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: kilburn@usc.edu