Multiple chemical sensitivities

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In 1987 Cullen’ proposed the term multiple chemical sensitivities to define a condition that he described as “An acquired disorder characterized by recurrent symptoms, referable to multiple organ systems, occurring in response to demonstrable exposure to chemically unrelated compounds at doses far below those established in the general population to cause harmful effects. No single widely accepted test of physiologic function can be shown to correlate with symptoms.” “Multiple chemical sensitivities” is a renaming of a condition previously known as “environmental illness.“’ The newer term first appeared in a published volume that contained 12 chapters written by different physicians with widely differing views of “environmental illness.“’ The total allergy syndrome, twentieth century disease, cerebral allergy, and chemically induced immune dysregulation are a few of the many other names used to describe the same condition3 The concept of “multiple chemical sensitivities” as a physical illness is central to the alternative form of medical practice known as clinical ecology.“, 5 During the past 40 years the small group of physicians who practice clinical ecology have brought forth the idea that some persons are made sick because of the toxic effects of environmental synthetilc chemicals. These persons have polysystemic, multiple symptomatic complaints without any objective evidence of physical disease.6 In most c.ases the symptoms are attributed to ordinary low-level exposure to chemicals that are generally considered safe and do not appear to affect the rest of the population. In some cases the disease is attributed to a particular exposure incident, and in other cases it is attributed to long-term accumulated exposure. Clinical ecologists often use ,the concept of multiple chemical sensitivities to explain several otherwise well-defined diseases, particularly autoimmune and aller-