Re: Sorry but I just have to vent!

[Guest guest]

> We are thinking Nevada sounds nice a dry. Anyone know about that?

Funny, we think back to when we first looked at a house in this town,

and the smell of mold in the air when we got off the interstate and

headed into town.<

Nevada is pretty darn good, but I can show you some absolutely ripping

plumes in many towns that cut a wide path of destruction.

- Reno NV

[Guest guest]

Dan & Carmella <ems_tgr@...> wrote:

Hello all,

I'm more a reader than a talker, but I cannot take any more and just need to

vent.

Thanks for sharing your story with us. I have been there and can identify with

you. I left very humid southern Oklahoma about three weeks ago because I found

out that what was killing me was mold. You have probably read my story so won't

go into that. This is strange but I have talked to people from Phoenix and

Tuscon and they say when it is in the raining season, didn't know they had

one?,the mold is rampant there. I am in Van Horn, Texas, a small town of 3k, 120

miles east of El Paso. El Paso gets a lot of rain during the " monsoon " season

but this town doesn't.

has helped me understand about getting a good night's sleep without much

mold and can you try that? Put a tent in your yard and only sleep there. Just

before leaving your house to sleep, take a shower and wash everything good to

get off as many spores as possible. I even got a burr and shaved my eyebrows. I

feel like I look funny but I have no one here to please!! I washed my clothes in

tide/bleach, 1/2 cup borax and white vinegar and this seemed to have gotten most

of the spores off. Be sure to wear clothes to bed which has not been exposed in

your home. I use plastic bags as suggested to me.

Good luck. From what I have recently learned, you will die if you stay in that

house 24 hours a day. Aren't you working in your home already?

Bob

---------------------------------

for Good

Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

[Guest guest]

Please leave now- move in with friends or relatives- do anything but

stay

> Hello all,

> I'm more a reader than a talker, but I cannot take any more

and just need to vent.

> Our family's story is a long one, you can read the full story

on my web page here;

http://www.carmellasplace.thegourdreserve.com/moldstory.shtml

> Because of my continued exposure to mold I now am highly

sensitive to everything, especially mold. No matter where I go

anymore it seems there is mold or something in the air that causes

me to either cough, my skin to itch and burn, my sinuses to run, a

headache, or all the above all at once. I hurt all over, especially

in my back, stomach, ribs, and chest areas. My legs, ankles, and

knees swell and hurt. I'm always having headaches. I'm 42 years old

but I feel more like 80! My husband has constant headaches, and has

aquired breathing problems and pain in his lungs.

> Like many on this list, we have no insurance and therefore

cannot go to a doctor, not that a doctor would do any good. We

cannot afford to move, so we have to continue to endure the mold,

which just keeps on growing.

> My husband and I both have disabilities that keep us from

working full time jobs. Our work is all through odd jobs and

whatever we can make each month on goole ads and affiliate

commissions. Although we have a lot of faith in the google and

affiliates, that all takes time to grow into a decent income, and

until it does we are stuck in this sick house to continue getting

sicker. Some days I sit and I just cry, when the pain is just so

unbareable I cannot stand it anymore, and wonder how I am going to

keep dealing with the pain day after day.

> We have decided that when we do have the money saved that we

need to move, that we need to move from the state. We live in

Indiana and we have been told it is one of the worst states for

molds. We are thinking Nevada sounds nice a dry. Anyone know about

that? Funny, we think back to when we first looked at a house in

this town, and the smell of mold in the air when we got off the

interstate and headed into town. We still smell it everytime we

leave town and come back. The smell of fungus is in the air strong!

And all we thought when we first came to town was, " hmm, smells

moldy, must be a lot of mushrooms growing around here " LOL oh if I

only we had known then what we know now. Then again, God has a

reason for everything that happens, I told my husband today that

perhaps God wanted to give the world a strong voice to listen too.

He knows that when I get mad I get loud and people listen just to

get me out of their face and off their backs. Well I am officially

VERY MAD!!! I wrote to Montel today, figured that was as

good a place as any to start.

