environmental disease

Fringe medicine
A hypothetical polysymptomatic condition attributed by so-called “clinical ecologists” to immune dysregulation induced by contaminants (e.g., allergens and chemicals, including pesticides and petrochemicals) present in the air, water, food and soil that cause poor nutrition, infection, hereditary factors, and physical and psychological stress, resulting in various physical and mental disorders. Clinical ecologists believe that the immune defects caused by environmental disease lead to mood and thought disorders, psychotic episodes and fatigue; vaguely defined gastrointestinal, respiratory and urinary tract symptoms; rashes; arthritis-like symptoms; and cardiac arrhythmias. Psychiatric disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety and somatisation) are reported to be 2.5-fold greater in those with environmental disease, suggesting that the condition is not entirely organic in nature.

The mainstream medical community is largely skeptical of the existence of environmental disease, given the plethora of symptoms attributed to it, the lack of consistent laboratory abnormalities and the use of unproven therapies to treat it. The concepts and practices of environmental medicine (clinical ecology) have been evaluated by several professional bodies, including the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology; all have concluded that environmental disease has not been proven to exist and that environmental medicine (clinical ecology) is not a valid discipline.

Diagnosis
Environmental disease cannot be diagnosed by standard allergy tests or other standard examinations; clinical ecologists use a test of unproven validity known as neutralisation.

Differential diagnosis
Allergies, early diabetes, chronic otitis media, infectious mononucleosis, nasal polyps, respiratory tract infections, sinusitis, thyroid disease and other conditions may mimic environmental disease, and if misdiagnosed and treated incorrectly, will delay more effective (mainstream) therapy.

Treatment
Avoidance of environmental pollutants, chemicals and pesticides; consumption of organic foods; changing residence or place of employment; nutritional supplements; antifungal agents; hormones; gamma globulin; inhalation of pure oxygen; drinking urine.

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References in periodicals archive

During a 4- to 6-week educator fellowship held each summer at The Center for Research on Environmental Disease, teachers from grades K-12 help the COEP staff translate center research findings into age-appropriate content.

Online and on track with Veggie-Mon

EOM clinical practice specialists must be able to diagnose and provide medical and nonmedical management of all environmental diseases, translate new research results to practice, and make complex causal inferences.

The future of environmental medicine in environmental health perspectives: where should we be headed?

As such, environmental health researchers interested in understanding the pathogenesis of environmental disease, in defining mechanisms of environmental and drug toxicity, in classifying susceptible versus nonsusceptible individuals, and in predicting toxicity outcomes, must decipher the code.

A vision that challenges dogma gives rise to a new era in the environmental health sciences

European Perspectives on Environmental Disease Burden: Estimates for Nine Stressors in Six European Countries.

Shared burden: public health impact of nine environmental pollutants in Europe

Unsafe drinking water is responsible for environmental diseases. Diarrhea is one of those associated with the risk factors and estimated 94 % of the diarrheal burden is attributable to environment (WHO, 2006).

Monitoring of Fecal Coliforms in Drinking Water Sources of Tehsil Mardan, Pakistan

The weather may be partly to blame, but that in itself is probably a sinister symptom of a wider environmental disease.

Where have all the butterflies gone? WEEKEND

It is interesting and ironic that environmental disease is not recognized in Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary or defined as a disease.

Healing environmental disease: Faye Joseph's Ordeal

The streets are an environmental disease, while medically chronic diseases are extremely common, such as diabetes, hyper-tension and cancers," he said.

Hospital in Ain al-Hilweh put on hold as funds dry up

Research on the DNA of 15 mouse strains commonly used in biomedical studies is expected to help scientists determine the genes related to susceptibility to environmental disease. The body of data is now publicly available in a catalog of genetic variants, which displays the data as a mouse haplotype map, a tool that separates chromosomes in to many small segments, helping researchers find genes and genetic variations in mice that may affect health and disease.

Mouse Genome Will Help Identify Causes of Environmental Disease - July 29, 2007

The appointment coincided with another milestone for the Stourbridge-based solicitor as he took part in his first ever freefall parachute jump, made on behalf of another charity he has close links to - the Occupational Environmental Disease Association.

Black Country News: Andy's brief for a leap; STOURBRIDGE

"Allergies are the number one environmental disease today and the numbers are increasing," says Dr Chris Corrigan, a consultant at St Thomas's Hospital, London.

Better Summer: Wheezy does it; 4-PAGE FOCUS ON BEATING SEASONAL ALLERGIES: GET ON TOP OF SNEEZES

"It appears that the neurodevelopmental effects of this avoidable environmental disease of childhood may not be limited to declines in IQ or academic abilities."

Antisocial behavior linked to lead exposure in early childhood. (Front and Center)