|
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Certified
Mould Inspector &
Remediator
in
Canada,
visit
Canada Mould Inspectors. To be trained & certified as a mould inspection, testing,
remediation, and prevention expert, visit:
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effective and safe mould products, please visit the
Mold Products Store.
40 Story 911 Ground Zero Skyscraper
In Big Trouble Because of Mould Infestation
Ed McMahon Sues Over Toxic Mould In L.A. Home
Mould In Houses Causes New Headaches
Mould and Health In
The L.A. Times
Tribe Seeking Mould Solution
Stachybotrys In The
Wall Street Journal
Mould Infestation Threatens Homes
Foul Air, Mould Threaten Metro Students
Waldport Family Fighting mould In Their House
40
Story 911 Ground Zero Skyscraper
In Big Trouble Because of Mould Infestation
[from
Cleaning and Maintenance Management Online, cmmonline.com]
NEW
YORK — A 40-story skyscraper at the edge of Ground Zero withstood the
terrorist attacks — but could be demolished because of a gross
infestation of foul mould.
The steel and glass face of the Deutsche Bank tower on Liberty Street was
ripped open by a violent wave of debris from the collapsing World Trade
Center.
While the rubble damaged a major structural column in the building,
engineers have deemed the tower stable.
The real problem is what's inside the walls. Officials at Ground
Zero say an aggressive fungus — described as looking like black
splotches — has spread rapidly in the walls and ventilation ducts of the
building, which was valued at $178 million before September 11, the Daily
News reported.
Cleanup crews and bank employees who have been in the tower said the mould
is everywhere. Deutsche Bank has not released details about the mould. But
city officials said they believe the fungus grew rapidly because of dark
and damp conditions in the abandoned building. They said it does not
appear related to any toxic contaminants from the collapsing towers.
Sprinklers inside the bank building apparently were triggered by intensely
hot fires at Ground Zero and soaked many of the floors, the newspaper
reported. The water eventually stopped, but weeks went by before workers
were able to seal a 24-story gash in the building's facade.
"They got a big problem," said Terry Gordon, an associate
professor at the New York University School of Medicine who researches
workplace air quality. Gordon said removing the mould from the tower would
be a monumental task.
The bank is concerned enough about the mould and asbestos contamination in
nearby buildings that it has allowed few employees to retrieve items from
the offices, sources said. Those who have gone into the tower say they
have had to undergo safety training and don a protective suit and
respirator.
Deutsche Bank officials have been tight-lipped about the tower's fate. But
the bank has quietly discussed razing or partially demolishing the
building if the mould can't be scrubbed away, sources said. Spokesman Mark Lingnau said no decision has been made. The city is not pressuring the
bank to make a move.
Up
Ed McMahon sues over
toxic mould
in L.A. home
April 10, 2002 Posted: 5:12 PM EDT (2112 GMT)
on www.cnn.com
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- As Johnny Carson's
sidekick, entertainer Ed McMahon was famed for his infectious laugh. But
as a homeowner, he says he is involved in a drama that has left him
seething.
McMahon, 79, is suing his
home insurance company for $20 million, claiming it botched a simple
repair on a broken pipe and, as a result, allowed a toxic mould to spread
through his house, making his family sick and killing his dog.
In a lawsuit filed Monday
in Los Angeles Superior Court, McMahon, who for years served as Carson's
sidekick on NBC's "Tonight Show," said he, his wife Pamela, and
household staff members have been battling illnesses as a result of
exposure to a mould known as stachybotrus chartarum. He also said the
family dog, Muffin, died as a result of a mould-induced infection.
It names Scottsdale,
Arizona-based American Equity Insurance Co., a unit of Citigroup Inc., as
a plaintiff as well as several Southern California contractors who had
been hired to clean up the mould. A spokeswoman for American Equity
declined to comment Wednesday.
According to the suit, a
pipe burst last July in McMahon's estate in the posh Coldwater Canyon
section of Los Angeles, causing his den to be flooded. McMahon made a
claim under his policy with American Equity, which arranged to clean up
the damage caused by the flooding.
