The mold problem at Station No. 12 used to be and is again. Three years ago. And now, mold again is in the ceiling tiles.

This old mold/new mold situation somehow precipitated an in-house communication problem that led to the mold response not occurring in a timely fashion. One party thought the new mold was being taken care of in July; but the other thought it had already been taken care of. There’s a recording that makes the explanation sound a little fishy-you can hear it in the video. Please note that this is NOT a MOLE problem, or if it is, there is no other mention of moles anywhere. But that spelling is embedded in the video–so what can you do?

If you’re in California, you might want to give us a call and see about getting an assessment from Byebyemold.

An environmental consultant has been hired to analyze the mold at Kromrey Middle School, which is now closed due to mold. The mold problem is worse than originally thought. Elevated levels of aspergillus/penicillium have been found, which can be harmful to those with immune compromised respiratory systems. The school system will be keeping the public apprised of developments on their website, where the environmental report will be published. The school system will perform clearance testing prior to allowing students back in.

If you’re in California, you might want to give us a call and see about getting an assessment from Byebyemold.

Yes, mold has invaded the ultimate sanctum.

The Library.

St. Albans High School Library has visible mold eating the books. 10,060 of them. Apparently while the kids were away, the books had a moist and humid summer.

A maintenance crew has come in to clean the books and work on the ventilation. They are, ironically to say the least, replacing the fresh air “dampers.” The remediation crew will be putting air scrubbers in the hallway and taking measures that the mold stirred by the cleanup will have minimum effect on the rest of the building.

If you’re in California, you might want to give us a call and see about getting an assessment from Byebyemold.

Today’s increasing asthma rates are believed to be related to an increase in environmental exposures such as mold, moisture and other allergens.

The Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) Project is a collaborative research project conducted by the Tulane University Health Sciences Center and the New Orleans Department of Health which is investigating these relationships.

If eligible for the research project, a study investigator will go to your home and take samples for mold and other indoor allergens. The results of this assessment will be provided to you.

The HEAL Asthma Counselor works with families selected for the project to reduce asthma symptoms, understand the nature of asthma and identify appropriate resources and access to healthcare for asthma. The Asthma Counselor can also give the family supplies and education to help reduce allergens in the home.

If eligible for the research project, your child will be given a full examination by a Pediatric Asthma Specialist. The exam will include allergy testing of your child for several allergens, including molds that are present in New Orleans post-Katrina.

The purpose of the project is to learn about the effects of mold and other indoor allergens on children with asthma in post-Katrina New Orleans. Another goal of the HEAL Project is to look at inherited differences in childrens response to mold and indoor allergens. The project is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), and the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN). NIEHS and NCMHD are part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

HEAL Investigators:

• *Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, Principal Investigator and Freeport McMoRan Chair of Environmental Policy, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
• *William Martin II, MD, Principal Investigator and Associate Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• *Herman Mitchell, PhD, Principal Investigator and Senior Research Scientist, Rho, Inc.
• *Kevin Stephens, Jr., MD, JD, Principal Investigator and Director, New Orleans Health Department
• Keith Bordelon, MSPH, HEAL Study Coordinator, Constella Group, LLC
• Patricia Chulada, PhD, MHS, Health Scientist Administrator, Program in Clinical Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• Richard Cohn, PhD, Vice President, Center for Health Research, Constella Group, LLC
• Jane El Dahr, MD, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Clinical Professor of Medicine; Head, Section of Pediatric Allergy/Immunology/Rheumatology, Tulane University Health Sciences Center
• Faye Grimsley, PhD, CIH, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
• Suzanne Kennedy, PhD, Research Scientist, Rho, Inc.
• Mosanda Mvula, MD, MPH, Chief, Division of Health Disparities, New Orleans Health Department
• Yvonne Sterling, RN, PhD, Professor of Nursing, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing
• Eleanor Thornton, MS, CHES, AE-C, President and CEO, Visionary Consulting Partners, LLC
• LuAnn White, PhD, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences; Director, Tulane Center for Applied Environmental Public Health, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

The city Engineering Department has set a date for the Portsmouth Police Department to vacate the property. The entire building is unsafe for employees although the roof has been replaced. Remediation and repairs must be undertaken to handle the mold which infests the city building.

If you’re in California and think you may have a mold problem, you might want to give us a call and see about getting an assessment from Byebyemold.

The legal system is full of loopholes, especially involving mold legislation. Now, I don’t know why the loopholes exist, but you know what happens with legal loopholes. (Legal loopholes are like a fisherman’s net with weave too big to catch the fish. Responsible parties sometimes get away, and the victims sometimes do not have adequate legal recourse. )

So let us observe how this can happen in the world of mold and mold victims.

SITUATION: San Diego. Employees of a Toyota dealership became sick from mold in the workplace. The dealership and the dealership’s insurers did not acknowledge that mold in the workplace placed employees health at risk.

The hole in the net: Whether or not this mold exposure is covered is apparently a judgment call on the dealer and/or insurer. One wonders if they are presenting medical evidence in the case.

