Our entire family of six and three others were injured when our insurance company brought in a company to remediate smoke odor after we had a fire on the outside of our fireplace. They used a chemical called Unsmoke Thermo 55 and Ozone. The Unsmoke is full of aromatic hydrocarbons of Benzene, Xylene, Toluene and 12 heavy metals. The lead reading in our baby’s room was 250,000 mcg of lead per sq. ft. HUD allows 40 mcg per sq. ft. The other ingredients were Antimony, Arsenic, Aluminum, Tin, Nickel, Cadmium, Barium, Zirconium, Thallium, to name a few. All of us developed immune suppression, heavy metal poisoning and serious allergies. This substance is used as a deodorizing chemical, and is often used after floods and for dog odors under different names. The manufacturer would not tell us the ingredients, even as our daughter was in cardiac arrest at the hospital.
The fire started in the fireplace. I did not smell any smoke but saw it. The fire burned through a minute hole in the grout to burn a 4' hole in the exterior redwood and cedar siding. Smoke migrated through the home when the firemen sprayed the block with water. The smoke damage was minimal and we asked to see the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for the Unsmoke previous to having our home sprayed. My husband is a structural engineer and I am an architect, so we are well aware of the importance in the disclosure contained in these sheets.
My husband’s doctor said not to have perfumed cleaners around him, so this information was important to us. We were in a hotel and they sprayed our home before they faxed me the MSDS to the hotel. I told the technician to “get out of my house” as soon as I realized what ingredients were contained, but it was obviously too late.
The chemicals were tested in the Unsmoke and found to be in everyone’s blood that was injured. Unsmoke inerts = Dursban TC inerts (dursban is a termacide). It appears that most of the ingredients in Unsmoke is a real pesticide. The manufacturers are a father and brother who are pesticide manufacturers. It also appears as if this is being used as a deodorizer without telling the government they are actually using a pesticide. Please pass on this information to your readers so that other families might be spared the horror we've had to endure; our lives will never be the same.
Connie Ho
South Russell, Ohio
Dear Connie:
I have been in EcoErgonomics for over 20 years, and unfortunately your story is too often repeated. It is important that when we, as consumers, allow anything to be done or applied in our homes and offices that we have full disclosure and give full approval prior to any work being done. More often than not, people blindly trust the people hired, and don’t care to take the time to do some homework on their own. In your case it happened before you could stop it. I’ve had clients tell me, “I don’t have time to investigate everything; I trust they’ll do what they say.” It’s unfortunate that we can’t trust what someone with financial interest is trying to sell us. I was once in a building that had serious mold problems. The landlord neglected to tell the tenants that he hired someone to spray chemicals to try to kill the mold from several inches of standing water under the building. As soon as I entered the building, on the day of the spraying, the glands in my neck looked like golf balls, I developed a terrible sore throat and had acute sinus pain. The landlord had an obligation to inform us prior to application, but did not believe the chemicals would cause health risks because the chemical company said, “It might make your eyes burn a little and produce a slight cough, but it will go away within a few hours.” I moved out of the building, but not before I had been “zapped” with chemicals and compromised my immune system. Ask questions, get written confirmation of what is being professed, do not assume the safety of a product. Some chemical exposures can never be reversed! If we’ve learned anything, it’s that prevention is the best insurance, Naturally.
This and subsequent articles are for the purpose of education and to provide support to the millions afflicted with allergies and multiple chemical sensitivity syndromes. To share your stories of challenges, solutions and experiences involving living with multiple chemical sensitivities, as well as any negative experiences with drug side effects or negative experiences in receiving health care, please mail or fax your story to:
Gloria Gilbére, N.D., D.A.Hom., Ph.D.
Gilbére Research Associates • P.O. Box 1565 • Sandpoint,
ID 83864 • USA
Office phone 1-360-352-3646 (7:30am-3pm Pacific Time, Mon-Fri)
Fax: 1-208-265-1777
info@gloriagilbere.com
