Mattress Mold Victims?

Is there mold in your mattress? This couple purchased a mattress for $1,081.19 in 1999 and now their mattress has mold.

Apparently the mattress is being replaced.

A ten year old mattress is going to have more living dust mites crawling around eating dead skin cells than it is going to have mold…

Time to get a new mattress people.

Read More…

/ / George Hatcher

The Irony of Mold

It is legally difficult to pin down mold as a cause of illness, even though there is clear cause and effect evidence, scientific evidence and medical evidence.

Medically, mold has been found culpable in affecting the health of the immune-deficient, infants, or asthmatics, but the case is out for otherwise healthy individuals (even though they do tend to develop allergic responses when they are exposed.) The courts are still hammering out the connections, but that process is still somewhat derailed, largely because of the flawed ACOEM Mold Statement.

In spite of that malicious little piece of misinformation, some cases still find justice. Or attempt to.

The biggest irony in all of this is when inspectors–those individuals most frequently subjected to mold exposure as part of their profession–became ill from mold exposure their own government 1.pays them to inspect 2. denies that it is unhealthy 3. allows to grow in their own inspector’s offices.

In the archives of this blog, you will find a case of a florida inspector/gov’t official who died after working in a mold infested government building. And now there’s a case in the news where it is happening again in this Las Vegas Case. involving Southern Nevada Health District Inspector Dan Pauluk, whose job-related contamination brought death to himself and illness to his family.

/ / George Hatcher, news

Mold Moves in; Kids Move Out

Because St. Dominic’s Catholic school is hosting mold in its ceiling, walls and floor, its kindergarten class may be hosted at a portable building at Mills Elementary School, at least that is what seems to be going on here. The government may be splitting the approximate $7400 cost of remediation of the school’s portable and a bathroom for the use of the kindergarten; and St. Dominic’s is looking for a portable of its own for use next year.

/ / George Hatcher, news

Government on Path to Getting Taken. Again.

Apparently, Wailuku county in Hawaii has been paying about $75,000 per year to lease a moldy building owned by Honolulu-based Kalama Land Co in a contract that runs through 2026. A study recommended they buy the property and convert or rebuild as office space on the Wailuku campus. The problem is that the building is mold and asbestos infested. The county is talking about buying the property for 1.5 million.

No one seems to be discussing the landlord’s responsibility to provide a safe environment. In fact, why is the landlord not being held to standards to make the place habitable? Who in their right mind would pay $75,000 yearly to lease an uninhabitable property? Until 2026? That’s $1,257,000.

I’m in the wrong business.

At the very least, someone should be using the condition of the property to bring down the asking price. Last year, the property appraised for $1.5 million. Property values are falling as dramatically in Hawaii as everywhere else.

They’re going to have to demolish the building, dispose of the mold and asbestos and start from scratch anyway.

A Mold Misstatement used in Court

A Critique of the ACOEM Statement on Mold:
Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest in the Creation of an
“Evidence-based” Statement
JAMES CRANER, MD, MPH, FACOEM, FACP

Int J Occup Environ Health. 2008 Oct-Dec;14(4):283-98.
That’s a .pdf worth reading.

I’ll give you the conclusion first:

The ACOEM Mold Statement jeopardizes the “health and safety of workers, workplaces, and environments that ACOEM purports to champion.”

If you’re not familiar with the ACOEM Mold Statement, it is a document that is used in court to disprove the damaging effects of mold on health.
The doctor and author, James Craner is an expert on the adverse health effects of indoor mold exposure in water-damaged buildings, and has
been a co-investigator in US government-funded research on indoor
environmental quality and building energy efficiency. This doctor explains clearly what is wrong with the ACOEM Mold Statement. Click on the header to read the full article.

