Mold Removal Blog

Statistical Blip or Cancer-Causing Mold?

Michael Davis — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:25:13 +0000

Dr. Schwartz says that the unusually high number of cancer cases coming from employees at the Buffalo D-District precinct is probably a statistical fluke and unrelated to the mold found in the building or the three feet of standing water found in the basement. But the city is not taking any chances and evacuating the building.

Over the last ten years in the building’s 14 year history, at least ten Buffalo Police Officers and staff have been diagnosed with chest infections and various kinds of cancer.

This isn’t the first story about a high number of cancer cases linked to a location with mold. A publicized story in Stockholm reported that in 20 years, over 20 teachers in a school with stachybotrys have cancer. In a Wisconsin school, more than 27% of the employees over the last five years have been diagnosed with cancer.

The jury is still out on whether or not mold actually causes cancer. And, given the amount of litigation tied to such a principle, it will probably never be decided absolutely one way or the other. There are too many interested parties affecting the outcome of such a decision. Usually these things end up with just a reinstated claim that there is no proven link between mold and cancer.

Information regarding the situation is unclear and uncertain. Preliminary mold tests say that the mold found inside the station is no different than the mold found outside and is not considered ‘black mold.’ One article states that air quality tests showed poor air quality while a group doing environmental tests believes there it is not likely that there could be a dangerous level of VOCs. More testing is needed.

Also, while Buffalo Mayor Brown told reporters at a press conference that the precinct was closed immediately upon learning of a complaint filed by an employee, there are complaints on record about the district dating back to 1997 when the building was first constructed.

The problem gained attention when a police officer wrote a letter to the union stating that there was more than three feet of standing water in the basement and mold throughout the building. While the water was supposedly cleaned up less than a week after the complaint was sent, that much water can create a near irrecoverable mold problem in less than 24 hours. It is unknown how long the water was standing or what caused it.

Hopefully, this information will become clearer as more tests are done. But, after reading enough stories like this, it feels as though there are forces at work ensuring to keep out bad press.

But I think I’ve heard enough to agree with the decision to at least relocate the police staff. You have a serious water leak, a history of mold problems, a high number of infections, and cases of cancer. This paints a very clear picture.

George Bush – IAQ Advocate?

Michael Davis — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:26:03 +0000

Mold sufferers are waiting for those in power to understand the dangerous health effects of toxic mold and create new laws and regulations to protect families. But who could be in a better position to make changes than former President George Bush?

It’s a little known fact, but the Bush family had a mold problem of their own in their pre-White House days. In early, 1999 the Governor’s Mansion in Austin Texas had a growing fungal contamination. The 152 year-old building and historic site has had a history of mold problems that continue to this day.

Texas is one of the moldiest states in the U.S. due to the high humidity of the Gulf Coast region, and more insurance claims regarding mold are filed in Texas than any other state. So it’s not a stretch to imagine that even a well-maintained building like the Governor’s mansion could develop a mold problem.

Laura Bush complained of health problems and the building was tested for molds. The decontamination effort cost over $300,000 in taxpayer money. Reportedly, the Bushes were very pleased with the difference made in the restored indoor air quality.

The same year 44,000 mold insurance claims were filed in Texas and many victims believed that Bush would be a strong advocate for indoor air quality as President of the United States. But after 8 years in office, Bush made no effort to improve or create federal regulations for indoor air quality.

Some speculate the reason for his ambivalence is political. Campaign fund contributors – insurance company executives, PACs, builders – would be adversely impacted by liability issues if new legislation was created. For this reason, the mold problem in the governor’s mansion was downplayed.

As long as mold faces political hurtles, it may be some time before real change is made by the government. There are too many sides with too much money at stake to sit idly by while the government creates new standards that affect the way they do business.

Lack of Adjusters Costs Insurance Company Half a Million

Michael Davis — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:22:35 +0000

If you try to file a claim with your insurance company pertaining to a mold problem in your home, get ready for a hassle! First of all, you are going to have to wait for your insurance adjuster to assess the damage before you can repair it. And in the meantime, broken homes with torn roofs and other leaks are vulnerable to excessive rainwater that can make the situation much worse – the growth of toxic mold.

It happened to a Virginia family after Hurricane Isabelle. Sandra Grant had to wait six weeks for an insurance adjuster to visit her house and assess the damage. This was plenty of time for toxic mold to begin growing, forcing the Grants to abandon their condemned mobile home.

Augusta Mutual of Staunton did not have the staff to quickly handle the 2,000 claims that resulted from the storm. This was more claims than the company receives all year on average.

