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Coal miners used to send canaries into the mines ahead of them to check the level of lethal gases. If the canaries died, the gasses had reached deadly levels. If they lived, it was safe to mine. Today, thousands of people are made sick from the toxicity of their everyday environments. These “human canaries” suffer from a condition that has become increasingly common in recent years. The affliction has many names: Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), Environmental Illness (EI) Sick Building Syndrome, and Gulf War Syndrome. Unfortunately, MCS, as the disease is most commonly known, has no known cure. Susan Abod suffers from this illness and has been documenting it for close to a decade. Her first film, “Funny, You Don’t Look Sick: An Autobiography of an Illness” (1995, Cinema Guild) painted an intimate portrait of her struggle to live with this debilitating disease. The follow up, HomeSick goes on the road to show how other people around the country are coping with MCS. MCS is most easily described as a severe reaction to common household products and chemicals (pesticides, perfumes and other scented products, fuels, food additives, carpets, building materials etc.). It can often be traced to a person’s heavy exposure to toxic levels of industrial chemicals. But, just as often, its cause is unknown. People who live with MCS commonly suffer a debilitating chronic fatigue along with a multitude of other symptoms. These symptoms include: shortness of breath, migraines, nausea, abdominal pain, aching joints and muscles, and irritated eyes, nose, ears, throat and skin. In severe cases sufferers experience impaired balance and can go into anaphylactic shock. Perhaps the biggest issue for sufferers of MCS is creating a safe home environment where chemicals and other exposures are minimal. These environments must be non-toxic and often require the implementation of expensive technology. In “Homesick”, Susan takes viewers on a road trip to experience first hand how drastically this illness has altered the lives of its victims. Through her extensive research, which includes over thirty interviews, Susan explores the lives of doctors, architects, teachers, housewives and students living with the disease. She takes us into these brave survivors’ non-toxic homes, which include tents, a house on stilts and a teepee. Susan is the connecting thread between these stories as she narrates the journey from her MCS accessible van. Documented stories include: Pat Kerr: Pat was a registered nurse in Minneapolis. During a hospital renovation project she was exposed to many chemicals for several months. Her body reacted by having a heart attack. She was 28 at the time. Pat found her way to New Mexico and rented a house. Her severe reactions to chemicals continued, so she built a teepee out materials made without chemicals. She put a wood stove in the teepee and stayed out there at night to “clear out.” The film finds Pat improving and she takes us through her recovery process. Sue Pittman: Sue and her two children began experiencing MCS symptoms in Chicago. Their illness began from exposure to pesticides. Sue moved her family to Texas and met a woman with similar symptoms. Together they used untreated wood to build a house on stilts. They constructed a screened-in porch that completely surrounds the house, essentially allowing them to live outside all the time. Sue tutored her children at home for several years. The film visits Sue and her family now doing well in their non-toxic home. Patricia Andrade: Patricia got sick as a sophomore in high school. Before her illness she was very athletic, excelling in karate and tennis. MCS started for her with a case of mono after which she was constantly misdiagnosed. She couldn’t eat anything without getting sick and had extreme abdominal cramping. As a result, she was told she was bulimic. She was also told it was all in her head. Her mother did some research and identified her condition as MCS. To help Patricia battle her illness, she and her mom left her father and brother in New Jersey to seek out help in Dallas. The film meets up with her after living in the non-toxic house of another MCS sufferer for one month. Patricia says that she can already feel the improvement. Her diet consists only of wild game: antelope, lion, bear, llama, reindeer and beaver. She can’t eat one piece of regular meat or a spoonful of rice without getting very ill. She hopes to go to college and become a doctor so she can help those who are similarly afflicted. Typically, people with MCS are forced to move from one place to the next as their homes are made unlivable by the activities of those around them. All too often they may find themselves temporarily homeless. Others are forced to live in inaccessible, toxic spaces where their health deteriorates. Tragically, the desperate, overwhelming nature of this illness and the difficult process of locating safe housing have resulted in a substantial number of suicides. “Homesick” explores the daily struggle of people with MCS. It takes the viewer into their homes to show just how debilitating this little publicized disease is. Because Susan herself is afflicted the film is a thoughtful, compassionate and sometimes even humorous look at life with MCS. Perhaps because its ramifications are so frightening, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities continues to be denied by society. The advances of industrialized civilization have brought us to an age in which our daily lives (food, water, shelter, heath care, transportation, etc.) are dominated by the use of plastics and chemicals of all kinds. One of the foremost questions of the 21st century has become: How do we create a sustainable environment? We can begin by taking heed of these human canaries’ plight. 60 minutes For more information: Email Susan
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