The author makes several points:

  • “The purpose, balance, and focus on clinical and public health, epidemiology, exposure assessment and control,and disease prevention, as well as recommendations for taking a leadership role in controlling the
    environmental hazard, and calling for additional research that were addressed in all of these previous ACOEM position statements and guidelines were conspicuously absent from the ACOEM Mold Statement.” The very elements of earlier position statements that make those statements balanced and professional were not included in the mold statement
  • “ACOEM members with credible training, qualifications, and clinical,
    epidemiological and/or original research experience in indoor air quality (IAQ), sick building syndrome (SBS), and indoor fungal bioaerosols (mold) [were not solicited ] to serve as the authors.” The authors chosen to write the ACOEM Mold Statement were not experts in the field;
  • A claim is made of peer review by “over 100 physicians.” The article points out that there is evidence of fewer than 20 peers actually reviewed.
  • “Despite Dr. Borak’s call for a “meticulous” and “meaningful” peer review, only two of the reviewers had previously published on mold-related topics. Medline literature search reveals that none of the other reviewers had previously published any peer-reviewed articles.” Those chosen were clearly lacking authority in the topic area.

The article goes on to points drawn from critiques of the ACOEM Mold Statement and to make suggestions about how to fix what ails statement procedure so that the results accurately portray legitimate conclusions.

Spring Cleaning to Prevent Mold-related Heart Disease

There was a time when spring cleaning became an essential annual ritual because homes were heated with wood fires, and later, with coal or oil-burning stoves. This left a house covered in soot and grime, plus, of course, the stale air from having windows and doors closed against the cold. (Not that those older dwellings were impermeable. )

Now our sources of heat are much cleaner, though air can become stagnant since buildings now are much more impervious to fresh air intrusion. Sick building syndrome is a part of life–because today’s careful construction traps toxins and VOC inside. But if someone wants to guard against the mucus-membrane irritation, neurotoxic effects, respiratory symptoms, skin symptoms, gastrointestinal complaints, and chemosensory changes that are the result of sick building syndrome, then we are stuck with spring cleaning–whether or not we do it actually DURING Spring.

This also means checking for leaks, to prevent mold intrusion.

Undoubtably, mold is harmful–in fact toxigenic molds like Stachybotrys chartarum have been linked with cancer in a Swedish study of school systems a cancer cluster based in Swedish schools that had a serious concentration of viable airborne mold fungi. (This study links mold with pulmonary issues, concluding that “acute transient pulmonary function deterioration suggests the existence of deleterious effects in a moist environment with growth of microorganisms or other unmeasured exposures quantitatively related to the microorganisms.” Translated into plain English, this means mold can hurt your heart function. And of course,
molds like Aspergillus fumigatus are a known human pathogen.

So…before the floods, and especially after the floods, even though we live long past the age of “spring cleaning,” do it anyway. Your health will thank you.

Mold’s Playground

Wet basements and crawlspaces are mold’s playground. If you’re experiencing allergy symptoms, you should probably investigate your basement and crawlspaces–or have it done for you–to see if hidden moisture has provided a breeding ground for mold. Mycotoxin exposure is not good for your health.

Standing water and moisture must be eradicated if you want to live in a healthy environment. Consider a variety of solutions if you find water–remediation should include removal of all water-damaged building materials, repair and prevention of leakage, a vapor barrier that prevents condensation and construction of top of the line materials that exceed state and local standards.

Mold Remediation Comes to Yuma County Public Health Dept

Isn’t it ironic that the government hasn’t set mold standards but the local health department is all too frequently in the news getting a mold-makeover?

That’s what is happening with the Yuma County Public Health Department Building. Apparently the mold stems from a design problem which originated during construction.

The county is seeking the contractor job order contract with the lowest bid–a departure from the usual bidding process.

For more information

http://www.co.yuma.az.us/community.html

http://www.co.yuma.az.us/RFP/index.htm

/ / George Hatcher, news

Old and Fearing Mold

Manitoba Housing has a senior facility where residents live in fear of mold, thanks to a March 23 intrusion of water. Seniors are refusing to be put off by claims the water is clean–maybe the seniors know that mold likes clean water too. Mold isn’t picky. So, the residents are afraid mold is going to take over; in the meantime, housing is apparently denying mentioning a warning that “flooded tenants they should move in with relatives.”