The lawsuit charges that
the contractors painted over visible mould and failed to provide the McMahons with environmental reports related to the levels of mould
infestation despite repeated requests for documentation.
Copyright
2002-2005 Reuters.
Up
Mould in houses
causes new headaches
Changes in
homeowners insurance will ensure one thing -- confusion.
By
Shonda Novak,
Austin
American-Statesman
Staff,
January
26, 2002
For consumers, the chore of shopping for homeowners insurance is going to
get more complicated.
Because
of changes in the most common Texas homeowners policy, prompted by soaring
claims for mould damage, consumers likely will have to shop around more for
the best price and coverage. And they're likely to pay more for less
coverage. Although insurance industry officials say the changes will
foster competition and increase options for homeowners, consumer advocates
disagree.
"Anyone
who wants to be a good consumer and shop around, it's going to be almost
impossible to compare apples and apples," said Dan Lambe, executive
director of Texas Watch, a consumer research and advocacy group.
"Everybody's going to have a different policy, a little different
rate."
Allstate
spokesman Justin Schmitt agreed that consumers are going to have to become
savvier. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing because they'll have
options. Agents can help them make choices."
One
of the first challenges is understanding the different types of policies
offered and how they have changed.
Some
insurance companies are discontinuing the most popular policy, the HO-B.
Until now, 96 percent of Texas homeowners have bought a comprehensive HO-B
policy, which covers most kinds of calamities, from lightning and hail to
theft and explosions. It also covered water and mould-related damage,
including expensive testing and decontamination procedures.
But
as the number and cost of mould damage claims soared last year, some
insurers began to restrict or end sales of new HO-B policies and raise
premiums steeply on renewals.
Some
offered only the cheaper and less comprehensive HO-A policy, which covers
water and mould damage only when caused by wind or hail.
The
companies said soaring costs gave them no alternative. Farmers Insurance
Exchange, the state's second-largest home insurer, said it expected to
lose $300 million last year on claims for water and mould damage claims.
Insurers
also complained that Texas required them to offer more extensive
water-damage coverage than any other state. The state mandates the types
of coverage, but amounts are up to homeowners.
In
November, Insurance Commissioner José Montemayor, seeking to avoid a
crisis in insurance affordability and availability, approved changes in
coverage mandates and opened the door to companies offering variations on
standard policies.
Now,
HO-B policies cover only the immediate damage caused by a sudden or
accidental water leak or discharge.
Plus,
homeowners must report such leaks to their insurance company within 30
days after they discover them, or should have discovered them. Homeowners
who are not vigilant about maintenance may have their claims denied.
Under
the new rules, homeowners can buy additional mould damage coverage in
varying amounts, up to the coverage limit of their policies.
Separately,
some insurance companies are introducing, with Insurance Department
approval, beefed-up versions of their bare-bones HO-A policies at
additional cost.
Farmers'
enhanced HO-A policy, for example, includes limited coverage for water
damage not covered under its basic HO-A policy.
Allstate
Corp. will offer an expanded HO-A Plus policy that caps coverage for mould
removal at $5,000 to new customers, effective Monday. Starting in March,
Allstate will offer the Plus policy to homeowners who renew. It will no
longer offer its HO-B policy.
Prices
vary by customer, but Allstate anticipates its expanded HO-A policy will
cost an average of 20 percent less than its existing HO-B policy and about
16 percent more than its basic HO-A. State Farm Insurance Co., the largest
insurer, plans to seek approval for three policy variations next month.
The
growing number of options complicates the task of shopping for insurance.
For
starters, Montemayor cautions people not to cancel their current policies
until they have another one in hand. They also should be aware that
insurance companies may cancel newly issued policies in the first 90 days
for virtually any reason, except illegal discrimination. If a consumer
cancels a policy to buy another one, the previous insurer must refund the
unused portion of the premium.
"A
homeowner doesn't want any gap in coverage, and with insurers looking
carefully at a homeowner's past claims, some companies are reluctant to
add new policyholders who have had any water problems," Montemayor
said.
Even
with the new limits in HO-B policies, "B is still what you should be
looking for if you can afford it," said Rod Bordelon of the state
Office of Public Insurance Counsel. The public counsel, an arm of the
Insurance Department, represents consumers interests.
