Chemicals and health a link in glove – The Press

Many diseases are dependent on environmental factors, too often not considered in medical diagnosis. It has been discussed in Turin at the 4th National Workshop Image
A Pandora’s box full to the brim. The list of diseases related to environmental factors is very long but little-known

Many diseases are dependent on environmental factors, too often not considered in medical diagnosis. It has been discussed in Turin at the 4th National Workshop Image

A Pandora’s box full to the brim. The list of diseases related to environmental factors is very long but little known.

“The atmosphere acts like a mirror, reflecting human substances received, more or less harmful, carried by three main vectors: the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food with which we feed. In turn, the target man can endure all those evils which form the so-called environmental disease, “said the pathologist and former professor at the University of Turin Giancarlo Ugazio, speaking at the 4th National Workshop Image, which closed on 23 May in Turin, dedicated this year to the theme “Environmental medicine and health: towards the smart health”. The result is that “life expectancy is increasing due to the advancement rough, but, for the same reasons, the healthy life expectancy is decreasing gradually since 2003.”

Behind the thousands of chemicals that populate our daily life there is a world that, in many cases, however, is not considered in the diagnosis. From irritable bowel syndrome to fibromyalgia, from headaches to gastric reflux, hypertension from urticaria: these conditions have in many cases among its causes exposure to solvents, volatile organic compounds, mold, smoke, tar, gas, engine exhaust combustion. But when you go to the doctor are rarely considered: in Italian miss skills, but also specific diagnostic tests. The “environmental medicine”, in other words, still has a long way to go. “We all know that certain diseases, see, for example, Parkinson’s disease, are linked to exposure to dyes, preservatives, pesticides, heavy metals. We can no longer continue to pretend nothing happened, “said Antonio Maria Pasciuto to Image Workshop, physician founder of ASSIMAS (Italian Association of Medical health environment), which has been studying the links between health and the environment.

These compounds, confirmed Ugazio, “may already have effects in infinitesimal doses” and “act according to a synergistic effect cocktails, potenziandosi between them.” With these dynamics interact in particular between himself asbestos, electromagnetic fields and environmental poisons. The symbol of the combined pathology of many different factors is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), a fatal syndrome that “affects about 10% of the population, genetically predisposed and repeatedly exposed to environmental pathogens even at low doses.” Among these are the substances we are exposed to on a daily basis, such as detergents, perfumes, cosmetics, hair dyes, fertilizers and pesticides for houseplants, exhaust fumes and tobacco, electromagnetic fields. Since only the latter can be the basis of genetic mutations and inhibit the secretion by the pituitary melatonin, effective anti-tumor factor.

And then there’s asbestos, white killer usually identified with pleural mesothelioma, but it actually causes dozens of other diseases, cancer or not. “According to the biomedical literature, the main target organ of the pathogenic asbestos, carcinogenic and / or tumor are localized not only in the chest – lung, pleura, heart, pericardium – but also in other districts of the organism – brain, larynx, esophagus, breast, kidney, stomach, pancreas, peritoneum, small intestine, colon-rectum, penis, prostate, ovary, testis, thymus, vaginal tunic of the testicle, bladder, vagina -. Among the most important non-cancer diseases are Alzheimer’s disease and autism, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, “he added Ugazio.

How to defend? If, in Italy there is no medicine for the prevention, some actions can be put into practice in daily life, limiting the possible exposure to these risk factors: “Do not sleep next to the phone on, minimize the inhalation of substances resulting from chemical detergents, cosmetics, paints, solvents, whenever possible buy organic products. The main thing is the awareness of the people, “says Pasciuto, who with his association is committed to accurate information on these issues and organizes training courses for doctors.