One can hardly believe, however, that Housing encouraged tenants to remain in flooded residences.

Anyway the source of the water is supposedly runoff from nearby construction. I wonder if according to canadian law that means that the construction company or the owner of the new construction is responsible for repairs and damages.

/ / George Hatcher, news

September National Indoor Toxic Mold Awareness Month

According to the Carson City Legislature, September has been designated National Indoor Toxic Mold Awareness Month. THis is one of 23 resolutions that have been passed. Very ironic isn’t it? when science and so many of the courts refuse to take mold seriously.

Mold Dies In LA Court

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the $1.1 million MOLD civil suit of Heather Jenkins and Melissa Dawn McKee, former tenants of Unit 1103 of the Greenbrier Estates apartments in Slidell Louisiana. Chester J. Doll, Johnny Belenchia and Ernest D. Lykissa failed to meet the standard for expert testimony. The court denied causation between mold exposure and “injurious consequences to human health.”

/ / news

Texas Hurricanes Cost In Insurance Payout

Hurricane season damage totaled over $29 billion. Three hurricanes in 2008 cost the Texas insurance industry nearly $1.4 billion. For every dollar the state’s insurance industry took in in 2008, it paid out $1.65. In fact, the state has put up a page explaining how to file mold claims.

One of its first “rules” is to “make sure you understand what losses are covered under your policy. If you’re not sure, ask your agent or an insurance company representative for an explanation.”

/ / George Hatcher

Mold Beware

Have you heard about the state supreme court jury deliberating over a woman who claims toxic mold exposure caused her infant daughter’s hospitalization nine years ago? The question was whether the mom or the mold had abused the baby. She was convicted of a misdemeanor count of child endangering. (The baby’s clothing had been washed in a mold-infested basement.) One reason she didn’t win the case because there are a lot of instances where mold is not taken seriously.

WE take mold seriously.

On another note…

I want to be a firefighter.

Firefighters can get a a state-of-the-art decontamination system that disinfects all surfaces wherever free air flows. The system breaks down their disinfectants into smaller than one micron particulates and gets everywhere and pretty much kills everything. Pretty handy. It’s supposed to even get mold.

Maybe we could go back in time and get one of those miracle machines to clean up that convicted mom’s moldy basement.

/ / George Hatcher

Letter to the Editor:

LETTER:
In the past 7 years, Our company has probably collected more mold samplesfor laboratory analysis than any other company in the U.S. Our reports are based on the assessment and laboratory results report. WE ARE IN THE MOLD ASSESSMENT & TESTING BUSINESS and I have always felt that if we did mold remediation it would be a cross-over to an absolute conflict of interest.

We are even careful about recommending remediation companies because we feel that even that is borderline. To get around that we send client a list of companies that includes companies we’ve had experience with and some that are straight out of the Yellow Pages and we do this without distinguishing which is which.

I have always been critical of Termite Inspectors because you are at the mercy of the inspector who will get a job if he finds an issue. No pun intended to the industry. What I’m saying is that these inspectors are licensed but not restricted to do both. I see that the bill being introduced will preclude the cross over, that’s good.

Finally, I feel the same way about laboratories across the country that do the laboratory analysis and also the mold assessments and collecting of mold samples.

George Hatcher
President
Bye Bye Mold, Inc.

www.byebyemold.com

Original article: Madison sees need to license mold pros BY BILL BOWDEN Posted on Saturday, March 14, 200

State Sen. Sue Madison, DFayetteville, filed a bill in the Arkansas Senate on March 5 that would require mold investigators to be licensed by the state and won’t allow mold investigators also to perform mold remediation.

