Rea’s Way

Dallas doctor William Rea has garnered international media attention for his claims that toxins in the environment may cause “multiple chemical sensitivities” that can require extensive medical treatment and drastic lifestyle changes. (See the August 1990 D).

Now comes this from England, where Rea holds the First World Professorial Chair in environmental medicine at Robens University. Rea has been retained as an expert witness in a lawsuit filed in London by a man who had worked for a chemical waste treatment facility. The worker claims that, as a result, he has become “chemically sensitized and has suffered personal injury, loss and damage.” He is now serving time for sexually assaulting children- a crime he blames on environmental toxins.

Rea, though he didn’t interview or examine the man, filed a report with the man’s solicitor, saying that “we confirm that aberrant intellectual and social behavior can be triggered by sensi-ti2ation to chemicals.”

Critics have long contended that “clinical ecologists” are nothing but quacks. “Their conclusions are unscientific and not in keeping with known medical facts,” says Dr. Thomas Kurt, medical toxicologist for the North Texas Poison Center. “I have never heard of any personality disorders associated with chemical exposure.”