Chemical Brain Injury

by Kaye H. Kilburn, M.D.

 

Book Review
Chemical Brain Injury by Kaye H. Kilburn, M.D

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 John 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 braininjuries 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@usc.edu.