/ / ByeBye Mold.com

Smaller Award means More Recipients: The Long View

News that a Loudoun County judge has reduced a mold award from $4.75 million to $1.4 may not be a bad thing in this economy. The decision was based on the lack of permanent injury to Paul and Wendy Meng after leaky basement windows caused mold to grow inside their $900,000 house.

There is no medical proof that mold cause health effects, a possible exception in Aspergillus type cases. Without the medical evidence, $1.4 million is never going to be enough for a family that first heard $4.75, however, it’s a whole lot more than what other juries and/or judges are handing out in mold cases. Experienced attorneys are very cautious about taking on a mold case because they realize they have no medical science to help them regarding personal injury. Most write-ups that I have read are cases that settle out of court, the very prudent attorney would take on a mold case on a contingency fee, unless there was clear evidence of property damage. Property Damage awards are not uncommon in big numbers.

Maybe a few more home owners will send in their trusty mold inspectors like Bye Bye Mold™ to see what exactly they’re dealing with–

It’s not over though–the decision will stand at least untill the appeal.

/ / George Hatcher

Mold and Sick Building Syndrome

Is your home suffering from Sick Building Syndrome?

Are YOU suffering from Sick Building Syndrome?

  • Poor air quality that has been caused by the presence of toxic mold and other contaminants
  • Physical symptoms rarely fit a pattern of any particular illness
  • Airborne mycotoxins infuse the environment, including the air you breathe, hence causing allergic reactions which may be taken to be a flu or virus
  • Symptoms can include headache, chronic fatigue, persistent flu and allergy symptoms, nose and throat irritation, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, nausea, and shortness of breath.
  • The very young, the very old, the immune compromised, and individuals suffering from asthma are frighteningly vulnerable to the effects of chronic mold exposure.
  • Infants subjected to the sick building environment may experience pulmonary hemorrhage.
  • Mold may grow in moist, dark, high humidity areas, but in times of no moisture, the spores are designed to wait out dry spells. These spores–whether dead, alive, or in suspended animation– are the source of allergic reactions.



Musty odor? For a professional mold assessment, call Bye Bye Mold™ at 1 (800) 686-1991; http://byebyemold.com



/ / ByeBye Mold.com

Mold: Deal Maker or Deal Breaker?

Ever opened the door to a house that’s been unoccupied for a while? It’s got that characteristic musty smell. That’s because being closed up and stagnant is a perfect breeding ground for mold, bacteria, mycotoxins and endotoxins. That’s what you get in foreclosed homes too. Because when the people move out, these other nasty little occupants move in. In fact, if there’s a bit of a leak somewhere, or humidity (especially in locations like Florida or Louisiana), mold can take over in a very short time.

That’s bad news, with all the foreclosures out there, which are already selling for less than they’re worth. Once they’re infested with mold, these moldy foreclosed homes can sell for a fraction of their alleged value. And it might cost a fortune to get rid of established mold, bacteria, mycotoxins and endotoxins.

So if you’re one of those brave souls buying foreclosed homes, make sure you bring your mold inspector along when doing that house inspection. If your inspector does find mold, you might as well see if you can get the remediation warranted into your contract. (A bank probably won’t do that; they tend to be pretty immobile where contracts are concerned–but a seller just might take care of the remediation–or drop the house price accordingly.) In any case, if you’re buying a mold infested house, you need to be doing it with your eyes and wallet wide open, knowing exactly what you’re going to be dealing with. Fixing it is likely to get really expensive. That bargain may not be such a bargain after all.

/ / ByeBye Mold.com

Facing the Toxic Mold Challenge

According to a study by the Department of Microbiology of Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute at Sri Ramachandra University, there is an urgent need to “undertake study of indoor air, to generate baseline data and explore the link to nosocomial infections.”

