Chemical Injury Researcher Releases Definitive Text

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Chemical Injury Researcher Releases Definitive Text

Monday September 10, 10:59 am Eastern Time

Press Release

SOURCE: University of Southern California, School of Medicine

Chemical Brain Injury by Kaye H. Kilburn, M.D. Raises Provocative Questions,

Provides Disturbing Conclusions

LOS ANGELES--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 10, 2001--Kaye H. Kilburn, M.D., Ralph

Edgington Professor of Medicine, University of Southern California, Keck

School of Medicine, Laboratory for Environmental Sciences, has released

Chemical Brain Injury, a nineteen-chapter text published by Wiley &

Sons, Inc., that examines knowledge of causation, treatment and prognosis

for this fast-growing medical phenomenon affecting 15 to 30 per cent of the

population.

Chemical Brain Injury, the definitive volume on adverse effects of chemical

exposure on the human brain, focuses on how common everyday chemicals affect

the brain. It synthesizes the work of more than two decades of study and

treatment and 45 published papers. Chemical Brain Injury makes a significant

contribution to the environmental health profession by providing scientific

evidence for the neurotoxic effects of commonly used chemicals, and the

methodology for testing effects of exposure.

Environmental health professionals and the research community are working to

develop a solid scientific foundation for the world to deal with increasing

numbers of environmentally-related health problems. Efforts are focused on

determining the causes of environmentally-related diseases and disorders and

identifying ways to prevent them. Chemical Brain Injury is based on Dr.

Kilburn's extensive work with patients and communities suffering from brain

injuries resulting from accidental and occupational environmental chemical

exposure.

Dr. Kilburn began his exploration of chemical brain injury as a skeptic. By

the early 1980s, he was well known in environmental medicine and

occupational health, having demonstrated that airways-obstruction caused the

Monday-morning asthma from cotton dust in textile workers, which led to the

Cotton Dust Standard. He had shown how asbestos scarred the lungs' small

airways, trapping air and reducing vital capacity; and that welding fumes,

aluminum refining, diesel exhaust and formaldehyde caused asthma by

narrowing small airways. But it was these latter workers' complaints of

memory loss, inability to concentrate, dizziness, lightheadedness, and loss

of balance that led him to consider how to measure brain function.

He borrowed and adapted tests and built devices to measure brain activities.

He discovered how symptoms predicted losses of balance, quickness and

strength, and loss of vision for color and form. Nearly 500 patients exposed

to chemicals were evaluated, and 4,000 people exposed in groups were

evaluated for chemical effects. Statistical analysis of data on individuals

and groups in cities, towns and rural areas provided complementary insights.

His tests included some of the usual psychological tests, but also included

precise and objective tests of balance, reaction times, vision and hearing.

Often the observed differences between chemically exposed and unexposed were

so great, and variability within each group so small, that the probability

of test differences appearing by chance was negligible. Disturbingly, many

of the control groups were found to be significantly impaired, compared to

four groups that seemed least exposed. Dr. Kilburn finally had to admit that

we all may become impaired by the ubiquitous toxic chemical exposures that

float through the air and contaminate our water, food, and the earth.

Dr. Kilburn states that conditions including MCS, fibromyalgia, chronic

fatigue, sick building and Gulf War syndromes, chronic Lyme disease, asthma,

ADHD, and others may seem different, but research has demonstrated they all

may be induced by chemicals.

With impeccable credentials, Dr. Kilburn has often been an expert witness,

and his testimony is unassailable in court. In many of the legal cases where

he found significant differences, the exposed people received substantial

settlements. These results do not satisfy Dr. Kilburn, however, who wants to

make the public aware of chemical brain damage, which often masquerades as

accelerated aging or premature Alzheimer's Disease. ``We don't need a senile

population to face up to our problems.''

In Chemical Brain Injury, Dr. Kilburn will penetrate the mist, challenge

some beliefs as myths and synthesize where we stand on chemical sensitivity.

It is a volume for medical professionals who work with chemically-injured

patients, and for patients seeking to understand their condition.

Dr. Kaye H. Kilburn is editor-in-chief of Archives of Environmental Health,

and has published more than 250 scientific papers. He can be reached at

323/442-1830, or by e-mail at mailto:kilburn@u...