Learn about the innovative solutions that people living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) devise in their search for a home that doesn’t make them sick.
Coal miners used to send canaries into the mines ahead of them to check the level of lethal gases. If the canaries died, the gasses had reached deadly levels. If they lived, it was safe to mine…
Today, millions of people are made sick from the toxicity of their everyday environments. These “human canaries” suffer from a condition called Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). This condition overlaps with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Sick Building and Gulf War Syndromes. There is no known cure for MCS.
- 15% of the US population has “an increased allergic sensitivity to chemicals commonly found in household products.” (Estimate: The National Academy of Sciences)
- “The population that is allergic to chemicals will grow to 60% by 2020.” (Business Week)
Homesick: Living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities is an hour long video documentary produced and written by Susan Abod that is now in the process of completion. In Homesick, Susan goes on the road to find out how other people around the country are coping with MCS and dealing with the difficult problem of finding safe housing. She visits their homes and witnesses their daily struggles. They come from all walks of life and live in diverse dwellings that include tents, a house on stilts and a teepee.
Susan’s own journey as a person with MCS traveling from home to home is the connecting thread between these stories. These poignant portraits and her narrative provide a unique, compassionate and even at times humorous perspective on this growing crisis.
Questions addressed in the video:
- How many others were going through this nightmare?
- How did they get sick?
- Were they having as much trouble as Susan was finding and keeping a safe place to live?
- How were people coping with such an overwhelming and often isolating condition?
- Was one area of the country (such as the Southwest) safer to live in than another?
- Does safer housing ever get people with MCS well?