Grant sought damages for her home ($50,000) and for her two children who developed health complications due to the mold ($125,000 for Sheila and $300,000 for Isaac).

Grant took responsible action to mitigate the damage by putting a tarp over her roof and boarding up the windows – but it proved futile. Her hands were tied from paying for proper repairs until the tardy insurance adjuster could visit the home.

During the 11 day trial, both sides of the case paraded their own mold experts and physicians to provide testimony about the dangers or harmlessness of mold. This is a typical scene for such high stakes cases.

It seems odd that having insurance seemed to work against the Grant family rather than help them in a time of need. If they had no insurance at all then they would have immediately paid for repairs, which would have prevented mold from ever growing. Then her autistic son would not be struggling with headaches, stomach aches, and 14 different kinds of medication when he previously used none.

If you live in an area susceptible to natural disaster you should look into your insurance provider to see if they are capable of handling speedy adjustments if one should ever strike.

More Mold Tax Tips

Michael Davis — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:20:48 +0000

Mold making you sick? You might be able to turn those aches and allergies into savings.

Some time ago, I discussed how mold removal and property repair could be considered a tax write-off business expense since it protects the value of an investment. But did you know that you can also write-off mold remediation as a medical expense?

This tip might come in handy if you are renting or otherwise do not own your mold-infested living space. How I understand it is that if you are diagnosed with a mold related illness, then removal of the mold would be necessary to relieve the diagnosed condition. This is similar to lowering cabinets and light switches and building ramps to accommodate someone in a wheelchair. The primary purpose of these costs is to improve a medical condition; therefore, they are considered medical expenses.

Of course, you can’t just claim that mold is making you sick yourself. You will need a written statement from your doctor who agrees the mold must be removed as a medical necessity for your condition.

But unlike mold as a business expense, it seems you cannot write off repairs as a part of the medical expense. For example, if mold is covering your drywall, you can write off the expense of removing the contaminated material, but not any replacement material or repairs.

If your mold remediation does somehow result in an increased value to your property, then it looks like you only get to write off the difference. For example, if you spent $1000 to replace moldy drywall and it added $300 to your property value – then you could only write off $700.

But don’t just take my word for it – I’m not a tax accountant. You should, however, bring up these suggestions to your tax accountant and your doctor if you think mold is making you sick. You’re already suffering from mold, at least you can suffer through your taxes a little less.

Landlord Blames Tenants for Mold

Michael Davis — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:41:39 +0000

This is an interesting twist on the typical story of tenants complaining about a moldy apartment building and a landlord denying any sort of problem exists. This time the landlord has crossed over from the defensive and taken an offensive position, saying that if mold exists it is probably the fault of his mold-loving tenants.

At The Palms apartment complex in Gonzales, Louisiana, not one, but multiple tenants are having problems with mold. The slimy stuff is growing in and outside of their apartment units. You can find it on the walls, ceiling and furniture.

Nordeya Lawson, a building tenant, has had to move out of the building after this mold became unbearable. Two of her three children suffered symptoms of blurred vision, dizziness, memory loss and bad headaches. She even took one of them to the hospital.

“I called the doctor and asked and they told me it was probably the cause of them being sick because mold is very toxic,” said Lawson. If Lawson’s children’s symptoms are caused by mold then they have been exposed to a great amount of toxic, not just allergic, mold causing neurocognitive disorders. These are very serious symptoms of mycotixicosis, mold poisoning.

The property manager, Tonya Hurt, responded to a work order to clean up the mess. Lawson said not enough was done and mold still remains. Now Hurt is saying that she didn’t know there was a mold problem and only now agrees it exists after seeing some photos. Sounds like a communication breakdown.

John Sanford, the property owner, says that Lawson is moving out because she is evicted. He also noted that residents are partially to blame for mold and should take responsibility by doing things like “wiping windows after they shower to prevent mold growth.”

This statement shows the owner’s ignorance regarding the issue. Lawson seems to have toxic mold growing in her apartment if not elsewhere in the apartment building. This kind of mold only grows due to a major and persistent leak (or sometimes improper building design). Shower steam alone is not enough to cause such a serious mold problem, yet the owner still believes his tenants are to blame.

So far, no one knows or has tried to discover the true source of this mold, which shows us how unprepared to deal with mold issues everyone is in this situation. The cause of the mold should be the first question asked here.