Beyond
that, consumers will have to read the fine print to discern the
differences in policies.
"With
the old system, you knew what you were getting," said Lambe of Texas
Watch. "Now, with the endorsements, the opt-outs, the opt-ins, you
can't just go on price anymore," he said. "And unfortunately,
the lowest-priced coverage, more often than not, is going to be the
coverage that has the most holes in it, leaving homeowners more
vulnerable."
Sitting
down with your agent periodically is a good idea anyway -- especially now,
said Rick Gentry, executive director of the Insurance Council of Texas, a
trade group.
He
said information is available to help homeowners sort out the changes
through their agents, the Insurance Department and other sources.
"Consumers
are smart," Gentry said. "They know how to shop and evaluate.
Why do you think they drive across town and go to Sam's Club? Because they
know they can get a bargain."
Up
TEXAS Insurance
Help
*
www.tdi.state.tx.us
is the Texas Department of Insurance home page. Links
related to homeowners insurance include:
* www.tdi.state.tx.us//consumer/consum31.html
* www.tdi.state.tx.us/apps/perlroot/u--cp--homerate/rghome.html
* For general insurance questions, consumers may call the department's
consumer line at
463-6515
in Austin or
(800) 252-3439.
* Help also is available from the Office of Public Insurance Counsel,
322-4138.
* To file an insurance-related complaint visit online:
www.tdi.state.tx.us/consumer/complfrm.html,
or email
ConsumerProtection@tdi.state.tx.us
Fax:
475-1771or
mail to Texas
Department of Insurance Consumer Protection (111-1A) P.O. Box 149091
Austin, TX 78714-9091.
Mould
& Health in the Los Angeles Times
On
Dec. 16, 2001, the following excerpt was published as part of Los Angeles
Times reporter Diane Wedner's article "mould."
"By the time
Geneva Nunnally discovered the bulge in her bathroom wall in June, she had
been experiencing headaches, frequent nose bleeds and a sore throat off
and on for about a year. It didn't occur to the interior designer that the
doughy bathroom wall and her persistent flu-like symptoms were connected
until inspectors discovered a thick layer of black mould growing between
the exterior wall and the plaster of the bathroom wall.
"When we
removed the wallpaper, the stench was so bad they had to wear masks," Nunnally said. "The environmental consulting company said it was the
worst case of black mould they'd ever collected."
"After the
moulds were identified as aspergillus, penicillium and stachybotrys
chartarum--the so-called toxic moulds that have made headlines--Nunnally
vacated her custom home in Westlake Village and took up residence with a
friend in Malibu."
Up
PINE RIDGE (AP) -
The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council is trying to figure out how to deal with a
growing infestation of mould across the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Tribal leaders drafted a resolution this week calling it an emergency
situation. They are asking the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention for help. The tribe first wants to
determine what kind of mould it's dealing with to see whether it's toxic,
according to Oglala Sioux Housing Director Richard Shangreaux. Shangreaux
said he is most concerned about Stachybotrys, a toxic mould that can be
deadly. Officials are waiting for results of tests being done on samples
that were sent to a lab.
Up
Stachybotrys in The Wall Street Journal
On May 15, 2001, The
Wall Street Journal on its page one helped alert people and
businesses to the growing problem of deadly Stachybotrys (or Stachybotris)
mould contamination.
"Stachybotris
chartarum, or stachy as it called for short, is invading a good many
buildings and homes. The mould isn’t new, nor is the problem; but the
recent outbreaks have people scared, and some of them have gone to
extremes to deal with it. The fuzzy intruder lurks behind wallpaper and
under sinks and feeds off moisture and building materials.
"Air-quality
experts and doctors link it to illnesses ranging from dry coughs and runny
noses to oozing rashes and constant fatigue. Allergy medicine helps, but
for long-term relief of symptoms, you have to get rid of the mould. And
despite all the mould and mildew removers for sale in supermarkets, that is
easier said than done." ["Don’t Call Stachybotris the Black
Plague, but It is Plaguing the South."]
