Mold drives S.J. woman from home

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http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/september/m091502b.htm

September 15, 2002

Mold drives S.J. woman from home

By GENE VERNACCHIO

Courier-Post Staff

MONROE

After several weeks holed up in motel rooms, Ruth Ellis returned home last

month and sobbed - and gasped.

Ellis, 51, says her mold-infested town ranch home has been making

her sick for years. But after racking up thousands of dollars on her credit

card for lodging, she says she can no longer afford refuge from her house.

Shortly after returning home, Ellis said her headaches increased, as did a

variety of maladies - including rashes, numbness and respiratory problems.

" I don't know what's going to happen to me, " said Ellis, with tears

streaming down her cheeks. " This house is all I have. I could never sell

this house in this condition. And I can't afford to live here and get sicker

and sicker. "

Ellis is not alone. Increasingly, household molds, some toxic, are being

identified in homes, schools and work places.

Recent studies have linked molds to a tripling of the asthma rate over the

past 20 years. And a 1994 Harvard University study of 10,000 homes found

half had water damage and mold associated with a 50 percent to 100 percent

increase in respiratory symptoms.

Ellis collects Social Security disability because of hepatitis C that was

diagnosed when she was a teenager, but she insists her current ailments are

unrelated.

The mold problem has become so significant that Ellis says ADVERTISEMENT -

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she is urging her sons - , 27, and , 22 - to move out of

her house for their own physical well-being. Both have suffered chronic

headaches, bloody noses and rashes in recent years, she said.

During her three-week stay in motels, she said she stopped running a fever

for the first time in many months and felt considerably better.

She spends much of her time visiting a number of medical specialists -

including a neurologist for twitching and numbness in her hands. Other

ailments include severe joint pain, a persistent generally ill feeling,

dizziness and swelling in her ankles. She also said she has numbness in her

face, eye twitches and headaches.

Dr. Iris Udasin, associate professor of environmental and community medicine

at UMDNJ- Wood Medical School, says health problems from mold

can include allergic reactions such as asthma, lung and eye irritation,

runny nose, cough and congestion. Toxic effects can include fatigue, nausea,

headaches, throat and eye irritation, and neurological problems.

Udasin, who has not examined Ellis, said reactions to mold also vary among

individuals.

" Not everyone has an allergic reaction, " Udasin says. " But women are more

likely than men to be sensitive to these irritating kinds of effects. "

The American Academy of Pediatrics also says children are more susceptible

to mold-related illness than adults because of the comparative size of their

lungs and organs.

Mold usually grows in damp places, like under floors and behind walls. It

also thrives on materials such as wood, ceiling tiles and drywall.

A green-black slime called stachybotrys chartarum has caused the most recent

health concerns. The toxic mold produces poisons that can enter the body

through the nose, mouth and skin. Other more common molds include types of

aspergillis, penicillium and fusarium.

Authorities say newer homes are also more prone to mold problems than older

homes. That's because modern construction uses more cellulose-based

materials in which mold can thrive with moisture or high humidity.

Most homeowner's insurance does not cover mold damage.

Nationwide, a proliferation of lawsuits has resulted in recent years from

mold problems. Some insurance industry officials estimate toxic-mold

liabilities could approach the $60 billion paid for asbestos-related claims.

Even celebrities like Ed McMahon and Brockovich have filed suits

maintaining that mold turned their million- dollar dream homes into

nightmares.

Ellis said it was a home improvement contractor who alerted her to the mold

infestation in her home in July.

The walls behind her bedroom dresser are coated with the black mold.

Furniture in another bedroom closet is covered with mold, as are walls

behind a bed and baseboards throughout the home. Even an old bowling ball

inside a case was recently found coated with mold.

Significant mold also is in both the home's crawl space and attic.

The root of the mold problems, Ellis said, dates back to an energy audit she

requested in 1998 from Atlantic Electric, the local electric utility.

At that time, she said subcontractors sealed her house so tightly for energy

conservation that it became a prime breeding ground for mold.

In her crawl space, she said, workers stuffed fresh air vents with

insulation and draped the vents and the crawl space with plastic sheeting as

a vapor barrier. In addition, she said, workers went into her attic and

blocked gables.

" My house just stopped breathing, " she said.

But Betty Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Conectiv, the company by which Atlantic

Electric is now known, said they are unfamiliar with Ellis' complaint and

have no record of a formal complaint.

Kennedy acknowledged that work on Ellis' home might have been performed by a

subcontractor, but she could not comment more specifically on the matter.

Ellis said she had become immune to the moldy and musty smell in her home,

but noticed it immediately upon returning from her motel exile and was

forced to start using an aspirator again.

" If you've even mistakenly left a load of clothes in a washer for three days

and opened the lid, " she said. " That' s how my whole house smelled.

" My clothes smell like it, " she said. " It permeates everything. ... You can

smell it in your hair. It got so bad in here at times it would burn your

throat. It was unbearable. "

Ellis said she's received no formal cost estimates to remedy the mold

problems, but has been told by many it will likely be extensive. She also

hasn't hired a lab to identify the types of mold in her home.

Pamela , a a longtime friend of Ellis, said it's been difficult

watching as her friend's health has deteriorated.

" She's been plagued by health problems, " said , a Maple Shade

resident. " It's just unbelievable. This is all just very sad. "

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Reach Gene Vernacchio at (856) 845-6532 or gvernacchio@...