Another NY Times Article-discusting how some are treated

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Fort Journal

Seeking Modern Refuge From Modern Life

Moloney for The New York Times

Caryl Schonbrun at home in Colorado in an infrared detoxification

room, which she says helps her body deal with exposure to chemicals.

By MINDY SINK

Published: October 19, 2006

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Every time her neighbors treat their lawns with

standard chemical herbicides, Caryl Schonbrun fears for her life.

Ms. Schonbrun, 52, has multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, which

she says leaves her vulnerable to whiffs of substances that her

system can no longer tolerate. She said that she was sensitive to

ingredients in herbicides as well as pesticides, and that exposure to

the chemicals could put her body into anaphylactic shock.

" It's an illness that you have to depend on the kindness of neighbors

and friends and hope for the best, " she said.

But Ms. Schonbrun said she had found that was not enough and turned

to lobbying the City Council, the mayor, the neighborhood mediator

and anyone else she thought might be able to help.

Her goal was to get neighbors either to refrain from using such

chemicals or to notify her before applying them.

Her condition and her campaign have left local officials and

neighbors grappling with just how much responsibility they all have

in coping with one woman's ailment.

" It's a pretty complicated situation, " said Diggs Brown, a Fort

councilman who has met with Ms. Schonbrun. " How do you

balance the rights of one neighbor who is using legal chemicals on

their lawn on private property and somebody who apparently has a

chemical sensitivity? "

Just the mention of chemical sensitivity can be controversial, as

there remains widespread doubt in the general medical community about

whether it is a real diagnosis. Even the term " multiple chemical

sensitivity syndrome " is polarizing in the medical and environmental

health communities. Ms. Schonbrun said that she had been classified

as " disabled with chemical injury " and that she received disability

checks.

" The bottom line is that the condition is very much in dispute, " said

Dr. B. Holmes, director of the Occupational and Environmental

Health Clinic at the University of Utah. " There seems to be, in my

experience, a significant number of people that have this kind of

conglomeration of symptoms that fit into a pattern strongly with

psychiatric conditions. "

Dr. Holmes said that in rare cases someone might have a true allergy

to a specific chemical.

On the other side of the debate are specialists like Dr. S.

, professor of environmental medicine at the University of

Texas Health Science Center at San , who said practitioners

were hearing about more cases of chemical sensitivities.

" There is no reliable prevalence data because the illness presents in

such varied ways, " Dr. said in an e-mail message. " But

estimates of the number of persons who report having multiple

intolerances that they recognize and that cause them to rearrange

their lives ranges from 3 to 6 percent of the population. "

Dr. said chemical sensitivities or intolerances could be

caused by a specific exposure to a toxic substance or by a number of

exposures. There is no known cure.

Often, people with severe chemical sensitivities remove themselves

from urban areas completely, but Ms. Schonbrun said she could not

face such isolation and did not want to be too far from her family or

health care facilities.

After her diagnosis six years ago, Ms. Schonbrun left her job as a

nurse in San Diego and moved with her husband, Bob, to Tucson, where

they stayed for a year. When she became even sicker, the couple moved

to Fort , a college town of about 130,000 with strong agrarian

roots, to build a " safe " house with features that include an

elaborate venting system and a tar-free roof to allow her to live as

free of offending chemicals as possible.

Ms. Schonbrun has added her name to the Colorado Department of

Agriculture's registry of pesticide-sensitive people so she will be

notified and can stay indoors when there is any commercial spraying.

Some people question the Schonbruns' choice to relocate to their tidy

and rapidly expanding subdivision with farms and ranches close by.

" With a condition like that, they choose to move into a residential

area, " said Curt s, who lives across the street from the

Schonbruns and said that the dispute had escalated to the point that

he had obtained a restraining order against Mr. Schonbrun. " The

bottom line is, we're not breaking any laws. We have modified how we

take care of our property that requires more of my time and money,

but that's not good enough. "

Ms. Schonbrun said she had twice had to call for an ambulance when

her neighbors used herbicides she could not tolerate.

The Schonbruns bought the first batch of nontoxic herbicides for some

neighbors, including Mike Cada, who lives next door.

" I'm willing to do it as long as it's effective, " Mr. Cada said,

noting that the nontoxic mixture cost at least 40 percent more than

traditional herbicides.

No local ordinances require private citizens to notify neighbors when

they apply pesticides. According to the National Conference of State

Legislatures, six states have laws that address overspraying and

improper use of pesticides around humans(especially children); two

others are considering such laws.

" It's been said that people with this condition are the new

homeless, " Ms. Schonbrun said. " We were lucky enough to build a

nontoxic home, but it's still a never-ending struggle to live in a

safe all-around environment. "

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