Up
Mould
Infestation Threatens Homes
from http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010819/12/exp-black-mould
Updated: Sun, Aug 19, 2001, By BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press Writer
BELCOURT, N.D. (AP)
- Lowella Allard no longer goes into her basement, where mould grips the
walls and the damp, thick air is hard to breathe. Mould, she says, festers
inside the insulation and is the reason behind her dry cough and frequent
headaches. "I go through Tylenol like crazy and I just don't get any
better," Allard said during a tour of her home by officials from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Indian Health Service and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs. Some 320 federally subsidized homes on the
Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation are infested with mould. Residents say
the infestation is sickening, and tribal officials say at least seven
deaths in recent years could be related to the infestation, which is so
pervasive they estimate 210 homes will have to be destroyed. Roughly 4,000
houses occupy the 72,000-acre reservation in north-central North Dakota.
About 8,300 people call it home. Most of the infested homes are small -
about 600 square feet with two bedrooms. They are built of wood-frame
construction, have dirt floors and sit on a concrete block foundation over
crawl spaces. Tribal officials are especially worried about the black
mould, which can cause flulike and allergy like symptoms that can include
skin rashes, inflammation of the respiratory tract, bloody noses, fever,
headaches, neurological problems and suppression of the immune system.
Charlissa Decoteau, whose mould-infested home was one of the five that
officials visited in July, said she believes the mould contributed to the
death of her 15-month-old daughter in 1998. Kyra Rose died shortly after
running a 105-degree fever. "That much mould has got to do something
to a baby," she said. "There's mould everywhere." The tribe
believes two dams - Belcourt Dam near the city and Gordon Lake Dam, just
off the reservation - may be contributing to excessive moisture, which
could be exacerbating the mould. Additionally, a wet cycle in recent years
has enabled the mould to thrive in homes. Crawl spaces under some homes are
flooded with 2 feet to 3 feet of standing water. After a brief visit to
the stuffy basement as Allard waited in her kitchen, Sen. Kent Conrad of
North Dakota said he could understand why she stays upstairs. "This
is bad. No wonder the woman is sick," he said as his eyes swept over
a mould-covered wall. Later in the tour, he said he, too, felt unwell even
though his visits indoors were brief. "I've never had that feeling in
my life," he said as he described being overwhelmed by musty air that
made him gag. "There are certainly a number of unexplained deaths,
especially of children," Conrad said, "and we know that they had
respiratory problems and we know that respiratory problems are caused by
this type of black mould." Tribal chairman Richard Monette said seven
or eight deaths in recent years are believed to be related to black mould.
"We have no idea the scope of this health problem," he said.
"The one thing that's clear to me is that it's going to be beyond
what everybody is going to want to guess." In response, tribal
officials have sought federal help. Congress approved $5 million in July
to address the problem, and Conrad, who describes the infestation as an
emergency situation, said he is seeking another $4 million. "Uncle
Sam can't be a slum lord," Conrad said. "The federal
government's got a legal liability here." But even the additional
money, Conrad conceded, likely won't be sufficient to fully address the
problem. He estimated about $20 million would be needed. "This is not
a circumstance where you've got a little mould in a corner," Conrad
said. "This is a situation where you have mould that's throughout the
structure ... in the insulation, in the ceilings. I've never seen anything
quite like it." Two recent reports commissioned by the tribe have
found large amounts of sickening mould in homes, and the authors recommend
moving residents out as soon as possible. "Let's just say it's as bad
a mould situation as I've ever run across, and I've been doing this for
almost 15 years," said Ronald Pearson, the principal toxicologist and
industrial hygienist for Environmental Health and Safety Inc., a private
consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention is in the preliminary stages of testing homes for black mould,
spokeswoman Bernadette Burdon said. A preliminary CDC report found that
three out of every four homes sampled had mould, said Becky Phelps,
director of the Turtle Mountain Housing Authority. The tribe already has
moved about 25 families from severely infested homes to less moldy ones.
But some reservation residents have held protests, saying a response to
their plight is not happening fast enough. "We've been moving people
out based on medical emergencies as we get other units vacated for them to
move into, but we're bottoming out in that area," Phelps said. The
Army Corps of Engineers has also signed on to help build about 40 new
homes, said Tim Grundhoffer, a civil engineer with the corps. Construction
is due to begin in Sept.
