CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY: TRUE ALLERGY AND FALSE CHEMICAL ALLERGY
The field of chemical sensitivity is even less researched, and more hotly disputed, than that of food sensitivity. The dividing line between allergy and intolerance or sensitivity to chemicals is even more blurred and less understood. At the heart of the debate lie the issues of what the underlying mechanisms are, what the symptoms are, and which chemicals cause problems and why.
Chemical sensitivity encompasses a number of types of reactions, namely:
• true allergy
• false chemical allergy
• irritant and toxic reactions
True Allergy
Chemicals, as discussed above (see page 18), can cause true allergy by combining with other larger molecules and triggering the immune system defences. This kind of reaction can be detected by skin and laboratory tests.
False Chemical Allergy
In susceptible individuals, some chemicals, like certain foods, are able to cause false allergy by binding with mast cells (see page 15) directly and causing histamine release without engaging the immune system at all. This will cause classic allergic symptoms but will not show positive results in skin and laboratory tests.
*14\117\8*
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.