What Causes Chemical Sensitivity?

Natural Allergy Cures

How do people become sensitive to common chemicals? Scientists mostly agree that a two-step process, called "toxicant-induced lack of tolerance," underlies chemical sensitivity, as well as other disorders such as chronic fatigue syndrome. In the first step, indoor air contaminants, chemical spills, or pesticide applications cause certain susceptible people to lose their prior tolerance for common chemicals and other substances. Subsequent exposure to these chemicals trigger chemical sensitivity reactions. Chemical spills occur infrequently and primarily affect those in hazardous occupations. Pesticide application makes people who work or live near farms and forests particularly vulnerable. But as we spend up to 90% of our time inside buildings , indoor air contamination makes nearly every American susceptible to acquiring chemical sensitivities. The main culprit in indoor air contamination is a "sick building".

Sick building refer to the tightly sealed, energy-efficient buildings that became popular in the 1970s as a response to the energy crisis in the United States. While these structures may save money on gas bills, the downside is that various toxins and biological pollutants are trapped inside, repeatedly circulated through the building via central heating and cooling systems. Sick buildings also have high, potentially dangerous levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from particleboard desks, furniture, carpets, glues, paints, and office machine toners, including those from printers and photocopiers.

Chronic low-grade exposure to these chemicals and debris leads to "sick building syndrome" (SBS), a condition characterized by mucous membrane irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, chest, tightness, skin complaints (dryness, itching, redness), headaches, fatigue, lethargy, coughing, asthma, chronic nasal stuffiness, infections, and emotional irritability. Several studies have analyzed these complaints and confirmed that sick building syndrome can lead to full-blown MCS and even asthma.

Additionally, children are more likely to suffer from allergic respiratory diseases if they attend schools that ineffectively control indoor pollutants. In one study, schools that were larger, had more open shelves, lower room temperature, higher relative air humidity, higher concentrations of formaldehyde or other volatile organic compounds, molds, bacteria, or more cat allergen in the settled dust had more asthmatic students than did other schools. The workplace is also implicated in adult-onset asthma. A recent survey showed that 15.4% of all cases of asthma in the U.S. are due to work-related exposure to approximately 250 chemicals.

Natural Allergy Cures

If You Want Immediate Anxiety Relief, Check Out Our New Natural Technique To Stop Panic Attacks and General Anxiety Fast!