The Deadly News

Lourdes Salvador's Column

...Co-founder of MCS America discusses the latest Multiple Chemical Sensitivity issues.

Lourdes Salvador volunteers as a writer and social advocate for the recognition of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). She was a passionate advocate for the homeless and worked with her local governor to provide services to the homeless through a new approach she created to end homelessness. That passion soon turned to advocacy and activism for people with MCS and the medical professionals who serve them. She co-founded MCS Awareness in 2005 and went on to found MCS America in 2006. She serves as a partner for Environmental Education Week, a partner for the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE), and a supporter for the American Cancer Society: Campaign for Smokefree Air.

For more information visit MCS America

Monday, March 9th, 2009:

The Deadly News

by Lourdes Salvador

Reading the morning newspaper can be hazardous to your health.

You may be thinking of all the sad and depressing news about the economy, crimes, and other negative news, but it’s not the news that will get you. It’s the ink it’s printed with.

Newspaper ink contains toluene, a colorless and flammable liquid derived from petroleum or coal tar. Toluene is used as an industrial solvent in chemicals, detergents, perfumes, some medicines, dyes, and aviation fuel. Toluene is also known as methylbenzene, toluol, and phenylmethane.

Toluene is highly addictive and commonly abused by ‘huffing’ glue. Toluene is a central nervous system depressant. Symptoms of toluene toxicity include fatigue, sleepiness, headaches, cardiac arrhythmia, and nausea. More severe toxicity may cause liver inflammation and hemorrhaging of the lungs, ultimately leading to death.

The toluene levels found in this study were actually from newspaper stands where a much larger quantity of newspapers could be found when compared to a single newspaper in a home.

In some cases the toluene levels in the newspaper stands exceeded 100 times the levels outside the stands.

This is a good warning to dispose of yesterday’s paper instead of allowing papers to stack up in the home where they may sicken small children, pets, and susceptible individuals.

And you thought it was the news that was sickening? The morning paper will never be the same!

Thank goodness for the news is on the internet!

Reference:

Caselli M, de Gennaro G, Saracino MR, Tutino M. Indoor contaminants from newspapers: VOCs emissions in newspaper stands. Environ Res. 2009 Feb;109(2):149-57. Epub 2008 Dec 23.

For more articles on this topic, see: MCSA News.

Copyrighted 2009 Lourdes Salvador & MCS America

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written by Anonymous, June 01, 2009

I just completed a huge cleaning project in my home involving the removal of many old newspapers that were interspersed among magazines. Meaning, I had to take the time to pick them up one-by-one instead of picking up bundled piles quickly. After some time my face began to feel almost like it would if I had been on a beach with sand being blown in my face. It continued to worsen these past few days even after the work was done. I now look like I have a sunburn and expect welts to break out at any time. My entire face is red and itches from forhead to chin, and neck, and even my eyelids itch! My eyes have been crusting at the corners for days now and look like I've scratched the sides. From now on the paper goes out daily!