Chemical consideration to the Human Canaries

Many of us are familiar with canaries, the beautiful, colorful birds that tend to sing most of the time. Canaries also saved many human lives in coalmines. This is because canaries are much more sensitive to toxic gases than humans. Miners would take canaries with them in the coalmine. If the canary stopped singing and fell (or died), the miners knew to leave the coal mine quickly to safety.

There are individuals who have developed a very strong sensitivity to many common chemicals. These people can be very negatively affected and irritated by fumes, chemical cleaners, disinfectants, cigarette/cigar smoke, engine exhaust, solvents, etc. These people are often called "Human Canaries" of the modern world, because of the chemical sensitivity similarity to that of Canaries. Human Canaries of the 21st century tend to be very strongly irritated by everyday chemicals like perfumes, hair products, shampoos, shower gels, after shave lotions, antiperspirants, deodorants, hand sanitizers, chap sticks, finger nail polish, etc. Human canaries look the same as other people, and when you see one you probably will not recognize he or she is a human canary until an offensive toxic chemical triggers his or her sensitivity.

Please be considerate to human canaries and help them to enjoy life to the fullest. One way you can help the human canary and at the same time lower your exposure to undesirable chemicals, is to go fragrance-free: avoiding perfumes, and fragranced personal care products.

Ihab Farag
Professor, Chemical Engineering Department

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Anonymous

Thu Feb 4 2010 08:47

Professor Farag, of the Chemical Engineering Department, makes a very good point in this commentary about chemical irritants which cause some individuals to perceive the adverse health effects of an allergic and/or non-allergic nature. This can take many forms including breathing problems, headaches or contact dermatitis.

The advice to avoid provoking this frank irritation in others should be taken one step further. Products containing toxic chemicals present a hazard to the primary users, often without their knowledge. The average healthy individual experiences a reduction in lung function when exposed to certain fragrance chemicals. Poisons harm at subliminal levels, either through direct imposition of damage to organs/tissues or through interfering with various biochemical processes that can have much wider affects throughout the body. Our bodies often work 'silently' to remove or store substances which are incompatible with human physiology. The resulting inflammation is known to be the basis for many disease processes to begin/progress.

The key is to become a consumer of businesses proud to tell consumers about their product ingredients rather than hiding behind laws which make disclosure unnecessary. Patents protect businesses but only information can protect consumers. EWG.org has a data base which is very useful in learning more about commonly marketed personal care products.

Barbara Rubin

http://www.ieconnections.com/archive/feb_08/feb_08.htm#article3

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