Dominique Belpomme – Identifying Biological Markers for EHS
Below is an excerpt from Dr. Belpomme’s May 18, 2015 opening talk at the 5th Paris Appeal Conference on MCS and EHS in Brussels, where he identified certain bio markers for EHS.
Dr. Belpomme:
“… I suggest that we distinguish at the clinicobiological and nosological level, as shown on Table 1, what falls under intolerance and susceptibility, whether genetic and/or epigenetic, of hypersensitivity itself, the latter being considered as a separate entity. It is undoubtedly for these different reasons that an international consensus, taken up in parts by WHO6, has proposed to use the more general term, idiopathic environmental intolerance7, although, as David Gee told me, the term “idiopathic” is inconsistent with that of “environmental”. In an attempt to correct this antagonism, ECERI and ISDE decided to organize this international congress focusing on electrohypersensitivity and multiple chemical sensitivity so that WHO may size up the delay in not recognizing this pathology at a medical and scientific level. Indeed, both conditions, and more particularly, as shown in Figure 1, electrohypersensitivity, constitute a growing global problem, and it would be irresponsible not to take them into consideration in terms of public health and more particularly, in terms of their nosological insertion in the international classification of diseases, taking into account scientific advances over recent years.
“For there is no doubt that the causal links resulting from epidemiological case-control studies only or from provocation trials can never provide the solution because in both cases, patients suffer from severe cognitive impairment. This explains why any study based on interviews or questionnaires can only be of little objective scientific value. And, from WHO’s perspective, this is probably where the problem comes from, a problem that can only be circumvented by the highlighting of biomarkers in both animals and humans.
“This is the challenge we face in this congress, whose objectives are threefold: (1) to create an independent international working group intended to develop the nosological framework of idiopathic environmental intolerance, in order for it to shed its empty shell, deprived of clinical and biological meaning, and therefore integrate what electrohypersensitivity and multiple chemical sensitivity really are; (2) to draft for WHO an international declaration offering to put results of this working group at their disposal and inviting them to specify where they stand based on the new scientific data currently available; (3) and finally to relay to international authorities and media the international appeal coordinated by Elizabeth Kelley, entitled “Scientists Call for Protection from Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Field Exposure”, an appeal which will be presented and discussed here by Magda Havas9.”
Download Abstracts from the 5th Paris Appeal Congress, May 18, 2015, Royal Academy of Medicine, Belgium: Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance: What Role for Electromagnetic Fields and Chemicals? (PDF)
Audio recordings from the conference are available for listening and download here.
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