My interest in 2-butoxyethanol started around November of 2001, when someone in my family shared they had fatigue and depression & a host of health issues since working on the Exxon Valdez oil spill. I saw that 2-butoxyethanol was on the list of harmful components of Inipol that the bioremediation workers were FOR SURE exposed to. He didn't have that info at the time he was doing the job, however,

But on May 27, 2002 my search began in all seriousness after a reply from EPA, "If you want more information you will have to use the Freedom of Information Act & go to a higher authority than me."

Well, I started spending 5 hours + a day every day from then 'til now (should have quit a year ago, and plan to quit soon)

I talked to a lot of the workers as they were still in the the town I live in. What is your headache like, etc ... Oh, your joints hurt, are falling apart? ... etc, etc

I never would have ever given any thought to the gulf war vets as all I remembered from the news in the early 90s was that they had health issues from their service then. That's about it.

About 9 months later ... I had a divine appointment. A mobile rental (that we had brand new renters in) had frozen water pipes (Never before ... & never since) My husband spent several hours underneath which caused me to visit with the husband (I had only dealt with the wife). He shared how he just got out of the military in Oregon and he started talking about the gulf war vets and how 150,000 had registered with the American Legion as they felt the USA govt did something and was covering it up. That they wondered why the spouses and children born before they were deployed had come down with 'the syndrome' too when they came back from the gulf war.

That peaked my curiosity, and I looked up the symptoms of 'gulf war syndrome'

Goodness! I recognize these symptoms:

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  Chronic Fatigue
  
  


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  Signs and symptoms involving skin (including skin rashes and unusual hair loss)
  
  


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  Headache
  
  


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  Muscle pain
  
  


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  Neurological signs or symptoms (nervous system disorders which could manifest themselves in numbness in one's arms or legs, for instance)
  
  


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  Neuropsychological signs or symptoms (including memory loss)
  
  


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  Signs or symptoms involving upper or lower respiratory system
  
  


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  Sleep disturbances
  
  


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  Gastrointestinal signs or symptoms (including recurrent diarrhea and constipation)
  
  


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  Cardiovascular signs or symptoms
  
  


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  Menstrual disorders
  
  


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  & a lot more ... like depression; suicidal tendencies
  
  

It was not until about December, 2003 that I found 2-butoxyethanol and Diethylene glycol monobutyl ether on the list of solvents & pesticides the gulf war troops were exposed to

I first started checking out how they cleaned up the oil spill in 1991.

What were the similarities between that oil spill cleanup and the Exxon Valdez of 1989? (Some military washed birds; a company was experimenting with cleanup chemicals, etc)

It must have been about Sept, 2003 to Jan 2004 that I spent all my time working with gulf war syndrome issues on the gulf war vets forum you shared. Gale kicked me out then. Sick 'n tired of hearing about how EGBE did all the things they were sharing on.

Doesn't matter, It's a bigger problem than just EVOS workers or GW Vets.

Still a problem for civilians and military alike today ... & for most of this past century. What puzzled me most was why doctors do not find the fatigue of CFIDS (which I believe IS caused by 2-butoxyethanol exposure/s ... plus diabetes & a host of other things)

I have about 50 discussion forums of my own and go to about 300 others, so if I get kicked off one or another, it does not matter. And I have written hundreds and hundreds of web pages. I asked my pastor of that time .... "This is not good news, would it be best not to tell people?" He said, "No people would want to know what they are dealing with ... & you never know who might find your information and be helped by it."

If anyone has an interest in this topic, please feel free to e-mail me as I will not be checking too often hereafter. Which may mean I'll be dropped from other forums (?) I have spent so much time on this that I recognize 'the pattern' of EGBE, that's all. CFIDS, CFS, FM

What do we need to know about 2-butoxyethanol?

We need to link arm in arm together with the 'gulf war syndrome' vets & the homemaker
...truncated for length

THE autoimmune causing chemical

and how I learned about it

I think abnormal Body Temp  -  either up or down can be a clue to 2-butoxyethanol exposure 

no clue

Q&As Dr Weil Forum

fibroid uterin (benign) tumors

 

And the whole long list of categories put forth by the Vientam Vets .... One day I took a LONG look at the list and exclaimed ... "Oh my goodness, it was 'the other chemical' in the mix that caused the most of their harm ..... & so little they got disability approval for ... then the Korean vets even less ... and the WWII vest  who knows? no statistics I've heard on the WWII vets ... but look at the higher rates of pancreatic cancers in the WWII nations:  Japan, Germany, Spain, UK Canada ... & the USA  Michael Landon died in 1991 at the age of 54 (Pancreatic and Liver Cancers)

 

Actually I already excluded the item that Dioxin would cause ...

and leave what 'the other chemical does" 


Soft tissue sarcomas ... all of them
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's disease
Porphyria cutanea tarda
Respiratory cancers (lung, larynx, trachea)
Prostate cancer
Multiple myeloma
Hepatobiliary cancers
Nasal/nasopharyngeal cancer
Bone cancer
Female reproductive cancers (breast, cervical, uterine, ovarian)
Renal cancer
Testicular cancer
Leukemia
Spontaneous abortion
Birth defects
Neonatal/infant death and stillbirths
Low birthweight
Childhood cancer in offspring
Abnormal sperm parameters and infertility  Zero Sperm  
Cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders  Memory Loss
Motor/coordination dysfunction 
Peripheral nervous system disorders  Skeptical? @ ALS
Metabolic and digestive disorders (diabetes, changes in liver enzymes, lipid abnormalities, ulcers)
Immune system disorders (immune modulation and autoimmunity) 
Circulatory disorders
Respiratory disorders
Skin cancer
Gastrointestinal tumors (stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer) pancreatic
Bladder cancer
Brain tumors  Brain tumors

 

the pattern of CFIDS with a couple of add ons I think should be there ... Doctors, ask patients if they had a parent in manufacturing or in a war - back to mid 14th century (I think a stronger version of was in explosives then)

 

I think advanced autoimmunity shows up as yeast infection, then as periodontal disease ... even degenerative disks and lungs filling up with fluid can be an autoimmune issue - even VISION loss ... in many various ways Yeast Infections -  Teeth -  Vision -  disks degenerate 

 

I suspect that AUTISM is part of the autoimmune metabolic issues that 2-butoxyethanol can cause.  In China it is becoming epidemic.  They also comment on Chinese babies needing more Vitamin D (jaundice?)  I think they need to limit the 2-butoxyethanol expelled in the air - No controls for environment with their manufacturing of cars, etc

 

Someone said to me, "It is no wonder the pattern of this chemical is comint together for you.  It is the Law of Use.  What you spend a lot of time at ... you get good at"

THE autoimmune chemical - MSN web page of these comments

 

These are