Letters to the Editor

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, April, 2001

Until H.R. 5238 (or its successor in the new Congress) passes, we the consumers don't know what's in the fragrance part of most fragranced products. The FDA doesn't know what's in them. Only the manufacturer knows -- or a competitor with the resources to run a few tests. Cosmetic manufacturers' claims of "trade secrets" protecting their investments in research and development are a farce. If SNIFF becomes law and warning labels begin appearing on packages, consumers will gradually become aware of the health dangers in the fragranced shampoos, colognes, lotions, face creams, shaving creams, soaps, and countless other products they use daily. Regulation of the cosmetic industry is long overdue. You can help reduce the presence of toxic chemicals in our environment by urging your representative to sign on this bill (or its successor) as a co-sponsor.

Lynn Lawson, M.A.

Author, Staying Well in a Toxic World: Understanding Environmental Illness, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Chemical Injuries, and Sick Building Syndrome (1994) and its "new millennium update" 2000.

P.O. Box 1732

Evanston, Illinois 60201 USA

Fax 847-733-0665

Email lynnword@aol.com

Staying Well in a Toxic World, Understanding Environmental Illness, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Chemical Injuries, and Sick Building Syndrome -- A New Millennium Update

Lynn Lawson

First published in 1994, Staying Well in a Toxic World is now in its fourth printing. While most of the book is as fresh and timely now as then, our society has changed.

New books have appeared; new organizations have sprung up; government agencies have been reorganized; companies have changed their names or phone numbers, moved, or gone out of business. Most now have websites. The problems of being chemically sensitive -- and injured -- remain the same, but modern communication has undergone a profound revolution. Half of US families now own a computer; there are millions of websites; and swift, cheap e-mail threatens to make regular mail obsolete.

At the beginning of the new millennium, many of us find ourselves drowning in speed and information. How do we find good, reliable information? With this book, Lynn Lawson provides the most up-to-date resources on health and environment currently available. Every resource was carefully checked for accuracy. Nothing was overlooked.

For each chapter, Lawson also summarizes the health and environment highlights -- both good and bad -- of the past six years. In its eighty pages this indispensable book gives a human touch to our modern environment, from the Great Lakes to the North Pole.

Lynn Lawson

P. O. Box 1732

Evanston, Illinois 60201 USA

Published by Lynnword press, copyright 2000

To order the set (the update plus the original book - 488 pages, copyright 1993), send $21.95 plus $4 s&h (US$; IL residents add $1.76)- a saving of $2 for the set; list price of the original book is $15.95 to Lynn Lawson, P.O. Box 1732, Evanston, Illinois 60201.

Bio

Lynn Lawson served three years as public relations chair of the Human Ecology Action League (HEAL), a national organization of people with environmental illness/multiple chemical sensitivities. An award-winning environmental essayist, she is a former editor, medical writer, and university instructor. For seven years she coordinated MCS: Health and Environment, a support group for the chemically injured; and she continues to publish Canary News, a nationally distributed newsletter.