Up
Foul air,
mould threaten Metro students
Problem hits schools built air-tight during '70s energy crisis
Published Oct. 18, 2000
Environmental Consultants
Last summer, Saline Middle School spent $500,000 to remove
mould from ceiling tiles.
|
What
parents can do
Advice varies depending on the type of mould found and the size of
the growth, but experts commonly advise: * Make a visual
inspection of areas where mould is likely to grow, including
basements, crawl spaces, carpets, ceiling tiles, insulation, and
heating and air conditioning units.
* If you suspect your house is contaminated, it
is best to have samples tested by trained professionals. Check
with your local health department, the Yellow Pages or www.envirocenter.com
for companies in your area.
* Serious mould removal problems may also best be
handled by professionals, but if you handle it yourself, you
should wear a respirator, goggles, rubber gloves and waterproof
boots. Open all windows in the home.
* Fix any leaks that caused the mould to grow.
Remove carpets, furniture and any items with absorbent material.
These items may have to be discarded if they are not dried
thoroughly within 24 hours.
* Stained or moldy ceiling tiles, carpet, wall
board and insulation should be replaced altogether. Watertight
surfaces such as kitchen floors should be cleaned with one cup of
laundry bleach mixed with one gallon of water.
* For information: call the Association of
Occupational and Environmental Clinics at (202) 347-4976, visit www.envirocenter.com
or e-mail questions to johanni2e@crisny.org.
Source: Dr. Eckardt Johanning and the Eastern
New York Occupational and Environmental Health Center
Symptoms
* Be alert for health complaints that could
signal a problem with indoor air quality, such as increased
absenteeism, allergic reactions, respiratory problems like asthma,
nosebleeds, eye irritation, rashes, headaches, lethargy, and
complaints about musty odors, especially if the symptoms fade
after the person leaves the school building or home.
* Some pollutants can cause serious health
problems. Long-term exposure to radon gas can cause lung cancer.
Young children or people with weakened immune systems can suffer
serious -- potentially fatal -- reactions to the mycotoxins in
some species of mould, with health problems ranging from brain
damage to bleeding lungs and blood-borne infections.
What schools can do
All schools, new or old, can experience indoor
air quality problems. The Environmental Protection Agency and the
American Lung Association are urging schools to take some simple
precautions to clear the air inside their buildings:
* Examine heating, air conditioning and
ventilation ducts to ensure they are clear of dust, mould and other
pollutants. Make sure that at least 20 percent of the air
circulating in the building is fresh air from outside.
* Look for telltale blacking stains on ceilings
and walls. Don't just remove one stained tile or paint over the
wall; look for the source of the moisture. Musty odors also signal
mould's presence.
* After floods or heavy rains, inspect the
property -- muold and mildew can begin sprouting anywhere from
three to 24 hours after a drenching. Once mould sprouts on porous
materials like ceiling tiles or wallboards, the only solution is
to remove the material -- bleach and cleaners can only clean the
surface, not the roots of the mould deep in the material.
* Inspect art rooms, labs and other potential
sources of toxins that could be released into the air. Consider
all potential irritants, from chalkboards to classroom pets. Even
having too many plants can raise humidity levels and trigger a
mould outbreak.
* Carpets are a rich growth medium for mould,
dust and allergens. Remove them, or inspect them frequently and
make sure you have the proper cleaning equipment, like vacuums
with special filters.
Mould varieties
Moulds are simple plants belonging to the fungus
family. Always present in the air, moulds need moisture and warmth
to grow, as well as a food source -- like the ceiling tiles near a
school steam pipe, or the walls in a flooded basement. As it
grows, moulds release vast quantities of spores, which can make
life miserable for people who are sensitive to them.
These are a few of the common moulds that can
infest school buildings. Although most moulds do not cause serious
illness, some can produce toxins that can infect the lungs,
bloodstream or brain, and most can trigger allergic reactions:
* Aspergillus flavus: a mould allergen and
potential cancer source that can cause serious, potentially fatal,
lung infections in people with weakened immune systems. Like the
other aspergillus strains, it is blue-green in color.