> Today I went to pay my light bill, and as soon as I walked in

the door I got hit with the mold and an instant headache! I called

the health department last month after going in to pay my light

bill, because I got hit with it then too. We wrote a note and ran it

in and dropped it on the desk and ran back out. We had our cell

phone number on it. When they called they said the health department

had come in and told them there was NO MOLD!!! They asked if we

would please call the health department and tell them, because they

all have to keep working in this place. We told them we would call

first thing tomorrow.

> Yesterday our daughters landlord went in her house and tore

out drywall that I know is moldy, and told her there was no mold.

> I'll save our Histoplasmosis story for another time. That was

our first experience with mold and it was in the High school! I'll

have that story on my web page soon.

> Well I'll get down off my soap box now. Thank you all for

listening and allowing me to vent. It really does help to just get

it all out.

> Have a Blessed day,

> Carmella

> I love History as much as I love Jesus, because it is HIStory!

> May God's Blessings Shine Down On You Today, Tomorrow, Forever!

> http://marykay.com/carmella_dunkin

> http://www.carmellasplace.com

> http://www.danosplace.com

> http://www.thegourdreserve.com

> http://www.everythingmakesscents.com

> http://www.thedunkinacademy.com

>

>

[Guest guest]

erikmoldwarrior <erikmoldwarrior@...> wrote:

Nevada is pretty darn good, but I can show you some absolutely ripping

plumes in many towns that cut a wide path of destruction.

- Reno NV

I apolgize for posting so many at one time but I go to the library and I have

like 50 emails and I answer them at one time normally.

, this make me think of a question I have been meaning to ask you but I

think your answer, if you haven't already answered it, would interest most

others. Aren't there a lot of cedars where you live? I am very sensitive now to

cedars and I have wondered if they bother you? I could have gone to Cloudcrogt,

Mexico which is about 20 degrees cooler than here but I was afraid that the

cedars would make me ill.

Bob

---------------------------------

for Good

Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

[Guest guest]

.....

I guess you have the ultimate information here in Vegas?

I live on the lake, not MEAD but the one that is man made 4 miles form the

strip. And I can ASSURE you with all the testing I have done for mold

here there is nothing, so I think it is not as bad as in nortern NV.

Granted, apt/home flooding will contribute, but nothing like the dampness

with the snow etc.

I would VENTURE to guess that the homes on MT CHarleston would be more

prone to mold as they have the snow at such a high elevation.

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005, erikmoldwarrior wrote:

> Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:17:59 -0000

> From: erikmoldwarrior <erikmoldwarrior@...>

> Reply-

>

> Subject: [] Re: Sorry but I just have to vent!

>

>> We are thinking Nevada sounds nice a dry. Anyone know about that?

> Funny, we think back to when we first looked at a house in this town,

> and the smell of mold in the air when we got off the interstate and

> headed into town.<

>

> Nevada is pretty darn good, but I can show you some absolutely ripping

> plumes in many towns that cut a wide path of destruction.

> - Reno NV

>

>

>

>

>

> FAIR USE NOTICE:

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Carmella my heart goes out to you and your family. If you have no friends

or family that would take you in, could you at least get a tent or some

other type of inexpensive building in which you could sleep?

I read your story, you have a lot of acres to pitch a tent. It's not ideal

yet necessary. I have a friend in Indiana, she lost her husband when she was

7 months pregnant, he had no life insurance, she had 2 other children. They

did own their land and lived in a trailer. It was moldy and the children

often ill but she couldn't afford to move or rebuild. Finally about 2 years

ago that trailer caught on fire. Everything they owned was destroyed in the

fire. She learned how to live outdoors, cook outdoors and had the strength

to research how to build an inexpensive home for herself and her children.

Someone donated an old RV for them to sleep in during the Winter. She's

now living in a cob house (do a google search if interested, here's one

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/cobhouse.html

She's a tiny woman, has an autistic son and yet managed to build this. They

recently moved in; still has a lot of interior work but they will be warm

during the Winter. Honestly I'm so impressed with this woman, her struggles

and hardships and also her determination to provide safe shelter for herself

and her children. You have options but will not if you stay in that house.

