EMS was first recognized in 1989 in New Mexico. Three women sought medical help for a mysterious, undiagnosable condition presenting with marked peripheral blood eosinophilia and severe myalgia, followed by the development of scleroderma-like chronic skin lesions. It was eventually discovered that all of the women had one thing in common: they had been taking L-tryptophan, a health food supplement sold as a sleep aid.
The tainted product was traced back to Showa Denko Inc, a Japanese company, that had been cutting corners in their purification procedure to reduce their manufacturing costs. Additionally, they were experimenting with genetically engineered bacteria in order to accelerate and increase the efficiency of their production process. As a result, contaminated batches of L-tryptophan were placed on the market. Within three months, 37 people died and over 1500 were permanently disabled from using this product.
About a decade back, a similiar epidemic of a novel syndrome with features suggestive of SSc had occurred in Spain in the 1980s. The outbreak, termed toxic oil syndrome and affecting over 20,000 individuals, was linked to consumption of contaminated rapeseed oils used for cooking
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