If you’ve ever read this Blog before, you probably have heard my mold catchphrase summing up its unpredictability: different molds affect different people in different ways to different degrees (the different statement). But what does ”different people” actually mean? Well, everyone has a unique genetic makeup and sometimes your genes determine how susceptible you are to different toxins. This may explain the reason why you might be the only one in your home or office suffering from mold.
The immune system uses HLA (human leukocyte antigens) to determine the difference between the “self” and “non-self” when forming antibodies to attack invading toxins in our bodies. Certain genes seem to be unable to recognize mold toxins as foreign invaders, so these toxins are allowed to run uncontrollably in the body causing all kinds of damage unhindered. Some genes make us susceptible to mold, other to Lyme, while some people are have a multi-susceptible gene type.
This is all theorized and researched in Ritchie Shoemaker’s book, “Mold Warriors.” Here, he explains that there are 2 “dreaded genotypes” that make toxic mold catastrophic to people who possess these genotypes. About .005% of the population has this gene. The gene is more common in people of Northern European descent. You can actually test to see if you might have the dreaded genotype by measuring if your arms length, from fingertip to fingertip, is greater than your height. Perhaps Michael Phelps has this genotype, which wouldn’t be good for him since he is around so much water.
Those without this genotype are easily capable of fighting off toxins that could cause permanent damage to those with the dreaded genotype. I’ve heard you can test to determine if you have this genotype by getting an HLA test.
If Shoemaker’s research into the dreaded genotype is accepted then it could dramatically change the way mold is litigated. Possible mold victims could be identified before they even come into contact with toxic mold.
Whether this is all true or not, the point is that sometimes we forget that we’re different and there is a tendency to say that mold victims are just “imagining” their illnesses when no one else seems to be suffering. We can’t forget that some people may just have bad luck in the gene lottery.
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