chemical sensitivity affects an unknown number of sufferers worldwide. As I explained in a post that went live on November 27th, chemical sensitivity (also known by other names like multiple chemical sensitivity, idiopathic environmental intolerance, environmental illness, and environmental sensitivity) is the name given to a chronic medical condition in which the sufferer becomes sick or experiences one or more allergy-like reactions after being exposed to toxic chemicals at doses that have generally been deemed safe for humans.

Organizations now exist to help MCS sufferers find a physician who is experienced in diagnosing and treating this condition. However, there has generally been little support from doctors for patients who are suffering from the effects of their exposure to toxic chemicals. As the story of Anna[i], a woman I interviewed last September will show, MCS is poorly understood within the medical community, and it can take a sufferer months or years to figure out what is causing her ill health.

[i] a pseudonym