We do not use pesticides now, nor did we before our exposure. I know how dangerous pesticides are. Our exposure came from a vacation rental last summer. I strongly recommend looking into green hotels when traveling. They are becoming more popular. I always ask now if pesticides are sprayed inside the rooms before booking anything.

Hi - it is important, as the reader above suggests, to not only look into "green hotels" but also to ask directly about whether they use pesticides, and if not, what they DO use for pest deterrents. I no longer travel due to MCS,as i got VERY ill about 10 years ago on a plane from SF to Honolulu, both for reasons of chemicals onboard planes that just cannot get out those small cabin doors (and the AC/air exchange systems do not allow much air exchange - I have been reading, approximately 30% - so all jsut remains stuck in the cabin, settling onto chairs, carpets etc...never mind what is offgassing FROM the chair and carpet materials themselves...)and for hotel and motel rooms that ended up being very toxic. "Green" generally means taht the hotel has made good efforts at being more self-sustaining, ie, using less electricity (fluorescent bulbs, photovolteic panels, etc), using less fresh water, ie, reusing non-potable water for their golfing greens, etc etc etc - ie, "green" in terms of the general environment, their "imprint" on our ecosystem, not necessarily being "nontoxic". They are two very different terms!

I was very excited when I began to read about "green hotels" several years ago! However, as we all have learned, a hotel having gone "green" does NOT mean they don't use noxious chemicals - sadly. We stayed in one "green" hotel that assured us it did not spray pesticide for bugs, on the Big Island of Hawaii here, and lo!, after about 10 minutes in the room, we had to go to the desk and ask to please try another room - it took three tries to finally find a room that was tolerable - WITH the big patio doors, with sea breeze blowing in, open!! We never shut them! So whether they used noxious chemicals for bugs or not, and could have lied about it,they indeed had used something noxious/toxic, or things (furniture, bedding, towels, something!)in the rooms were offgassing, as my usual warning symptoms started up and I had to vacate the first two "green" and supposedly, "nontoxic" rooms. With the third, with the big doors open in both rooms of the suite, to the ocean breeze (which both other rooms also had), made the 3rd room tolerable. Aloha, Les from Hawaii