Katy Young

In this interview Katy shares her view that chemical exposures can lead to an inability to tolerate stress, to loss of mental functioning, to fear and to violence. Since I met with her, two studies have been published that validate her remarks. One, a University of Wis-consin-Madison study published in the journal Toxicology and Industrial Health, January-March 1999, found that the pesticide-fertilizer mixtures commonly found in groundwater can affect patterns of aggression and the ability to learn, and causes hormone disruptions that increase sensitivity to stimuli, irritability and immune dysfunction. A University of Arizona study published by Environmental Health Perspectives in June 1998 showed a decrease in mental ability and an increase in aggressive behavior among children exposed to pesticides. 

When I get exposed to chemicals I can t communicate, I can t speak, my brain shuts down, I can t translate the scattered thoughts into language. In school I got As and Bs without even looking at the books, but my high grades were never seen because of the impression that I gave. Quite often people thought that I was dumb. 

I see children now who look like I felt then. Their eyes are cloudy and they look dumb, and they look hyperkinetic when they get exposed to chemicals, or they get numb and comfy, kind of dazed. 

As a child I often felt dizzy, or faint, and I d squat down so I wouldn t fall over. 

I didn t know what it was at the time. I had severe headaches almost daily, and skin rashes. I used to get rashes all over my face, my arms, around my ears, the backs of my legs. The only thing that doctors could prescribe for me was a cortisone ointment that hurt and made my rash worse, so I didn t use it. 

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Because some people who self-disclose their vulnerability to chemicals become targets for hostility and violence, these narratives represent enormous acts of courage. When interviewing Katy Young, a single mother of two small children, I was deeply moved by her courage when she told me that after she received a death threat because of her work as an MCS activist, she tried to get out as much information as possible while she still could. 

When I first contacted Karen Forbes I was struck by her positive attitude. She suggested I also talk to Jean MacKenzie and Katy Young—whose stories are included in this volume—and told me they all were aiming for complete recovery from MCS. At that point I had never heard of anyone who was completely recovered from MCS, and I wasn t sure that it was possible. By the time I left Victoria I was convinced that anything is possible when the synergy of three dynamic women is in action. 

Papatheodorou, G., Kutcher, S.P., Katie, M., and Szalai, J.P. (1995) The efficacy and safety of divalproex sodium in the treatment of acute mania in adolescents and young adults an open clinical trial. / Clini Psychopharmacol 15 110-116. 

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