Please listen to all of us. If you want I'll phone you for moral support.

Rosie

>> Our family's story is a long one, you can read the full story

> on my web page here;

> http://www.carmellasplace.thegourdreserve.com/moldstory.shtml

>> Because of my continued exposure to mold I now am highly

> sensitive to everything, especially mold. No matter where I go

> anymore it seems there is mold or something in the air that causes

> me to either cough, my skin to itch and burn, my sinuses to run, a

> headache, or all the above all at once. I hurt all over, especially

> in my back, stomach, ribs, and chest areas. My legs, ankles, and

> knees swell and hurt. I'm always having headaches. I'm 42 years old

> but I feel more like 80! My husband has constant headaches, and has

> aquired breathing problems and pain in his lungs.

[Guest guest]

Angel MCS <jap2bemc@s...> wrote:

> .....

> I guess you have the ultimate information here in Vegas?

>

> I live on the lake, not MEAD but the one that is man made 4 miles

form the strip. And I can ASSURE you with all the testing I have

done for mold here there is nothing, so I think it is not as bad as

in nortern NV.

> Granted, apt/home flooding will contribute, but nothing like the

dampness with the snow etc.

>

> I would VENTURE to guess that the homes on MT CHarleston would be

more prone to mold as they have the snow at such a high elevation.

-Angel

>

Found a fair number of places that give me a slam just walking down

the strip, probably about the same as Reno.

Dr. Craner of Verdi and Stetzenbach of UNLV have

identified hundreds of sick buildings in Las Vegas, including a

major office building with nearly a thousand employees. So far it

looks like the combination of precontaminated materials and constant

use of HVAC might make a more dangerous mix than snow load.

-

LAS VEGAS WEEKLY Jan 28 2005

Specks

It begins with a spore too tiny to see but has become a problem too

big to eradicate. It's mold. How threatening is it? The truth can be

as hard to see as the spores.

By Kate Silver • Cover photo by Benjamen Purvis

You'd think the Apocalypse or at least Saddam had hit Chinatown. In

a leased space in the Spring Mountain strip mall, two men enshrouded

in white HAZMAT suits work in a harshly lit, white tent-like

structure, labeled " Terranova Clean Room. " Clean air blows into one

side of the tent—built for about $1,000 in a warehouse-like room—and

is sucked out through the other. Armed with Q-Tips, toothbrushes and

small, air-blowing wands, the biohazard warriors inside swipe at the

crevices, holes, buttons and curves of a computer monitor. It's an

eerie, chilling sight in this era of anthrax scares and endless talk

of biochemical weapons, but this is the front line in the war on a

different kind of terror, that axis of organic evil, mold. Toxic

mold.

Each contaminated computer station takes three hours to clean with a

distinctly nonadvanced technology: a solution of Dawn dish soap and

water. The men have been working on equipment from this office for

seven months and expect it will take another nine to complete.

They'll keep swiping until the spores are no more.

I look closely into the room, peer around the perimeter, which is

about 10-feet by 10-feet. Squint my eyes, trying to catch a glimpse

of any black, yellow or green specks. It all looks clean to me. I

don't see anything.

Doesn't matter, says remediation consultant and expert witness

Terranova; the room may seem clean, but those computers are

contaminated—whether you see it or not.

" Mold spores are two to 10 microns in size. Actually, you can have

some that are as big as 30 microns. A human hair is 59 microns, OK? "

roars Terranova. He pauses, as though the silence will help me

appreciate just how tiny a spore can be. " So the normal human eye

cannot see mold spores in the air. "

And that's the real problem: Something we can't see has taken over.

You've heard the stories: People move out of their homes; lose their

minds, health and savings; pay thousands for tests and treatments

they've never heard of, in an industry that's not regulated,

battling a substance that's not scientifically proven to affect

their health; as lawsuits multiply, insurance coverage disappears.

