As someone who developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I am reminded daily about the toxic effects of cosmetics. If the health effects of these products wasn't bad enough, the cosmetics and related industries have prevented unbiased research, fought regulation and fought disability/workers comp efforts.

My sensitivity contibuted to stress levels and my developing diabetes.

I can get around in the world but passing a laundromat, a smoker with dust on their clothes (not smoking), perfumed/cologned/ hair permed or strelaxed people and my enrgy level and well being go out the window.

A week or so ago, a woman got on a bus I was on and had strong perfume. A man across from me had amoderately strong response. Some coughing and moderate respiratory distress. My physical response was a little wooziness mild respiratory effect.

Below is from my SSI application:

My multiple chemical sensitivity, natural allergies and diabetes work together with stress to destabilize my health. In other words, a problem with any of these health issues affects the others negatively.

Please describe how your symptoms (such as pain, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, fevers, shortness of breath, effects of medication, etc.) prevent you from carrying out your normal workday. Please be specific.

Exposure to chemical triggers and/or dust and natural allergies and/or diabetic blood sugar fluctuations causes a combination of different symptoms:

Loss of mental acuity (Foggy-headedness)
Loss of energy
Stress
Balance problems
Ear fullness
Hearing problems
Some shortness of breath
Allergic skin sensation
Sinus pressure and or irritation
Nausea
Frustration/Anger

Types of Triggers:

This list is fairly comprehensive. I'm sure there are other items, but these are the most common.

Scented Products:  Perfumes, colognes, after shaves, powders, detergents, soaps, concentrated mouthwash drops, incense, cleansers, some candies (scent) skin lotions and cream, especially scented anti-bacterial lotions. Branded name products tend to be more scented.

Personal Products:  Many personal products that don't have a scent but cause problems for me. Some are petroleum-based. These include lotions that have slight odors. They can be suntan lotions, skin lotions, hair relaxers, permanents, hair gels.

Office/Classroom:  Photocopiers/photocopies (toner and colored ink worse than black ink), permanent markers, white board erasers. (According to Dr. Bob Harrison, UCSF, the photocopiers have both chemicals and produce ozone, so that I have both a chemical and respiratory (asthma) response.)

Construction Home Decoration:  Adhesives, new carpeting, vinyl adhesive paper, particle board, latex and oil paints, latex caulking, turpentine, paint thinner, roof tar.

Petroleum Products: Gas and diesel fumes, distillates such as solvents, lubricants and degreasers. Benzene is used in fabric softener sheets.

Cosmetics:    Nail polish, nail polish remover.

Other:    Vinyl bumper stickers, dry cleaning, elevator hydraulic fluid
Tobacco (I was allergic to it before chemical sensitivity; I'm now even more sensitive to it- I often have to move away from smokers even when they are not smoking) marijuana smoke (strong neurological response, as if I were spastic or had palsy). It's not a contact high, it's more like being wrecked. That's minimal contact.

It is difficult to always ascertain whether my symptoms are due to diabetes or chemical/natural allergies. The symptoms overlap. This includes when I do check for blood sugar. My health has deteriorated so just feeling bad is much more common.

My mental and physical function is affected by chemical triggers in what is closest to other peoples' experience to alcohol intoxication with the element of physical stiffness.  Not one drink, like several in rapid succession. At its worst, there is a feeling of having to concentrate to have motor skills and mental focus to have a short conversation of a sentence or two. I believe that I've experienced what epileptics do when they have an aura. Exposure to a good deal of glossy printed material often causes me to get angry- this is true for oil and soy based inks. I consciously clench my teeth very hard when stressed or exposed to some triggers, which has lead to enamel cracks in all my teeth.

The only thing I can do when exposed to something that affects me these ways is to remove myself from the location. When I'm in a bus, I have to change seats, stand up, open windows. When I enter a bus, I look for signs of people who are more likely to wear chemical products that affect me; people who wear makeup, hair relaxers, and hair gels, perms, people dressed for going out on the town.

sorry - but what I don't get it: in this day & age (& I do mean that as a reflection on my cohorts- I'm a 57 yr-old white female) why are cosmetics even an issue?  Since when is the human female face, in all its glory, not acceptable?  As long as we, as women, continue to buy into the myth that external applications make us more... enticing? alluring? attractive? appealing? intelligent?- as long as WE continue to believe we NEED something outside of ourselves to feel complete, we are not going to solve this issue.  Women, be proud of who you ARE, not who you think you're supposed to be!

Cosmetics will always be an issue as long as vanity is around. Since babies we have been groomed using beauty products! And even if you don't use cosmetics, you're also using toothpaste, deodorant, cologne. We're using something to clean ourselves--shouldn't it always be safe for us?