Environmentalist Given Humanity Award

Toxics expert and journalist Cindy Duehring has been awarded a 1997 "Right Livelihood Award" (sometimes called Sweden's Alternative Nobel Prize), which is given to individuals making outstanding contributions to a sustainable future. Duehring, disabled by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), is founder and director of the nonprofit Environmental Access Research Network (EARN), which makes scientific, legal and medical information on chemical health issues available to the global community. She also edited the investigative journal Informed Consent, and has written for other publications, including The Green Guide ("Carpet Hazards" #19).

Because of her extreme sensitivity to any chemical, Duehring has been confined to her sealed North Dakota home since 1989. Her illness began in 1985, when she had her apartment sprayed to control fleas, and was poisoned by the pesticides diazinon and chlorpyrifos. Citing numerous published studies, Duehring estimates that one-third of the U.S. population may have mild to severe sensitivities to chemicals. "MCS cuts across every economic, educational and societal demographic category, and is growing at an alarming rate," she says, adding that current government regulations allow for safety testing of only 10 of the 1,500 chemicals introduced each year. [Right Livelihood Award Foundation and EARN press releases, October 1997]