Life is never simple, is it? Just this morning I was reading about the new ‘intelligent’ pills which contain a microchip that will react with the acid in your stomach and send a message to your mobile phone reminding you to take another pill. This may sound loopy but it could have huge health benefits. Research suggests that between 35 and 50% of patients (especially if they are either elderly or  confused) fail to take their medication as instructed with, on occasions such as heart failure,  life threatening results. So, what an excellent idea. But…
What about people who are electrosensitive? For them, having a microchip embedded in their bodies, continually transmitting signals to their phone or their doctor, could be incredibly debilitating. And, since two of the symptoms of electrosensitivity are erratic blood pressure and heart arrhythmias, could actually exacerbate the condition they are meant to be controlling.
Or how about the situation with fire retardants? Spraying soft furnishings (furniture, carpets, curtains etc) with fire retardant chemicals has dramatically reduced the number of domestic fires. Since 1988 when they were introduced, only three of the 1400 fires in the UK (which have caused 500 injuries and 40 deaths) involved furniture that had been treated with fire retardants; all the rest were could be traced to old furniture which had not been treated. But…
For those who are chemically sensitive, the chemicals used to prevent the fires also make those chemically sensitive people really ill, often preventing them working or living any sort of ‘normal’ life. For some idea of what living with chemical sensitivity is like, read Lesley Williams article, Joining up the dots.
Earlier today I was adding an article to our Skinsmatter site about a lady whose daughter used to suffer from bad eczema and who is also allergic to nuts and seeds. Ideally she would be using very gentle natural products on her skin made from minimally-processed cold-pressed oils. But… She can’t use any of those because she is nut sensitive and cold pressing retains all of the allergenic proteins which would cause her to have an allergic reaction.
Or, to return to electrosensitivity (a subject close to my heart as I am electrosensitive) – in Sausalito, on the outskirts of San Francisco,  the city council has just delayed the installation of ‘Smart’ meters to monitor homeowners’ use of energy. A great invention – will help homeowners to make the most economic use of their energy thus saving themselves money and helping reduce the city’s carbon footprint. But…
‘Smart’ meters in the home mean that there will be a continuous wifi signal being transmitted around the house – enough to seriously impact on the health of any electrosensitive occupant. It would certainly have me  feeling seriously ill and unable to function within about a week!
So what to do?….  Well, I guess that flexibility has to be the key. It would seem very unreasonable to deprive the majority of people of any of these improvements which could be of genuine benefit to them, but the system must be flexible enough to allow opt outs for those who for genuine reasons of health (or indeed of conscience – conscientious objectors may have been looked down upon during WWII but they were never criminalised) find the improvements objectionable.
Mind you, in the current state of medical awareness about electrosensitivity, it could be a problem convincing the authorities that your electrosensitivity was indeed a genuine illness. You might need to emigrate to Sweden where it is recognised as a ‘functional disability’.