ASTHMA AND PESTICIDES: THE CASE OF VIRGINIA
Virginia, a long-time asthmatic who used her puffer several times each day but was otherwise quite well, had never had an asthma attack in her life. She was aware of the home environment connection and her house was quite ‘clean’. There were no carpets, sparse furnishings and few chemicals. After a severe bout of the flu last winter, she had never been quite the same. A number of times her wheezing and breathing had become so seriously problematic she feared she was going to have an attack any day. Her doctor measured her lung function and suggested she take steroids. Virginia felt she could cope with her usual Ventolin just by taking a few more puffs more frequently And so she did.
One day she decided to visit her father, who lived a long way away in a very old house. Within 10 minutes of entering her father’s house she started to wheeze. A few minutes later she had an asthma attack. Rushed to the nearest hospital, she was suitably medicated and given a script for steroids. She was taken back to her own flat where she went straight to bed and remained there almost incapacitated for five days.
Virginia is one of my patients. She suffers with many allergies, is chemically overloaded and is also extremely sensitive to chemicals in general and pesticides in particular. Her father had his house fumigated by a pest control firm just a few days before his daughter’s visit. One week after the incident father decided that, since his daughter could not be exposed again to the pesticide residues still lingering on in his house, he would go and visit her himself. Which is exactly what he did. As soon as he embraced his daughter she started to feel breathless and dizzy and had to lie down again. She did not have an asthma attack but felt quite tired and unwell. It took her only two days to recover. Infinitesimal amounts of pesticides still embedded in her father’s jacket probably caused the reaction, which may still have resulted in an asthma attack if Virginia had not been taking her medications.
How, you might ask, can anyone be so sensitive? After all, millions of people have their homes sprayed regularly and the use of pesticides is ubiquitous. Surely there must be something else wrong with her? Your bewilderment is quite justified and yes, there is something else wrong with Virginia. It is nothing more sinister than a predisposition to allergies and a susceptibility to chemicals. Both are common problems. They are more likely to occur if someone else in the family or one’s ancestry has suffered even transient attacks of eczema, sinusitis, asthma, hay fever, hives, dermatitis or other allergic diseases. In Virginia’s case it was just a matter of degree.
Judith West, senior pharmacist at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney, runs the Poisons Information Centre with a group of nine other experienced pharmacists. Each of them handles more than 100 calls a day from parents and doctors seeking advice on chemical poisoning. Pesticides, and all of them are potentially dangerous, accounted for 2796 calls to the centre in 1988.
Simple, commonly used pesticides like Dead Ant can contain deadly substances such as antimony, a heavy metal which corrodes and causes cellular poisoning and kidney failure. Bygone in powder form is especially dangerous and so are many garden sprays and even your dog’s flea repellant. In 1977 a child died after ingesting a common flea-rinse. Still, you may argue, all it takes is a quick look at the many articles written on the subject and one can obtain information on the many simple, natural alternatives available. You are, after all, vitally concerned with the effects of pollution, Dr Kate Short, Director of the Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals Committee, Total Environment Centre, 18 Argyle Street, Sydney has kindly supplied me with much of the information on pesticides presented in this book. Staff at the Centre will happily send you one of the many booklets and pamphlets on the subject. Dr Short is also the author of The A-Z of Chemicals in the Home, a book I wholeheartedly recommend to you.
The term ‘pesticides’ covers a range of agents, including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, fumigants and roden-ticides. The modern insecticides belong to several families: organophosphates, chlorinated hydrocarbons, cabramates, botanicals, insect hormones, chemical sterilants and insect viruses.
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