Invisible cause? Foreseeable effects—some compare it to former

fashionable crises. Remember asbestos? Lead paint?

Like an invisible spore, the mold issue started out miniscule. But

now it's mushroomed, it stinks and its most tangible impact is slimy

and green.

We've Got Fungal Fever

Perhaps second only to terrorists, mold has morphed into the monster

of the 21st century, sounding like something straight out of

King. People claim they're losing their memories, coughing up blood.

Homes are being bulldozed. The Yellow Pages are brimming with

freshly christenened mold experts.

The high-profile cases have fueled the frenzy: In Dripping Springs,

Texas, a jury awarded $32 million to the Ballard family because of a

black, toxic mold that started with a leaky pipe. Brockovitch

and Ed McMahon have filed mold lawsuits.

In the last couple of years, mold and mold antidotes have sprouted

everywhere. Does that mean there's more mold? Maybe. Maybe not.

Depending on who you talk to, the increase can be attributed to a

tremendous variety of factors. A) Housing defects—they're built

quickly, cheaply, with little or no supervision; the insurance

industry's slow handling of claims (water problems turn into mold

problems before they approve repairs); C) we've stopped using lead-

based paint, which may have once prevented mold growth; D) we're a

get-rich-quick, sue-happy nation; E) thanks to the Internet,we're

more aware of health issues F) increased flooding in recent years;

G) there's no increase in the mold problem—just more problem-solvers

looking for business; H) the mold problem-solvers are actually

contaminating houses; I) we've moved on from asbestos and need a new

boogeyman.

In Nevada, mold contamination has been found in 35 state buildings—

places like the Desert Willow Hospital, Southern Nevada Correctional

Center, the Grant Sawyer Building, the Department of Motor Vehicles

main Reno office, the National Guard Complex in Carson City, the

dome of the legislative building and basement of the Nevada Capitol.

Most likely, it's in at least one of your friends' or neighbors'

homes.

But wait. Look closely. Squint your eyes, trying to catch a glimpse

of any black, yellow or green specks. You've heard the stories, read

the reports, but have you seen anything?

Mold Buster

Terranova's seen something. With his white Reeboks, white

socks, and animated, excitable manner, Terranova doesn't look like a

frontline soldier in the war on spores. But we've already

established that this isn't a business where you can trust your

vision.

" There was enough to choke a horse in there. There was Penicillium

and Aspergillus and Stachybotrys … "

Terranova is taking a phone call before our interview begins.

" Construction laborers don't have a lot of self-esteem, so they have

to be supervised. They need to clean up their own mess. It doesn't

matter what it's going to cost them. "

He pauses, cupping his hand over the phone's mouthpiece to explain

the situation: Seems a couple paid a company to perform a mold-

abatement procedure. They didn't handle the situation properly and

contaminated the whole house. Now Terranova's working with the

couple and the couple's lawyers to try to make things right. He gets

back on the phone.

" Anyone who goes in there really should be suited up, it's bad in

there. " Stops, listens. Raises voice. " Well I hope she doesn't stay

in there long. I told her not to go in there. Tell her to protect

her hair. The mold spores like hair. " Listens.

" You cannot clean the vehicle 100 percent. You're better off to sell

it and buy a new car. Uh huh. Uh huh. " He fiddles with a hole

puncher on his desk.

" You're one step away from a bubble, you know that, don't you?

You're sensitized to everything. "

When he hangs up, he explains his mission to me: He's not trying to

scare anyone—really, he isn't. He just wants to relay the

facts. " Our motto is to help victims become survivors. Just through

education. Just so you're not scared of the boogeyman. I mean, mold

has been around, that we know of, at least since the Old Testament,

Leviticus 14, " he says, calmly.

But after that phone call, it's difficult to block out the battle

cry of the boogeyman, and even more difficult to see where the real

problem lies.

Keep squinting.

