Talk:Multiple chemical sensitivity

message: I have no idea whether this is worth putting in the article, but it looks like there may be some relationship between this and mast cell disorders like Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12302-021-00570-3 
Possibly also relevant, not that it's worth citing: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hoffman-program/resources/chemicals-in-your-life/what-is-mcstilt/ 173.66.202.193 (talk) 03:12, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: The list of differential diagnoses is long.  That's one of the challenges with having (or trying to diagnose a patient who has) non-specific symptoms. WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:45, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possibly Relevant 

message: @Morgan Leigh:
I noticed that your preferred version included this:  "MCS is recognized as an organic, chemical-caused illness by several countries, notably in the United States, Germany and Denmark, and Australia."
Leaving aside the whole question of what it means for a disease to be "recognized by a country", Sears is not only outdated but merely repeats a since debunked claim.  Words like "Germany says it's an organic, chemical-caused illness" don't appear in the source.  
The real story, which is explained a bit in the section that differentiates between "discrete disease entity" and "how the doctor gets paid", is this:
Years ago, someone wrote to the Austrian health bureaucracy to ask what they thought about MCS.  The response, which was in German, that the Austrian health agency uses the same billing system as Germany, and that German healthcare providers bill for MCS-related services under ICD-10 code T78.4 (idiosyncratic reactions, which itself is part of T78, Adverse reactions, not otherwise specified).
A scanned copy of this letter was posted in internet forums with the false claim that Germany (i.e., the country that did not write this letter) officially recognizes MCS (i.e., what the letter did not say)!  The letter didn't say that MCS is a discrete disease or that MCS is caused by chemicals; it said that if the doctor wants to get paid for treating a symptomatic person, then the doctor's office have to bill under something that's not MCS because they don't recognize MCS as a separate disease.  Since 99% of the people seeing this couldn't read a word of German, they trusted it – and forwarded it, and repeated it, and believed it.  But it's not true.  
We've tried to explain this rather obliquely in Multiple chemical sensitivity#International Statistical Classification of Diseases but perhaps we're being too polite.  If you think it would help to have something that sounds like "Despite long-standing myths circulating on the internet, Germany doesn't actually recognize MCS as an organic, chemical-caused illness", then we could probably source that.
For the other countries:
* Sears says it's recognized in the US because "Prevalence has been measured, based upon doctor diagnoses, and self-reporting".  Not one word about "organic, chemical-caused illness", nor a single syllable about governmental recognition.
* Sears says it's recognized in Denmark because an anti-pollution organization congratulated themselves on reducing indoor air pollution.
* The Australian website carefully specifies that MCS is "attributted to...chemicals", which is the opposite of recognizing it as an organic, chemical-caused illness.  The cited source is National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme, which was replaced by the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme a few years ago.  The new website says nothing about MCS. 
Bottom line:  None of these countries actually recognize MCS as an organic, chemical-caused illness. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:49, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with you about that source being questionable, both due to it's age and what it was being used to cite. But seeing it was already there instead of removing it I changed the text to say what it seemed to me to be saying. You seem to have more details from other sources than I was able to get from that source so I have just gone ahead and deleted that passage as I agree that saying a disease is not/is recognised is dumb anyway.Morgan Leigh | Talk 04:03, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  That German myth will apparently never die