The study postulates a relationship between mold and sick building syndrome (SBS) and building related illnesses, citing “fungal contamination within wall, ceiling, and floor cavities by movement of cells, spores, and cell fragments via wall openings and gaps at structural joints” as well the building providing a perfect mold breeding ground with: “lack of fresh…poor ventilation, poorly regulated temperature…relative humidity levels contributing to the presence and multiplication of bio-aerosols.

So, like we’ve said a hundred times before, eliminate the water leaks and humidity. Control the environment, and you control the mold.

Srikanth P, Sudharsanam S, Steinberg R. Bio-aerosols in indoor environment: Composition, health effects and analysis. Indian J Med Microbiol [serial online] 2008 [cited 2009 Mar 9];26:302-12. Available from: http://www.ijmm.org/text.asp?2008/26/4/302/43555

/ / pubmed, resources

If you suspect mold…

Look, if you think there’s mold in the school your child attends, mold at the nursing home your elderly relatives inhabit, mold in the public rec room basement, whatever, you should have that mold inspected by a certified inspector. Institutions, public or commercial, that cater to the public, should adhere to public standards, which–although there are not official published standards for mold–exist nevertheless.

/ / George Hatcher

Best Mold Q.A. Anywhere

The best place on the internet to ask your mold question and answers is at http://byebyemold.com

Of course, before you jump in and ask a question, check out the questions that have already been asked.

/ / George Hatcher

The Latest in Mold Detectors

Mold testing and lab reports are all very fine, but one of the latest mold detecting technology has been around for a very long time.

Dogs.

Dogs can detect mold by scent better than we can; they have more than 200 million scent receptors (as compared to our 5 million) and the wetness of a dog’s nose helps the scent dissolve and disperse. Twelve percent of a dog’s brain is dedicated to scent (though this does vary according to breed) as apposed to one percent in humans.

See a mold dog in action.

Senator Tours Moldy Courthouse

Thanks to a US senator, the General Services Administration is going to be looking into conditions at the Sam M. Gibbons Federal Courthouse. Maintenance work has been scheduled but the progress appears to have halted.

Dodging moldy buckets set out to collect rainwater, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson toured the mold and mildew infested Federal Courthouse built by Clark Construction Group Contractors. Built at a cost of 64.5 million, the building has been plagued with a leaking roof and plumbing issues ever since.

The courthouse is a hot spot for respiratory illness, and adult onset asthma– in other words, suffering from “sick building syndrome”. Seventeen stories worth of mold-affected employees and visitors are looking to hold someone accountable for illness which leaves them barely able to function.

Addressing environmental Health Implications

Addressing environmental health Implications of mold exposure after major flooding.

Does all of this seem painfully obvious to anyone who lives in the real world? I suppose it is a good thing that at least some scientific expertise is being pointed toward the problems presented in mold exposure. Read on to find out what some scientific minds have figured out. Or admitted. Let’s hope this is a legally defensible position.

“Extensive water damage resulting from major flooding is often associated with mold growth if materials are not quickly and thoroughly dried. Exposure to fungal contamination can lead to several infectious and noninfectious health effects impacting the respiratory system, skin, and eyes. Adverse health effects can be categorized as infections, allergic or hypersensitivity reactions, or toxic-irritant reactions. Workers and building occupants can minimize their exposure to mold by avoiding areas with excessive mold growth, using personal protective equipment, and implementing environmental controls. Occupational health professionals should encourage workers to seek health care if they experience any symptoms that may be linked to mold exposure.”

pubmed abstract
Department of Environmental Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA.
AAOHN J. 2008 Mar;56(3):115-20; quiz 121-2.

Got Mold Event in the Moldy Pacific Northwest

Wednesday at the World Trade Center in Portland, speakers focused on preventing and removing mold, properly identifying samples and reducing legal liability. Builders and remediators struggle with the mold issue, because with mold, you can take out 99.999 percent of the particles, and the .001 percent that does survive will bring a reoccurrence. Because mold is alive.

The seminar focused largely on preplanning, moisture control and maintenance.