The Home Owner

It begins with a drop of water. If it's not dried, that water

eventually breeds mold—always has, always will. So why are we seeing

such a different reaction to such a natural process?

It's happening across the Valley, across the country: They're told

to get out of the house. It's contaminated, the mold consultant's

say. So they go.

That's how it was for Ann and Ted (not their real names). After a

toilet overflowed, the downstairs of their house flooded, leading to

mold growth. They'd seen the news reports of toxic, deadly mold, and—

since Ted has a lung condition—have reason to be afraid. Ann and Ted

move to a hotel. They call in a mold remediation company to do some

testing. Rooms are cordoned off, covered in plastic and the company

affirms that yes, they have mold. And, yes, it needs to be removed.

The specimen is what Ann describes as " basically, a speck. "

Something she could barely see.

It's a speck that the company says will run them $14,000.

Worse: Their insurance policy doesn't cover mold removal. And

they're not alone. Over the last year, with mold cases soaring, all

of the major insurance companies have dropped mold coverage, leaving

the homeowner to fend for him or herself. Ann and Ted could barely

see the problem, and now they can't see the solution.

Mold Buster II

Meet Ian Simon, the boogeyman's conscientious objector. As the owner

of Odor Masters, a Las Vegas company that detects and removes mold,

he's waging a war of his own against the fungus—and just like

Terranova, he says he aims to set folks straight, calm them down.

But you won't hear him sharing any horror stories. He won't stand

for such things. He's so tired of the media and mold " experts " going

on about the dangers of mold—he says he'll lick it.

Now that's something we'd all like to see: This bare-headed, tough

guy sticking his wet tongue against the fuzzy tendrils of household

fungus goop. Then he'd swallow and live, exhibiting a few cold-like

symptoms, at most. " The point is, the only way to get sick off mold

is to lick it off the wall. " (When challenged to demonstrate,

however, he declines. " I'm getting over the flu, " he says.)

Simon has been in the mold-cleaning business since long before mold

was " fashionable, " as he puts it, having cleaned the fungus since

1990. Today, he talks about " doing what's right for the mold

industry. " He's tired of mold consultants charging frightened

residents for unnecessary tests and procedures.

" More often than not, the residents are prepared to drop the money,

because they just want to know. They're scared shitless, they've

heard what they've heard on the media. We try and educate them on

what they've heard on the media and what the realities are. What

actually transpired. You know, 'Another Case of Deadly Toxic Mold in

the Valley.' That's the headline that you see on the news, " he says,

exasperated. " And then they show a piece of Sheetrock that's got two

feet of visible discoloration on it. That's not another case of

deadly toxic—even if you licked it off the wall, you might get an

upper respiratory infection, but that's about it. "

Science and Health

" Don't just focus on Stachybotrys, " begs Dr. Stetzenbach. As

director of the microbiology division of UNLV's Harry Reid Center

for Environmental Studies, Stetzenbach has been at the forefront of

the mold scourge and knows that Stachybotrys has become the starlet

of the toxic molds, with cameo appearances on 20/20, 48 Hours and

just about every major paper across the nation. It's the black mold,

the (sometimes) toxic fungus. But it's certainly not alone. There's

also potentially harmful Aspergillus, Penicillium, Chaetomium,

Aureobasidium, Alternaria, Fusarium, Trichoderma, and more.

" Many of these produce mycotoxins, " she says. " Some of them can be

neurotoxic, can attack the nervous system. Many of them produce

toxins, and they can act on different organ systems of the body.

Many can be allergenic if the person is sensitized to them. They

produce volatile organic compounds, odors that are very pungent.

Those odors can produce an irritant response likened to if you're

sitting next to someone in a movie theater who wears a cologne that

bothers you. If you're in an office building or a home and you have

those pungent odors, that can result in headache or nausea. "

It's when people get sick, obviously, that the spores receive

attention. Experts say that only about 5 percent of people may be

affected by mold. And while some speculate that mold exposure is

tied to memory loss, coughing up blood and respiratory problems,

there's no solid proof. Of course, the extreme cases are highly

visible, while the more common mold-associated sniffles don't make

such juicy stories. And it's the minor health grievances that are

most common.