Mold Heroes: The Black Family

Michael Davis — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:34:38 +0000

Five years ago, Jade Black was trapped in a school rife with mold in Wisconsin. The experience forced her to use inhalers and medicine was costing her $350.00 a month. When she was transferred to a mold-free school, the symptoms which greatly detracted from her health and educational experience dissapeared almost immediately.

For the next five years, Jade’s mother Jeanne Black and her family worked tirelessly to introduce legislation into the Wisconsin Assembly. With the support of other parents, teachers, and the advocacy of The Center for School Mold Help, the Black Family finally succeeded in passing SB 41 which was signed into law in December. This is the first bill passed to regulate indoor air quality in schools in Wisconsin.

During the bill’s testimony, Jeanne spoke about her and her daughter’s experience with school mold and the system that prevents schools from taking action to correct the problem. “Without regulations and laws in Wisconsin on this issue it gives school boards and administrations a chance to deny, cover up, threatening jobs and simply not address the issue, while our children are inhaling toxic air on a daily basis,” Jeanne said before the Assembly.

Another parent spoke on how her son demonstrated systemic yeast infection and severe chronic poisoning at a Wisconsin school. This was cateogirzed as Late stage II mycotoxicosis, with Late stage III being death. The treatment for his permanent condition is not covered by the family’s health insurance.

The bill calls for an Indoor Environmental Quality in Schools Task Force formed by the state superintendent of public instruction and consisting of the secretary of commerce, the secretary of health services, and eleven members representing various school or health-related associations. The task force is charged with making recommendations to the Department of Public Instruction who must establish a model management plan and practices for maintaining indoor environmental quality in public and private schools. Each school’s school board or governing body must implement a plan for maintaining indoor environment quality in its school or schools.

The plan may sound a little heavy in bureaucracy, but I hope it will result in schools taking a more pro-active approach to lower levels of mold. Prevention, after all, is the simplest way to deal with mold and does not require a lot of difficult decisions or financial burdens for schools.

Mold Whistleblower Provisions

Michael Davis — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:20:54 +0000

If you work in a building sick with mold and poor indoor air quality, you may be fearful to complain the higher-ups about the situations. Squeaky wheels have the tendency to get demoted or fired. So why should you be the whistleblower if it puts your job security on the line?

This happened to an employee of a Corpus Christi-based oil drilling company, Orion Drilling Co. After he complained to management about mold in the crew members’ living quarters, he was immediately fired.

The actions this man took set an example for what employees of any company can take if subjected to discrimination for whistleblowing. He filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which provides protection for whistleblowers who complain about unhealthy practices in the workplace.

OSHA inspected the site and discovered the complaint had merit. OSHA referred the case to the Labor Department’s Office of the Solicitor for enforcement. The case was settled by the employer who paid the former employee $10,000 in lost wages and must post a notice in the workplace informing employees of their rights under the OSH Act.

The OSH Act of 1970 promotes healthful working conditions by enforcing standards and providing lawful protection to employees who report unhealthy workplaces. Section 11© of the Act prohibits any person from “discharging or in any manner retaliating against any employee because the employee has exercised rights under the Act.”

But be careful. If you file a complaint under discrimination, you have to show you engaged in the protected activity, the employer knew about the activity, the employer subjected you to adverse employment action, and the protected activity contributed to the adverse action. Discrimination can include firing, blacklisting, demoting, disciplining, failure to rehire, intimidation, or reducing hours of pay.

This story gives support to other employees who are too afraid to speak out about mold in the workplace. If you feel threatened to report unhealthful working conditions, take the time to read over the OSH Act and learn your rights.

Katrina-Flooded Courthouse Not Too Worried About Mold

Michael Davis — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:35 +0000

We all know how often courthouses have mold problems and how Hurricane Katrina flooding has caused mold. So when you combine both factors, I am very worried for the staff of the Bernard Parish Courthouse in Louisiana.

The courthouse was flooded during the hurricane so badly that beached boats are still surrounding the building! In August of 2005, the courthouse was found to be flooded with 3 feet of water for weeks. So what was done about this mess? The water was dried and everyone went back to work in September. No professional mold removal was done.

The more water and time given, the more powerful and deadly types of mold will result. So with 3 feet of water sitting stagnant in this courthouse for weeks on end, I imagine the mold there is so bad it is ready to fly off the walls and strangle anyone who enters this building. Surely, more than a few courthouse workers developed the ‘katrina cough’ at the very least.

They must be hardy people in Louisiana because only now have contract workers discovered mold in the building. Big surprise, right? I would have condemned the building back in 2005, but the old courthouse holds historical significance and has been a fixture since the Great Depression.

