The Incredible Shrinking Society

As I read the story of a Pennsylvania woman who suffers from environmental illness I couldn't help but think about Lily Tomlin's character Pat Kramer in The Incredible Shrinking Woman. When Pat Kramer, an ordinary woman, is exposed to a unique mix of chemicals, she begins to uncontrollably physically shrink. Now it could be argued there are other symbolic reasons to explain why Pat is literally disappearing before are eyes, but more than 25 years after this film was released there is evidence the chemicals we ingest daily are having an impact on our physical health.

The Associated Press reports:

Ten hours a day, every day, Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes confines herself to a galvanized-steel-and-porcelain shed outside her house. Inside are a toilet, a metal cabinet, a box spring with the metal coils exposed, and a pile of organic cotton blankets. Aluminum foil covers the window.

The place is as austere as a prison cell — but it's also her sanctuary from an outside world that she says makes her violently ill.

She and her husband call the structure "the bubble."

This bubble, though, may be about to burst: A judge has ordered it taken down by the end of the month.

Some of the couple's neighbors in suburban South Whitehall Township complained that the 160-square-foot building is unstable and so unsightly it could drag down their property values. The couple also hooked up electrical, water and sewer service without securing permits.

"For the wife's medical problems, there is sympathy. For the owner's defiance of the township's lawful directives, there is no excuse," Judge Carol McGinley ruled earlier this month.

Feudale-Bowes, 52, says she was diagnosed several years ago with "environmental illness," described as extreme sensitivity to everyday substances.

Some doctors question whether environmental illness is a genuine physical disorder and suggest it is psychological. Feudale-Bowles says she was diagnosed by Dr. William Rea of Texas, who has been accused by the Texas Medical Board of promoting "pseudoscience." He vigorously disputes the charge and continues to see patients.

Feudale-Bowes says fabric softener, nail polish, perfume, new sneakers, upholstery and many other items can make her body go haywire. She says she has suffered from a range of chronic ailments, including migraines, joint pain, bladder inflammation, seizures and temporary paralysis. Her insides, she says, have sometimes felt like "fire with ground glass in it."

Is this a hoax? Is the food we eat and the air we breath literally making us sick? Have you ever noticed a change in how you feel following something you ate, drank or from the air you were breathing? So what do you think?