Dr. Craner, a board-certified occupational and environmental

medicine physician who practices in Las Vegas and Reno, is perhaps

the doctor most often called upon to make the connection between

mold and health. He's examined hundreds of patients and buildings

locally. " The health issue of concern is exposure to mold that

results from water-damaged building materials, particularly gypsum

board. Such exposure produces 'sick building' symptoms that mimic a

head cold or allergies, as well as significant fatigue and

impairment of certain mental functions. Other, more severe health

effects are often discussed, but rarely do they actually occur. What

distinguishes mold-related health effects from these other common

disorders is that with mold, multiple occupants are usually

affected, and their symptoms are reversible—they occur only when

they are inside the particular building and resolve when they are

removed from the building, " he says.

Still, the Centers for Disease Control and the EPA state that

there's no causal link between the presence of toxic mold and health

problems like memory loss or pulmonary hemorrhage. Both agencies

give some fairly basic advice: If you see mold, get rid of it.

Cleaning it up is something you can do on your own, with water and

detergent, especially if it's less than 10 square feet. But be

forewarned: The visible mold could just be the beginning. If there's

more mold inside the wall cavity, it's best to consult a

professional. As this reporter found out: micro-organisms (and their

stories) aren't always as simple as they appear.

Mold Ride-Along

I'm accompanying Odor Master Simon on his morning's mold

inspections. We arrive at a house in Summerlin, where the builder

leads us into the master bedroom. There's a 2.5-by-1-foot piece of

the wall cut off, exposing the house's innards. There had been a

water intrusion, and the piece of wall was removed to let the area

dry out.

Simon runs his humidity meter along the exposed wall, searching for

that sign of mold's life force: water. The meter goes off. Bleep

bleep bleep.

Aha!

No.

" It's just reading me, " Simon says. He's allowed the meter to touch

his finger, and it was reading the water in his body.

He moves across the room to the other side of the wall and starts

scanning. Bleep bleep bleep. There's water along the baseboard.

Simon draws two X's in permanent marker about a foot apart. " That

needs to be cut out, " he tells the builder, who then pops it off.

Aha!

Mold. Visible, tangible, lickable mold. Finally. There's dark growth

on the underside of the baseboard, exactly where Simon said it would

be. It's a blackish-green discoloration that looks like, well, mold.

The board is wrapped in a trash bag and thrown away, and the moldy

area is to be left open for two days so it can dry out. We've been

at the house for less than 10 minutes and the mold-inspector's job

is done.

In the truck, Simon explains how some of the other mold inspectors

in town would have handled the situation: They would have covered

the room in plastic and forbidden the homeowner to enter. Told him

to move out. Get his blood tested. Burn everything in the house—it's

contaminated. And they would have charged the homeowner up to

thousands for an air test to determine what kind mold it is (an

unnecessary measure, since the fungus has to be removed in the same

way, regardless of species).

" I would have gladly standing right in front of [remediators who

exaggerate] scraped that off that piece of baseboard and licked it.

And then had no problem being monitored by a physician the next few

weeks to see if I had a cold. "

Remediation

In Nevada, anyone can be a mold consultant—no certification or

licensing required. Thanks to mold hysteria, the experts are coming

out of the infested woodwork, often with credentials as difficult to

see as an aerosolized spore. You could list yourself in the Yellow

Pages tomorrow as an expert, then start telling people what to do.

Happens all the time.

Russ Nassof, an environmental lawyer and president of Environomics,

an environmental consultant firm with a Las Vegas office, says his

company has handled close to 5,000 mold claims nationwide over the

last four years, with about 300 going into litigation. His clients

have been taken to the cleaners by fly-by-night mold " specialists. "

" I've been on cases—actually, we have some now, horror shows—that

have literally put people out of business, and when we look at the

sample results now, going into trial, there's no mold. But they use

some wacko consultant who didn't understand what they were doing,

and told the client, 'Oh, my God, this is a horrible mold problem.'

