Letters

From the October 1996 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

Fumento insists, "The traditional definition of organic disease would lead us to expect a fairly narrow range of symptoms, of causes, and treatments. Furthermore, there should be biological tests to confirm the disease." He claims that "clinical ecologists and their supporters" sometimes arrive at an MCS diagnosis solely by a process of elimination. He finds this "unsatisfactory," as would we all. But why is Fumento talking about "organic disease"? Organic disease is defined as one producing or attended by alteration in the structure of an organ. It is functional disorders for which no biochemical or physiological explanation is known. Does Fumento mean to imply that MCS is organic, or is he just obfuscating?

This process of elimination is precisely how gastroenterologists and their supporters arrive at an irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis. Considering that IBS is the most frequent diagnosis given by gastroenterologists, one would expect Fumento to be even more outraged, but perhaps he is just too squeamish about such matters to allude to this obvious parallel.

Other common ailments for which there is no positive test or cure include excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and subjective tinnitus (ringing of the ear(s))--now there's one that's really all in your head, or is it? What arrogance it would take to tell someone with tinnitus that their ears weren't ringing because you couldn't test for it! Indeed, the psychological components ascribed to MCS sufferers have also been inflicted on those with IBS and EDS and IBS and EDS patients have also "bounced from doctor to doctor."

Until lactose and fructose intolerances were recognized, people with those conditions were diagnosed with IBS. This might well portend the future of MCS diagnoses.

Gerald J. Dunphy
Boulder, CO

Mr. Fumento replies: Now let me get this straight. I write a 7,000 word article packed with studies and other evidence that MCS is not an organic illness. I cite opinions to that effect from the California Medical Association Task Force, the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology, the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs, The American College of Physicians, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Environmental Hypersensitivity Disorders established by the Minister of Health of Ontario, Canada. And Dr. Meggs thinks he's trumped me because of an eight-year-old study finding that subjects claiming to have MCS are more likely to have stuffed noses than control subjects. That study comprised all of 18 MCS subjects, hardly a large population. In any case, it would not be surprising to find that persons claiming to have MCS are more nasally sensitive. That would be the trigger that would begin them down the road to thinking they were allergic to everything in life, just as a single traumatic incident in childhood often triggers phobias. Further, the study also found, though Dr. Meggs neglects to tell us, that these people were more likely to suffer depression. As my article noted, many persons who believe they have MCS are probably just manifesting depression that could be readily treated with drugs, but instead they are locked into an unbreakable cycle when they go to clinical ecologists instead of a psychiatrist.

As to Professor Bascom's work, all that shows is that tobacco smoke adversely affects the nasal passages. Anybody whose ever been in a crowded bar could tell you that. But Dr. Meggs doesn't tell us how it relates to MCS.

The only other letter which so much as pretends to offer scientific evidence that MCS is anything other than a psychogenic (mentally induced) disorder is from Cynthia Wilson. It is Wilson who kindly provided me with the list showing that virtually any illness in the world is a symptom of MCS. She claims, "There are more articles on MCS as a physiological illness in peer- reviewed medical and scientific journals than articles concluding MCS is psychogenic." That's true, but only because clinical ecologists have set up journals of their own; mainstream medical journals treat them like the quacks they are.

Wilson also says that, "With few exceptions, in order to get a diagnosis of MCS, patients must have at least four positive tests of objective damage in more than one of" several specific areas. But as my article made crystal clear, there is no standard test for MCS, and diagnosis is often made simply by ruling out other illnesses, at which point a psychiatrist or psychologist would probably say the illness is psychogenic but the clinical ecologist labels it MCS. Considering the clinical ecologists I discussed who have diagnosed virtually every patient they have ever seen with MCS, it seems that probably the main "proof" that somebody has MCS is their entering the clinical ecologist's office.

Regarding Wilson's ad hominem attack on Dr. Ronald Gots, Gots says that perhaps 2 percent of his work deals with MCS--hardly the bread and butter of his occupation. On the other hand, the average clinical ecologist makes 100 percent of his or her profit from MCS.

Lynn Herrick employs the false logic that since she was wrongly labeled a hypochondriac, then labeling other illnesses as psychogenic is also wrong. Her sensitivity to standard newsprint ink is an irritation, nothing more. It's like having your eyes water when you cut an onion. Gerald Dunphy questions my use of the term organic disease, saying, "Organic disease is defined as one producing or attended by alteration in the structure of an organ" and that this isn't the issue. Actually, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary uses Dunphy's definition for "organic" but also lists "[a]rising from an organism" and "pertaining to substances derived from living organisms." In any case, "organic disease" is widely accepted as the alternative to "psychogenic disease," and thus appropriate to our discussion.

Dunphy cites irritable bowel syndrome, excessive daytime sleepiness, and subjective tinnitus, but these are all symptoms, not causes. The MCS doctor goes beyond that, saying "You have such-and-such symptoms and they're caused by such-and-such agents." That's completely different.