* Aspergillus fumigatus: a mould allergen
that can cause lung infections.
* Aspergillus versicolor: a very common
mould that forms on water-damaged building materials.
* Penicillium species: a common allergen,
blue-green in color, found on water-damaged building materials. It
can produce dangerous toxins.
* Fusarium species: moulds that can
flourish in water damage, may produce potent toxins.
|
By Jennifer Brooks
/ The Detroit News
HAMTRAMCK -- Linda Harrington was hospitalized 10 times before she
realized her school was poisoning her.
The ventilation system in the elderly Hamtramck
administration building hadn't worked in years, and for years she sat in a
pool of stale air, growing gradually more sensitive to everyday office
fumes and chemicals, until her body short-circuited.
"I developed multiple chemical sensitivities. I'm
on medications now, but without them I'm in trouble," said
Harrington, the school's director of bilingual education, Title I and
grant programs. She now works on the one side of the building that has
windows. "I'm OK if I stay at this side of the building, but if I
move around, I can't breathe. It's terrible."
The Hamtramck School District is just one of thousands
battling pollution inside the schoolhouse. In fact, the Environmental
Protection Agency, based on a random survey, estimates that half of the
nation's 88,000 schools may have problems with indoor air quality.
But that's just an estimate. No one knows how many
schools have problems because no one is responsible for monitoring school
air quality except the schools themselves. No state or federal laws
regulate indoor air quality in schools, so agencies like the EPA can only
suggest, not enforce, air standards inside buildings.
Schools are left with the job of trying to detect and
deal with a host of indoor contaminants that can range from radioactive
radon gas to potentially lethal strains of mould.
Last week, the University of Detroit Mercy relocated 106
students because of health concerns about the black mould that sprouted
near the steam pipes inside the walls of a North Quad dormitory.
Last summer, Saline Middle School in Washtenaw County
spent $500,000 to remove the same strain of mould from the ceiling tiles
above 10 classrooms after some staff complained that their allergies
flared up when they entered the building.
Last year, Grand Rapids closed four schools while
workers searched for the toxin that had sent seven teachers to the
hospital, complaining of nausea and dizziness. They found ventilation
shafts full of mould and other pollutants blowing directly into classrooms.
Poor ventilation, poor maintenance, even poorly stored
art supplies can release toxins. Poor ventilation makes it easier for
germs to spread, and pollutants in the air can trigger asthma, coughs,
headaches, rashes, allergic reactions and lethargy.
In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency now warns
schools that air quality can have as much of an effect on the learning
environment as the choice of textbooks or the nutrition content of school
lunches. The agency launched the Tools for Schools program, which leads
schools through steps they can take to clear the air.
Even innocent-looking classroom supplies can cause
problems.
"I told one teacher I know that I was allergic to
the fumes from the markers they use on the dry-erase board, and she said,
'That explains it! I have this one little girl in my class -- every time I
use the board, she puts her head down on the desk,' " Harrington
said.
EPA sounds alarm
Many schools' problems began during the energy crisis of
the '70s, when efforts to make schools more energy efficient reduced air
flow and aggravated air quality problems.
Ordinary homes and buildings have the same difficulties
with ventilation, mould or radon, but the EPA worries that school problems
are aggravated by crowded conditions (school occupancy levels are three to
four times higher than the average office building) and limited school
budgets.
The EPA sounded the alarm on the school air problem in
the 1990s, when the agency conducted a random survey in search of radon
contamination in schools. Of the 29 schools tested, most had inadequate
ventilation, and nearly one in five had at least one room with radon
levels higher than the EPA's recommended action level.
In Michigan, more than 40 public interest groups have
joined to form CHAMPPS, the Coalition for Healthy Air in Michigan's Public
and Private Schools. "(Indoor air quality) is becoming more and more
of a problem," CHAMPPS spokesman Mike London said. "We've been
working with a lot of schools with major problems."
mould found in tiles
Twice, Saline Middle School called the Michigan
Department of Occupational Safety and Health to test the air, responding
to staff complaints that their allergies flared up when they entered the
building. Twice, the school got a clean bill of health.