The insurance company paid them a bazillion dollars, and now someone

marched off merrily into the sunset, but the person who ultimately

has to pay the money can be out of business. It's very sad what's

happened. And the insurance companies, and I'm really in general no

big defender of them, but I have to tell you they've really been

screwed on this end of the deal, because a lot of these claims

really are bogus claims. "

Of course, the insurance industry took that into account when it

started excluding mold coverage on homeowner's policies. Fire

Insurance Exchange, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Farmers Group

Inc. and Nevada's largest provider of homeowners insurance, began

excluding mold damages from its policies in May 2001. State Farm

Fire and Casualty Co., Nevada's second largest provider, followed

suit in March, 2002.

" Insurance is like any other business—you can't afford to have more

going out than you have coming in or you go out of business, " says

Sharon Rorman, public relations director for Nevada Insurance

Council, a nonprofit consumer education organization funded by

various insurance companies that do business in Nevada.

And to make matters worse, professional liability coverage for mold

remediators is next to impossible to get. So if a mold job is

botched and a homeowner hopes to successfully sue the mold company

that botched it? Fat chance, if they're uninsured.

Mold Ride-Along, Stop II

We pull up to a rental property in Summerlin. The woman who lets us

in immediately apologizes for the smell—something neither Simon nor

I are able to detect. The, ahem, glamour of Simon's job soon becomes

apparent. He's on his hands and knees over the toilet, looking down.

His face wrinkles. " There's hairs, " he says, disgusted. I look

around the room, noting the plastic bags full of cash sitting on the

dresser, tampons laying out, bras strewn around, panties. Ewww.

Simon detects some sewer gas coming from the toilet (normal, he

says, but it could account for what she's smelling. He instructs her

to flush some bleach.) Then his humidity reader goes crazy in the

shower. Bleep bleep bleep. Bleep bleep bleep. Seems there's water

stuck behind the tiles two-thirds of the way up the wall. He finds

that it's also in the bedroom walls. The woman tells him that when

she moved in, there was a suspicious, smelly puddle in front of the

house. He concludes that the puddle is somehow connected to the

water in the walls and that the water must be dirty—hence, the smell

that neither he nor I can detect. He recommends having someone come

back and get into the walls to see what's going on—we could have a

case of mold on our hands. But the woman has to get her landlord's

approval to bring Odor Masters back at a later date. So there are no

more mold sightings in store for the day.

Of course, that doesn't mean the fun's over. Simon has a trick to

show me.

" Want to see something criminal? " He runs his humidity meter down a

wall, and it makes no noise. " Now watch, " he says, running it down

the same place. Bleep bleep bleep. He looks at me, eyebrows

raised. " You put your finger under it, " I point out. The meter was

reading Simon's humidity, not the wall's. You wouldn't have seen it

if you didn't know what to look for.

" I'll tell you, it will probably be at some point detrimental to us

that we've been this honest, simply because we'll make a decent

living while this whole mold thing is going on, while these other

companies will get rich quick. "

Finger Pointing

As quickly as homeowners can blame slow-acting insurance companies,

and mold consultants can blame other mold consultants, and everyone

can blame the media, and doctors can blame home builders, so can the

home builders blame the lawyers.

" This is being generated primarily by plaintiff's attorneys, trial

attorneys, who are looking at a new avenue, another avenue, as they

have looked at many avenues, including the fast-food industry, for

pain and suffering award potential, says Caruso, spokeswoman

for the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association. " It's an attorney-

generated alleged 'issue,' and we always put issue in quotation

marks. "

Look closely. Squint your eyes. Try to catch a glimpse of an air

quote. It's almost as elusive as a mold spore. Until more research

is done and solid facts to consult, the air quotes—and the blame

game—will continue.

