Excellent Letter Written by Haynes, Oregon.

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This is an excellent letter written by Haynes Regarding the Above

Referenced Oregonian Article

Dear Editor:

Thank you so much for running Jeff Manning’s article on “Broken Homes†in

the Sunday edition, and the subsequent stories. I and my family were part of

Sunday’s story. Jeff was a pleasure to talk to and, in my opinion, did an

amazing job sifting through a boatload of information to present a succint and

balanced version of the dilemma that exists between builders and consumers.

But there is so much more to say.

In the last two years our story has been told several places, including

Consumer Reports (Jan. 2004), KATU, KPTV, KOIN and KGW, and an earlier story by

the Oregonian. As a result, the stories show up in internet searches regarding

mold and housing defects, and people from all over Oregon, as well as the

country, have contacted me to tell me their stories as well as ask for my help

finding professionals with solutions to their health problems. I’ve heard so

many sad stories that some days I can’t answer my phone. I do NOT find it

comforting to learn that we are not alone.

It is wrong that people who have been exposed to mold can’t go to their

local doctors and receive appropriate help. Over and over I hear from people

who

are symtomatic and are put on antibiotics... another mold. Many are told that

they are imagining things. The industrial hygeinist who testified against

us, called it hysteria. I believe it’s an epidemic in this country, and the

“

experts†for the defense are well paid to say it isn’t. You have two camps:

the mold victims who are sick and who frequently have lost their homes, and

you have the building and insurance industries, who have everything to gain by

keeping this under wraps and who have deep enough pockets to do so. Does that

raise any red flags for anyone? Isolated, ill and destitute vs. well

organized and well funded. It’s a miracle that we’ve managed to get as much

information out as we have against those odds.

Dr. Emil Bardana, one of the leading mold naysayers, is quoted in Jeff’s

article. He says, “The scientific evidence in the journals has been totally

inadequate to establish a causal relationship between the mold found in homes

and the adverse effects that are being alleged today.†He didn’t say there

IS

no relationship. He’s simply saying the published science doesn’t support

it, a statement I and the qualified doctors I’ve spoken with, disagree with.

(Check out www.mold-help.org for links to thousands of studies that support a

correllation between mold exposure and health problems.)

I’m convinced of the danger of mold. I’ve lived it. I’ve watched my kids

suffer because of it. I watched one child stop talking. I watched the other

claw at his own face and call himself stupid out of frustration over lost

skills.I don’t need any literature. But let’s assume for a moment Bardana

is

correct that there is no scientific evidence. Are we really willing to risk our

children’s brains ‘til every bit of evidence is in? Bardana and his

colleagues

gambled my boys’ brains on their “lack of evidence†and my kids lost.

Acknowledging the truth about mold will cost money... I understand that. To

borrow

a phrase, how much is your child’s brain worth?

Here’s the part that should scare us all.

My children’s symptoms look like autism. They are both in special

classrooms, and Oregon is obligated by law to see that they are educated to the

age of

21. I read recently that educational services for an autistic child will

total $2 million. If I, my medical experts, and the parents of the other

children

with symptoms like mine who were mold poisoned are right, and the

exponential rise in diagnosed autism in the northwest is partly related to

self-composting houses, WE’RE ALREADY PAYING FOR IT. Your tax dollars and

mine will pay

for my children to receive $4 million dollars in services.

So here’s an idea... let’s hold builders accountable for substandard work.

• Outlaw binding arbitration that is intimidating, expensive, and loaded in

favor of builders, giving them no incentive to build properly.

• See that inspectors protect us as they are paid to do.

• Obligate builders to insure themselves properly, as is currently required

by law, but not enforced.

• Establish record keeping that flushes out the individuals who operate

without ethics, and prevent them from dissolving companies and re-forming under

new names.

If the Homebuilders’ Association is sincere about solving these defect

problems, they should NOT circle the wagons around the bad builders who are

responsible for driving up liability insurance for them all. They should

establish

ethics WITHIN their industry, if not to do what’s right, at least to lower

their liability.

Oregon needs to hold public hearings on these issues. As someone recently

told me, “Task forces are the mechanism that governments use to shove things

under the table. Have a few meetings, invite the press, have technically

ignorant legislatures & lobbyists there to promise the world, plan the next

golf

game and decide who's turn it is to buy dinner.†I’m not surprised the

Homebuilders’ Association suggested it. I’m sure they already have the

taskforce

members picked out.

I encourage all victims of shoddy building practices and all mold victims to

visit www.HADD.com and register their complaint. Then contact your

politicians to pressure them into holding public hearings. The financial cost

of this

problem is affecting us all. And I’ve seen the human cost—it’s

immeasurable.

Sincerely,

Haynes

503/668-0889

RHaynes668@...