Some common building molds produce carcinogenic toxins and recently a link between cancer and certain species of mold has been determined. But information on what causes cancer is imperfect, and mold may just be one of the many causes. While some may dismiss the mold/cancer link as trivial, some startling stories about mold in schools may change their minds.
In a high school in Stockholm, it has been discovered that Stachybotrys mold found in the school could have been behind a surge of cancer cases stemming from 1989. Over the last 20 years, 20 teachers from the school have been diagnosed with cancer. Newspaper headlines have been reading,
“The mold in the school is cancer causing,” and “Mold in school gives teachers cancer.”
This incident came after the Swedish government dismissed earlier claims from Swedish toxicologists that sick building syndrome was a serious cause of cancer.
While some might dismiss this as just a coincidence, a “coincidence” was also used to describe a current outbreak of cancer in a Wisconsin school. In this case, more than 27% of West Elementary School’s staff that have been employed over the last five years have been diagnosed with cancer, in addition to two former students.
State officials inexplicably claim that there is no toxic source for the cancer outbreak. They say that this 28 out of 102 people with cancer is not an unordinary number and cite 40 other cancer cluster investigations in Wisconsin schools as evidence. Dirty air vents were found, but the health department has refused to conduct an investigation.
Is there a serious link between mold and cancer? And if so, is the link being trivialized for economic and political reasons? It’s important to have adequate research before making claims, but with an issue this serious answers are needed to warn others.
It may take years before research is funded that also provides unarguable results about the immediate dangers mold presents. In the meantime, it’s better to be safe than sorry and eliminate mold while you still can. With proactive mold remediation, you can avoid staggering losses to your home and your health.
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