Counteraction: The employees who became sick from mold exposure and were denied health benefits by the dealership and/or the insurer are accusing that the “workers compensation insurer and legal counsel have engaged in
criminal schemes and intimidation of workers to shift the
healthcare costs to DI disability insurance, SSI and other
providers; thereby defrauding the public.”

As an environmental hazards, mold is controversial. It is NOT UNCOMMON for employers, renters, and insurance companies to deny mold claims for an assortment of reasons:

• The particular type of mold did not sicken anyone.
• The connection between the illness and mold exposure can not be proved.
• There is debate even within the scientific and medical community concerning which molds, which situations, pose risk.
• There is difficulty determining how or even if the mold was ingested, inhaled or otherwise exposed to the victim.
• No federal law sets permissible exposure limits or building tolerance standards for mold.
• State Laws vary regarding guidelines and regulation of mold in indoor air.

Please note that school systems do not consider mold law so precious. When children are threatened by mold, school systems act, and they act promptly. Just watch your own local headlines and you will see schools go after mold. No one wants to risk the possibility of endangering the health of children.

But where is the concern for adult employees?

Just as standards were developed for lead, eventually states will develop identification and remediation standards for contractors, owners, and landlords, at which point evasion by insurance companies and employers will become criminal fraud. But we’re not there yet.

But drug companies know mycotoxins affect people. They even use a lot of mycotoxin derivatives when they make certain drugs. Don’t be surprised-you knew this before and forgot. Remember penicillin?

Allergies develop through exposure, so even if you might not be affected now, if you’re around a mold a lot, there’s a rising probability that you’re going to develop an allergy, even if you’re not elderly, a child or immune-compromised. This is just common sense.

So a lot of eyes will be on the Poway Toyota dealership case pressuring the system to hold responsible parties accountable. It’s a step.

Some molds make mycotoxins which make everyone ill. That’s what the word mycotoxin means: toxins made by mold. So by definition mycotoxins make people ill. But they don’t all make all people ill, and it usually takes a lot to do it.

Mycotoxins do not always make people sick. Yes, they are toxins but it takes a tremendous amount of spores to get you sick, UNLESS you have a sensitivity to that species that developed the mycotoxins.

The reason litigation is still at a stand still is there is no dead bang legal proof of causation. You can’t prove that because there is mold showing in the living room you develop a rash. There is evidence that if you have asthma, and you have a high sensitivity to mold or to mold that develops mycotoxins, no matter how tiny the exposure, your asthma can get worst.

That’s why people who sue each other on mold exposure can win on property damage but very difficult or nearly impossible to win on medical because of the causation factor. There are cases out there where some have prevailed but few.

We’ll be watching.

Allegedly built with mold contaminated wood, the new dormitory at the University of California is a potential problem.

Davis hired a professional assessor to perform tests which did indicate mold existed in the structure, albeit properly treated. Fearing the mold between the walls in the dorm’s indoor environments, officials worry that the mold, which can cause a host of medical conditions ranging from allergies to infections, could become a problematic issue at some time in the future.

There is a construction truism against using wet or moldy building materials. Contaminated materials should not be used in framing a building. There is already mold in the ambient air; it makes no sense to build more mold into construction, trapping spores inside and practically forcing higher a mold concentration indoors.

If this is your situation too, and you’re in California, you might want to give us a call and see about getting an assessment from Byebyemold.

Can you believe it? Another moldy school.

Hollywood Elementary has mold. Not Hollywood California, but in Jackson County.

We hear that they have professionals there to figure out where the mold is coming from so they can figure out what is causing it so they can begin cleanup.

If this is your situation too, and you’re in California, you might want to give us a call and see about getting an assessment from Byebyemold.

Can you believe it? More schools delayed due to mold. The Washington Junior High school day was cancelled when the school flunked its atmosphere test. Mold was found in the gym.

Cedar Rapids St. Jude’s Catholic School is also closed for mold, although they have managed to keep the daycare dry, so it is unaffected.

These two are in Iowa. Experts blame the mold on moisture and high humidity they’ve had this summer along, and I agree.

The Iowa Department of Education provides links referring to information about indoor air quality, asthma, allergies, mold, sick building syndrome, and children’s health protection.

If this is your situation too, and you’re in California, you might want to give us a call and see about getting an assessment from Byebyemold.

Mold at Ashbrook High. Sounds like one of those 50s horror movies, right?

Ashbrook High is joining that list of schools that has been rushing to get mold cleaned up before classes begin. In fact, they may be working twice as hard as other schools. This is because they’ve had to clean up twice.

55 classrooms have been cleaned up after mold was discovered in the furniture; then it was discovered again after it had supposedly been eliminated.

When mold comes back, it is obvious that the circumstances favorable to mold growth have not been eliminated: water, humidity and spores are going to keep coming together and producing a mold crop until the circumstances are made unfavorable to mold growth.

The school is saying that the HVAC was at fault, due to the venting system not properly working. Vents that were supposed to be closed were actually open, and humidity accumulated, and of course the moisture damaged insulation and ceiling tiles, etc… but the school officials expect the problem will be gone by the time school opens.

assessment from Byebyemold.