...everyone has some degree of chemical sensitivity

A friend of mine told me she thought chemical injuries and sensitivities were far more common than other people realized. While she doesn't have claim to have MCS, she is also particular about avoiding scented products in her home and environment. She said, "Among other things, I've been thinking about MCS a lot recently, and I have a fair hunch that these chemical injuries very common. The extreme ones get misdiagnosed, and the minor ones make people miserable withoutactually debilitating them. In any case, I think the impact is huge, and more awareness will happen when more people realize why they are suffering."
I wasn't aware of how common it was until I realized I have this problem too. Now that my eyes are open to it, I can see it all around me: every day I interact with another person who describes sensitivies (though never admitting to it actually being the cause of any of their illness). Nearly all women I talk to mention some product that causes them some health issue. Yesterday in the health food store the woman working behind the counter mentioned she has a lot of problems with smells too - she said dryer sheets make her nauseated and she can't stand being around the smell. A woman in the sauna told me she gets headaches around perfumes, and other scented products. One of my close friends mentioned being unable to tolerate most tissue products because of rashes.
I didn't know about this till this January, and now I am putting together things I've heard people say for years...all things which I now realize are symptoms of chemical injury. I remember my own mother telling me that she couldn't go into fabric stores without getting congested and tired (fabric off-gasses formaldehyde). I am a little amazed at how ubiquitous chemical exposure and injury is, yet nobody is really aware of it. I can see that changing public opinion and awareness is the hugest challenge. But I think it's inevitable that public opinion will change, since the rate at which people are getting exposed is increasing, though it might still take another 10 years before the people really accept it as an issue in their own lives. Right now, nobody knows the symptoms, and the urge to stay unaware is huge...who wants to face the ugly reality? I sure didn't want to believe I was getting sick from the things around me; I didn't want to stay away from my friends homes, or work from home, or wear a mask when I pump gas. I just kept getting sicker and sicker for years, always looking for a simple medical solution (blood test after blood test!).

After all, everyone has some degree of sensitivity to toxic chemicals...that's why they're considered toxic.