In June, maintenance workers found a greenish-black mould
growing in the ceiling tiles above 10 classrooms. The children were sent
home for summer vacation with notes to their parents while workers in
hazard suits cleaned it up.
There are no reports of children falling ill because of
the mould.
"There was never any question of what to do. Health
and safety came first," Saline Supt. Ellen Ewing said. "We kept
hearing from staffers who said, 'I don't want to go back to that
building."
The school caught the mould -- Stachybotrys chartarum --
before its spores went airborne. Those spores contain toxins that can
cause severe lung damage and neurological problems in very young children
and people with weakened immune systems.
Saline parent Cathy Synko said she had never heard any
complaints about the building's air until her daughter, now in seventh
grade, brought a note at the end of the last school year. "My
daughter did mention that there was a funny smell in some of the rooms.
There were good smelling rooms and bad smelling rooms."
The Okemos Public Schools in Ingham County also beat
back a Stachybotrys outbreak this summer. But even less toxic moulds can
cause severe health problems, including allergic reactions, asthma,
rashes, digestive problems and chronic fatigue.
"I think mould is where asbestos was 10 or 15 years
ago," said Tim Fagan of Coach's Carpet Care & Catastrophe
Cleaning, one of four firms that worked back-to-back 10-hour shifts all
summer long to clear the air in Saline. The company is now fielding
hundreds of calls from homeowners battling mould after the Wayne County
floods.
"Except asbestos is inert," Fagan added.
"Mould is alive, it rides the air currents. (Mould spores) can implant
themselves on the lungs and grow."
Poor maintenance is the main cause of poor air quality.
London said he has heard of instances where building maintenance workers
changed air filters for the first time ever after hearing about the clean
air drive. For schools with limited budgets and pressing needs,
housekeeping often seems like the least painful budget cut.
Hamtramck has hired an air quality company to inspect
its buildings, and it has already moved to replace the faulty heating
system that was choking the air in the high school. Officials say they are
working to improve other buildings.
It's cheaper to prevent air problems than to clean up
after a full-blown crisis. Most of the suggestions on the EPA checklist
are low-cost, some as simple as moving the book cases and furniture that
often block classroom ventilation ducts.
In Oakland County, the Rochester Community Schools
responded to a mould outbreak six years ago by drawing up a comprehensive
environmental policy of its own, which deals with everything from
meticulous housekeeping to periodic testing for everything from spores to
radon to carbon dioxide.
"About six or seven years ago, we were going
through some of our buildings," district spokeswoman Jennifer Woliung
said. "And we found some things that made us think -- this is not a
real good thing to have around our kids."
So far, more than 2,000 schools have requested the EPA's
Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Kit. The EPA relies on voluntary
reports from schools, and on evidence, including the fact that childhood
asthma has increased 60 percent in the 1980s.
The EPA's own estimate that half of the schools in the
nation are polluted comes from a 1995 General Accounting Office estimate,
which randomly surveyed schools across the nation and came back with that
estimate. Since no agency is responsible for monitoring or cleaning up
school air, no one is responsible for keeping exact tallies.
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WALDPORT, Ore., Posted 7:41 p.m. PDT May 24, 2000 -- Since
airing the Home
Sick Home series earlier this month, KOIN 6 News has received calls
from many families who are fighting potentially deadly mould in their
homes.
A
family of six is renting a home in Waldport, where they say that mould is
making them sick.
Jim Roberston and his son both suffered seizures recently. They
identified black mould growing on the windows and in the garage, and
connected the two.
KOIN reports that Roberston's landlord cleaned the mould from the house,
but it soon came back, growing through the new paint.
Lab
tests have uncovered seven types of mould in the home, including nearly 2
million colonies of stachybotrys.
The property manager agreed to inspect the home this week and make it
safe for Roberston and his family.
KOIN reports that mould grows in cold, damp climates like the Oregon
Coast and Willamette Valley.
If you have mould in your home, KOIN says that you need to first locate
the source of the moisture and stop it. Second, get rid of the mould --
even if that means replacing walls or ceilings. And last, cover the area
with paint or a sealant. The television station suggests leaving it to the
professionals.
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