A report was done on the mold conditions of the building and stachybotrys was found. The report states that this mold produces dangerous toxins that “some doctors believe can be traced to lung infections.” That’s putting it very mildly. What I’ve learned is that other molds are more clearly responsible for pathogenic lung infections while stachybotrys is more associated with permanent brain damage.

Either way, it does not sound like people here are very concerned about mold. Only now are they planning to evacuate the building while FEMA spends $367,000 on courthouse repairs, overhauling the electrical, plumbing and ventilation systems. That should fix the leaks, but I hope they set aside some of that money for mold removal.

Does Mold Cause Multiple Sclerosis?

Michael Davis — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:11:07 +0000

Recently, I was reading some reports on mold health effects and I saw a new disease listed among the many others – multiple sclerosis. This is the first time I remember seeing multiple sclerosis associated with mold so I decided to do a little digging and see if and where there is a connection. The information I found is a little confusing, so I’m going to break it down as best I can.

First, let’s go over what multiple sclerosis is and what it does to the body. MS is a disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This demyelination affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other. This results in various neurological symptoms ranging from physical to cognitive disabilities, including muscle weakness, loss of balance and coordination, speech problems, fatigue, depression, and memory loss.

If you are familiar with toxic mold like Stachybotrys and Chaetomium, then you should recognize those symptoms as common cognitive effects of toxic mold exposure. So are these effects often confused with multiple sclerosis or does mold actually cause multiple sclerosis?

We’re not quite sure yet. Perhaps both. Multiple sclerosis is simply the name for what happens when demyelination occurs in the brain and spinal cords. This can happen for a number of reasons both known and unknown. Doctors do not know exactly what causes MS but have attributed it to a number of genetic factors, environmental factors, and infections. It can also happen when certain people are exposed to toxic mold. In this case, you could say that mold is one of the causes of MS.

Yet, because the effects of multiple sclerosis can vary from many different cognitive and physical symptoms, it is often misdiagnosed. In fact in 2005 it was named one of the top five illnesses recognized as misdiagnosed. Most doctors will not realize that what appears to be MS is actually a result of mycotoxicosis and prolonged exposure to toxic fungus.

In fact, MS has mysteriously spiked significantly over the last two and a half decades. This correlates to the same spike in mycotixicosis and mold poisoning. It also correlates to the changes in building design that occurred 20 to 30 years ago that has resulted in more mold in newer buildings. Is this all a coincidence, or is mold actually behind this MS epidemic?

Some time ago, I wrote about how Alzheimer’s patients were often misdiagnosed, their symptoms resulting from toxic mold exposure. It seems that when it comes to neurocognitive disorders, the science is very unstable and possibly misleading.

Are We Still Ignorant About Mold?

Michael Davis — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:47:23 +0000

I just read an article on CBN news entitled ‘The Hidden Dangers of Mold Exposure.’ Really? Are the dangers of mold exposure still ‘hidden’ from us? Don’t we all know that mold is dangerous by now? The story in the article will make you think otherwise.

The Fabrys family is a normal family who have a mold problem in their home. This is nothing unusual. But the awful experience this family endured sounds like it should not have happened in 2010, but in 1992.

After cutting into the wall and releasing spores into their home, the children began to experience terrible physical and neurocognitive symptoms: vertigo, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, migraines, abdominal pain. For two years, the Fabrys family visited 30 doctors to figure out what was wrong with their kids.

Out of 30 doctors, it did not occur to a single doctor that mold might be the problem. One doctor even suggested they take their kids to a psychologist.

Finally, in 2008 they performed an indoor air test which revealed dangerous levels of spores. A toxicologist told the family they had to leave the home, take nothing with them, and never return. They even had to put their two dogs down to prevent future contamination. The toxicologist tested all 11 members of the family who all showed clear evidence of mold poisoning.

The article says that only a “handful” of doctors in the country have experience treating mold-related health issues. That is unacceptable. We’ve been well aware of the dangers of mold exposure for 20 years. The web is full of information. I write about this stuff every day. It’s not a secret, it’s not a ‘hidden’ danger.

Yet, the public and, worst of all, the doctors seem ignorant. The Fabrys family has lost their home, their belongings, their money, their health, and their pets – because we continue to be uneducated after all this time. It all could have been avoided if someone in this story had just done some homework.

It’s difficult to hear sometimes, but all we can do is continue to put out information. Information is the key to saving lives here. You are helping just by reading this. Please continue to stay informed.

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