/ / George Hatcher

Curse of the Sulfuric Drywall

Where is YOUR drywall from? It’s not mold, but…

Apparently there’s a Chinese-manufactured drywall which corrodes air conditioner coils. Or more specifically drywall offgassing that is so caustic it corrodes air conditioner coils. (Kind of like my assistant’s ex. But that’s another post.) This particular chinese export appears to be concentrated in Florida (though it’s hard to say if it is the product itself, or the product in Florida’s unique salty/humid conditions. The drywall apparently gives off a nasty sulfuric smell which the Health Dept says is harmless (though we all know how that goes, don’t we? Only time will tell when a state agency says ” no immediate health threat.”)

Sounds like it’s time to call out the troops and do some air quality testing.

/ / George Hatcher

Books Evacuated for Mold

In Texas, they’re serious about their books. When mold was found in the Godeke Library (Lubbock Texas), they shut down the library and they’re porting out the 80,000 books and things (with the assistance of the inmates of Lubbock County Jail) so that the extent of the mold can be determined–after 18 years of leaks. So far, no one has gotten sick–not patrons, not employees, and not Lubbock County Inmates. What they’re going to do about it is an open question, until the extent of the problem can be determined. In the meantime, readers won’t need to go into book withdrawal–there are 3 more local libraries in the system.

/ / George Hatcher

Did Hospital Mold Help Kill These Kids?

Almost the only thing that the medical profession will concede about mold is that weakened immune systems are more susceptible to infection. The buck almost stops there–because medical science in general is reluctant to discuss mold in terms with health. However, when the person in question is a child–especially a child with cancer–even mold is considered fair game.

How is this relevant to an anti-mold crusader like me? Well, in Tampa’s St. Joseph’s Hospital, mold was released during renovation of the ground floor of the children’s oncology center. And that free-roaming mold circumvented construction and ventilation system barriers to contaminate the environment of three children. Yes, their immune systems were already compromised with cancer and chemotherapy. And these three children spent a lot of time in rooms right above the demolition area: in rooms unguarded from contaminated dust and airborne particles generated by the demolition and removal of plaster walls and ceiling tiles one floor down.

Legally, the question remains–did the hospltal follow established protocol during construction? How do we ever know if proper screening of those areas would have prevented the fungal/mold infections?

/ / George Hatcher, health

Indoor allergens, environmental avoidance, and allergic respiratory disease.

Indoor allergen exposure to sources such as house-dust mites, pets, fungi, and insects plays a significant role in patients with allergic rhinitis and asthma. The identification of the major allergens has led to methods that can quantitate exposure, e.g., immunoassays for Der p 1 in settled dust samples. Sensitization and the development of allergic respiratory disease result from complex genetic and environmental interactions. New paradigms that examine the role of other environmental factors, including exposure to proteases that can activate eosinophils and initiate Th2 responses, and epigenetics, are being explored. Recommendations for specific environmental allergen avoidance measures are discussed for house-dust mites, cockroaches, animal dander, and fungi. Specific measures to reduce indoor allergen exposure when vigorously applied may reduce the risk of sensitization and symptoms of allergic respiratory disease, although further research will be necessary to establish cost-effective approaches.

Allergy Asthma Proc. 2008 Nov-Dec;29(6):575-9.

By RK Bush

/ / pubmed

Georgia Plant Mold At the Root of Nationwide Panic

Peanuts are particularly prone to grow certain molds. Inspection of the Peanut Corp. of America plant revealed conditions such as “tote containers with butter residue and “black buildup” and “mildew and possibly some static dust on ceiling of butter storage room,” a leaky roof and other sources of contamination.

Click to view PDF of Plant Inspection pages

As a result of this inspection, hundreds of peanut products linked to this factory have been recalled. There may have been some whistleblowing from the whistles of employees who were recently laid off. In fact . All but three of the 46 employees at the Blakely Peanut Corporation of America plant have been laid off

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