What can we do to make our facility more accessible to persons with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and Environmental Illness (EI)? Here are ten recommendations that would make your facility accessible to most people with MCS/EI: - Adopt and enforce no smoking and no fragrance policies and post signs accordingly, including on paths of travel (to restrooms, the parking lot, common areas, etc.). - Discontinue chemical pest control, such as structural chemicals and flea bombs, and replace them with non-toxic pest controls. (Sources for alternative products are identified below.) - Remove or disarm fragrance emission devices and systems (FEDS). - Discontinue using toxic, fragrance-laden cleaning products, and use only non-toxic paints on the walls and ceilings. - Attach carpeting to floors using nails or adhesive strips rather than glue; ventilate the room thoroughly. - Prohibit staff and visitors from idling vehicles near the entranceway or windows of the facility. - Purchase only metal and real wood furniture (look for used furniture) and avoid synthetic cloth-covered room dividers and curtains which collect dust and contaminants. - Landscape with ornamental rock and pebbles. Avoid juniper, olive, acacia, and cedar trees. Discontinue use of lawn care chemicals. - Incorporate notice of your MCS/EI safeguards into all organizational literature and correspondence. Here is an example: "To allow facility to be fully accessible to all people with disabilities, including persons with multiple chemical sensitivities/environmental illness, please do not wear scented products (perfume, aftershave, deodorant, shampoo, etc.) to any meetings, demonstrations, groups, or workshops held at or by agency/company/business. We appreciate your cooperation. Meetings are wheelchair accessible, and assistive listening devices, as well as materials in alternate formats, are available upon request." - At minimum, make one room "safe," that is, create an environmentally safer room with a separate entranceway, if possible. This well-ventilated room would be free of carpeting, curtains, fluorescent lights, the microwave oven, electromagnetic fields, natural gas, and toxins.