Pa. woman ordered out of chemical-free 'bubble'

Source: Associated Press

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – 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.





Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/steel_shed_allergy

in rural Maine. It IS missing the plastic furniture and piles of old car parts in the yard, though.

Now she has to get the permits and put up another shed.

The judge should have ordered her to see a shrink.

May you also suffer from a disease I don't have, so I can call YOU a hypochondriac!

Seriously, your kind of comment sucks.

Do some research before labeling people. When my neighborhood was sprayed numerous times (by truck) by the city of Albuquerque with Malathion the whole neighborhood became ill and I developed EI. Half the kids on the street developed asthma and I developed reactive airway disease. Exposure to smoke, perfume, gas etc. all made my airway inflamed with bronkospasm - talk about scary. About once a week, the ambulance was on our block taking another child to the emergency room. I filed a law suit against the city of Albq. and that really began my activism.
When I joined a support group, 90% of the people in the group developed environment illness after a pesticide exposure. Many could not live indoors and slept in their cars. I really feel for this woman as she made a safe environment for herself and uneducated, selfish people care more about appearances than about someones life.

Maybe she is a hypochondriac. I certainly don't think her illness is anything other than psychological. That doesn't make it any less real to her though, and it sounds like having this shed to go to everyday is her coping mechanism. It's her sanctuary. It'd be great if she got real treatment for her condition, but I don't think it helps anyone to be so dismissive.

I flush bright red and itch and get large welts or hives. I take 2 claritin a day and benadryl if I get an attack. My acupuncturist said i have a reaction to "the last thing", that my body is so toxic, one more assault; the sun, a chemical in the air, something going on at a gas station, chlorine, something coming through on a train... who knows. It happened in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Seattle, Georgia and Florida. I saw an allergist who told me it was a virus that had to work it's way out. If I have an attack of it, which goes away with 2 benadryls, I am on my ass and lose a day.

I had 2 attacks a couple of years ago. (And the biopsy scar on my arm to prove it) The only thing that could touch that deep itch was a topical steroid cream. I would wake up and find myself scratching in my sleep.

As to the shed, that's how my sister's MIL lived for many years. She seems okay now, but still has some sensitivities.

of pseudoscience and gullibility. Nothing more...

that I responded to earlier...

The shed in question doesn't actually stand out much at all. The houses in that neighborhood aren't that close together, and her "bubble" is no more obtrusive than the big-ass above-ground swimming pool in one neighbor's yard or the two-car garage, double-extended enclosed breezeway, and detached shed on another neighbor's property.

To be honest, I suspect that the judge doesn't think that Ms. Feudale-Bowes' illness is real, because if it were, then wouldn't she enjoy the protection of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I mean, if she were confined to a wheelchair, would her neighbors be suing her because of the ramp leading to the front door?


However, I confess that I'm not convinced that the disease is real, either. My belief is irrelevant, of course, but it would be disingenuous of me to argue in favor of Ms. Feudale-Bowes' shed without making that disclaimer.

Are they really that far out of touch with reality?

It sounds to me like they have gone off the deep end and they are using illness as a ploy to get sympathy for being stupid.

These are not senile old farts or juvenile delinquents.

They should know the rules and they shouldn't whine when they are asked to follow the rules.

Whether her health issue is real or not, has nothing to do with it.

It's people who broke the rules and are trying to get away with it. If they had just bothered to get permits beforehand, there wouldn't be an issue.

I was caught up in the immediate is-she-sick/is-it-an-eyesore conundrum, and I hadn't even thought about the issue of permits.

Still, where I currently live, if you build without a permit, then you're fined, but the construction doesn't necessarily have to come down. And as I mentioned above, the bio-shed isn't that big of an eyesore, given the context of the neighborhood.


Weird story in any case.

Zoning regs, utility easements, fire prevention ordinances, water/waste water and sanitation issues, certification of habitability, electrical safety ad infinitum.

I have to suspect that there is more to this story than is being reported.

It is a lot easier to report that the poor sick people are being abused by the government than to report that stupid people are using illness as an excuse for violating the law.

And with a little judicious application of Kinoki footpads.

Sending a lot of energy her way.

I'm a Grand Imperial Double Diamond Reiki Master, you know.

Or is it improper to call Reiki enthusiasts "Rubbers?"

They're so hard to get a hold of, after all.

of your attachment to crystal skulls or something like that.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=247&topic_id=20726&mesg_id=20731

Take it up with Sue if you have the nerve.

because of the chemical companies. If it was a recognized disease than people would have to do something about all the chemicals in our lives and big business does not want that. An allergist will not test you for allergies to chemicals, I had one absolutely refuse to do so. He said they don't test for such things. You can get tested for allergies to grass, animals, foods, but not chemicals. Of course you cannot sue anyone for being allergic to these things and that would not be true for chemicals.

Or add a properly permitted addition to the house?

:shrug: