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A few years ago, I received the following e-mail:

Wow… nice article on the ketogenic diet. Here is something you may wish to sink your teeth into… and maybe even be a help…

In late 2010 and early 2011 I inhaled fumes containing organophosphates through oil leaks in an engine. I have suffered incredible pain, nerve disorders, demyelination of brain CNS and PNS, suffered with vision, deaf in one ear and IBS like symptoms.

In 2013 through research, I increased my cholesterol intake substantially through MCT oil and organic butter. In 3 weeks a substantial amount of nerve issues went away. However I am still not well… my ear is still deaf… Our airline has very strict restrictions on social media. So you can not use my name nor can you use the airline’s name… however, this being a global issue, ALL airlines are affected… yes, every single one. It is a design fault in aircraft implemented in the early 1960s and never rectified.

The correspondent, let’s call him John, was referring to Aerotoxic Syndrome. Ever heard of it? I hadn’t either, but apparently it is one of the biggest cover-ups in the airline industry. Last Friday, I shared John’s testimony on the Health & Wellness show at SOTT Radio Network, where my co-hosts and I discussed this topic.

Aerotoxic syndrome comes from “bleed air” into the cabins and cockpits that contain toxins. Bleed air is air that is forced into an airplane for breathing via engine turbine compression sections. Most cabin air is 60% bleed air and 40% recycled air. Pilots are subject to 100% bleed air, so they get hit the hardest from bleed air contaminants.

During the radio show, I remembered a testimonial from a clean-up worker at the Gulf Oil Spill. He quickly developed a bizarre neurological syndrome after getting exposed to the toxic cocktail from the oil spill. He travelled to Dr. Rea’s clinic in Dallas where he followed up a strict detox protocol with Far Infrared Saunas, and IV infusions of vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid and other nutrients. The amazing thing is that he recovered.

In fact, I would like to bring up some points that I wrote in The Day the Water Died: Detoxing after the Gulf Oil Spill.

Each one of us is different in our capacity to tolerate chemical pollution. We lose our tolerance to toxins when we are exposed to massive amounts of them or to smaller amounts over a long period to time. This is when even small amounts of toxic chemicals in drugs, food or environment that were previously tolerated, can, all of a sudden, trigger any imaginable disease and/or symptom that is not necessarily related to the initial symptoms of massive toxic exposure. It can trigger an exaggerated reaction, disproportionate to the minimal exposure. Traffic exhaust or cleaning solvents can make you sick, or even the cosmetics you use. Odor sensitivity is one of the main signs of chemical sensitivity.

Some people may experience digestive problems, back and joint pains, tiredness, sore muscles. Others may have mood swings or depression. Everyone is different, so even if individuals are exposed to the same toxins, each person can develop different diseases and symptoms that are unique to them and determined by genetic susceptibility, food intolerances and previous exposure to other toxic chemicals in the environment through the air we breathe, the food we eat, the homes we live in, etc. This individual response also accounts for the different length of time between an initial toxic event and the development of symptoms between individuals. A person with an unhealthy detox system might get sick very quickly, others can be relatively healthy for years before problems begin. Some may end up with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, autoimmune diseases, etc. Or symptoms can manifest on neurodevelopmental problems in the unborn child of an exposed parent. Furthermore, any stress on your body further depletes its capabilities to heal from the initial trauma: accidents, psychological or emotional stress, etc.

Some people with chemicals like toluene, 2-methylpentane, and 3-methylpentane in their blood may have neurological symptoms such as short-term memory loss, headaches and imbalance; and heart arrhythmias or irregularities; gastrointestinal upset, gas, and bloating. Others don’t have symptoms at all. It all depends on the body’s previous toxic load, genetic vulnerability, nutritional status, etc.

Chemical-induced illnesses often result in impairment, sometimes bearable, but other times causing complete disability. Common symptoms of chemical sensitivity include:

-Ear, nose, and throat: sinusitis, polyps, tinnitus, vertigo, recurrent otitis (ear infections), rhinitis (runny nose), sore throat, cough.
-Neuropsychological: multiple chemical sensitivity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, migraines, seizures, poor memory and concentration.
-Cardiovascular: arrhythmias, hypertension, hypotension, Raynaud’s phenomenon.
-Respiratory: asthma, reactive airways dysfunction syndrome, Toluene diisocyanate hypersensitivity, wheezing, breathlessness nausea.
-Eyes: burning, stinging eyes.
-Skin: eczema, hives, other rashes, eruptions.
-Gastrointestinal: irritable bowel, reflux.
-Connective tissue, musculoskeletal: fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, temporomandibular joint dysfunction syndrome, arthritis, lupus, muscle and joint pain.
-miscellaneous: chronic fatigue syndrome, gulf war syndrome, fluid retention.

Mainstream medicine doesn’t recognize diseases that are due to environmental toxicity of even very low levels of everyday chemicals. These ailments can manifest in a myriad of different ways including physical, mental or emotional symptoms. It is all too easy for a doctor to dismiss them as “all in your head”, when in reality most physicians are neither trained nor educated in environmental toxicity. Doctors tend to concentrate only on recent chemical exposures, and not on the toxic load we have accumulated throughout our lives. Medical treatment, which only hides the symptoms with drugs, is a totally incorrect approach. You don’t cover up chemical sensitivities, or add to them with chemicals in drugs. You must treat the root cause of the problem.

In fact, mainstream doctors are not only not trained in multiple chemical sensitivities and environmental medicine, they are woefully ignorant of nutrition and the crucial role it plays in health. Lacking the training to diagnose and treat chemically sensitive patients, doctors try to fit the symptoms to their limited knowledge. Doctors will often give a diagnosis of “delusional” for a real clinical manifestation of which they are simply unaware. This lack of education is partly due to the fact that critics of chemical sensitivity often have financial ties to the chemical and drug industries, and the traditional allergists, which then go on to sponsor medical education.

Chemical injury to our bodies is often mistaken for colds, flu, stress or other medical conditions. These symptoms can be the first signs of chemical exposure, but if doctors are not trained to diagnose occupational or environmental diseases that are the result of exposure to toxic chemicals, they dismiss them and thereby contribute to the under-reporting of the very real effects of chemical exposure. Despite this, there is scientific data that demonstrates that exposure to very low doses of certain chemicals can result in serious health problems including nervous system damage, reproductive disorders, endocrine disorders, immune system effects, and birth defects.

As Dr. Riki Ott explains: “Dr. Rea [expert in multiple chemical sensitivity] witnessed the slow emergence of chemical sensitivity as a new disease paradigm, and its slow acceptance within the scientific and medical communities, during his pioneering quarter century career in the field. Dr. Rea and his colleagues had dubbed this “the petrochemical problem,” because the increasing incidence of chemical sensitivity seemed to parallel the growth of the petrochemical industry and the increased use of synthetic products such as pesticides, plastics, food additives, synthetic textiles, and particleboard.” […] Environmental doctors such as Dr.Rea find themselves constantly pitted against legions of other physicians, primarily allergists and psychiatrists who believe that chemical sensitivity is psychological, a view that serves corporate interests and infuriates patients. Professional jealousies and rivalry from the traditional practices, inflamed by corporate lawyers, hamper understanding of the new disease process and hold patients and public policy hostage.”

After our radio show, I e-mailed my correspondent John about it and here is his update. Notice how similar his symptoms are to those exposed to petrochemicals: