Defining Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

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Environmental Illness Books Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Editor's rating

7.8

out of 10

Reviewed by:
Matthew Hogg
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Friday, 27 July 2007
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by Bonnye L. Matthews (Editor)

The number of people suffering from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is greater than the number suffering from AIDS, yet the general public and the medical community know very little about the disease. More and more people are disabled daily, despite the fact that the condition does not have to occur.

In Part One of this work, experts review the research into the disease, along with treatment strategies. Part Two examines the legal recourses available to MCS sufferers, such as workers’ compensation claims and product liability suits. How the medical community has often worked against MCS sufferers is the focus of Part Three, demonstrating that medical opposition to the disease is unfounded. The editor, an MCS sufferer, details her own case in Part Four.

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Editor review : A great achievement by an MCS sufferer

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Overall rating		7.8
Content		8.0
Ease of reading		7.0
Value for money		7.0
How much did this book help you?		8.0
Would you recommend?		9.0

When I first became ill with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) this is one of the first books I came across. Although it was first published a number of years ago now and could be considered a little dated, I still feel it is one of a handful of MCS books that sufferers MUST read.

Bonnye L. Matthews, herself an MCS sufferer, must have struggled greatly to get this project completed and we as fellow sufferers should be extremely grateful to her for her efforts.

The book is a collection of articles by a number of experts in various fields and Bonnye's own contributions. The expert contributor's include a clinical psychologist, medical doctors, and legal experts. This format gives the book a well rounded feel and ensures that each subject is tackled by a writer who specializes in that area and is extremely knowledgeable.

The book is split into four sections. The first deals with the medical side of the illness and looks at the psychology of MCS as well as the wealth of research demonstrating biochemical abnormalities in MCS patients. This evidence comes in the form of SPECT scans, porphyria, cytochrome P-450 enzyme dysfunction, and more. The second section of the book casts a critical eye over legal issues surrounding MCS and why the worker's compensation system fails patients. Section three looks at the state of research into MCS and questions the quality of the science in many studies and the motives of so-called experts who denounce the reality of the condition or label it as psychogenic. In the final section of the book Bonnye L. Matthews relates the story of her own harrowing ordeal to gain recognition of her illness and get the financial and medical help that she was entitled to.

This book is certainly not the easiest read as the contributors cover their specific areas of expertise in detail. For this reason however it is a very valuable source of information on this complex and confusing subject. Bonnye L. Matthews writes with compassion and determination throughout, as you would expect from someone personally affected by MCS. Her story in section four of the book will surely sadden fellow MCS sufferers but may well serve to wake up doctors, lawyers, legislators, and others in positions of power, to the realities of struggling with multiple chemical sensitivities.

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