The Boogeyman, or Not

Back in his office, next door to the Clean Room, Terranova is

sharing stories about Mold Survivors, a nonprofit organization he's

head of. He can't understand why the group's salacious-sounding name

has annoyed folks in the mold business; they're accusing him of

encouraging lawsuits. He's just trying to educate people, he reminds

me. Teach them that mold is not the boogeyman, he says. Over the

next couple of hours, he enlightens me with more and more examples.

" I've got medical doctors here in town, one of which run a cancer

clinic. Him and his wife lost their million dollar home because of

mold. His wife had cancer, she was immuno-compromised, they had

mold, she was sensitized. She was not able to live in that—you and

I, no problem. That was her home, right on the country club, it was

on the golf course. They had to bulldoze it down. "

And then: " I've got a report right here from an international

financial institution that asked me to go look at a local residence

to see if they have a mold problem or not so they can value that

home. After my report, all the background information and

conclusions, my recommendation is to bulldoze the house down. "

And next: " She is now on the verge of divorce because of

mold. ...The baby's getting sick, throwing up. Throwing up. Getting

hives. Temperature. Shaking. Nauseated. They take the children on

vacation, they clear up in one day. They stay cleared up until they

come back from vacation. The day they come back from vacation, the

kids are throwing up again. What's wrong with this picture? "

Not the boogeyman, eh? After hearing those stories, it seems

difficult to deny the connection between mold and monster. Once

those spores (and stories about them) spread quickly enough to make

a visible nuisance, as we've seen sweeping the nation, it's

impossible to tell which developments are toxic, like good ol'

Stachy, and which are healthy, like penicillin. You've got to assume

that the truth about mold and its effects on your health lies

somewhere in the middle, between not-the-best-thing-for-you, and

certainly-not-the-worst—kind of like bleu cheese. No one's afraid of

licking that.

Back to homepage

[Guest guest]

> She's now living in a cob house (do a google search if interested,

here's one

> http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/cobhouse.html

>

" Papercrete " and " it doesn't mold " ???

How on Earth does it NOT grow mold?

Amazing if it is really true.

Creative and interesting structures though.

I've had fierce " hits " from shredded paper " blown in " attic insulation.

Didn't LOOK bad, but felt REALLY deadly.

-

[Guest guest]

Wrong conclusion, I think, but an excellent article, nonetheless! One of the

better ones I've seen.

Serena

www.freeboards.net/index.php?mforum=sickgovernmentb

---------------------------------

for Good

Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

[Guest guest]

Angel MCS wrote:

>YOu also neglected to mention the building that UNLV transported

form the NW and verified it was mold ridden.

The other building you are refercening I think is either Grant

Sawyer or new county building, everyone knows about them. Dear old

Pscars office is so mold ridden its amazing he isn't sick yet.<

Angel, I neglected a BUNCH of places in LV that slam me.

My point is that if someone has reached the level of sensitivity in

which objects from their old contaminated house can still 'slam'

them, then just walking through plumes from any of these buildings

will leave the same lingering effect unless they decontaminate.

That's the basis for the MADNESS protocol.

-

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005, erikmoldwarrior wrote:

> Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 23:35:20 -0000

>

> Subject: [] Re: Sorry but I just have to vent!

>

> Angel MCS <jap2bemc@s...> wrote:

>> .....

>> I guess you have the ultimate information here in Vegas?

>>

>> I live on the lake, not MEAD but the one that is man made 4 miles

> form the strip. And I can ASSURE you with all the testing I have

> done for mold here there is nothing, so I think it is not as bad as

> in nortern NV.

>> Granted, apt/home flooding will contribute, but nothing like the

> dampness with the snow etc.

>>

>> I would VENTURE to guess that the homes on MT CHarleston would be

> more prone to mold as they have the snow at such a high elevation.

> -Angel

>>

> > .....

> > I guess you have the ultimate information here in Vegas?

> >

> > I live on the lake, not MEAD but the one that is man made 4

miles

> form the strip. And I can ASSURE you with all the testing I have

> done for mold here there is nothing, so I think it is not as bad

as

> in nortern NV.

> > Granted, apt/home flooding will contribute, but nothing like the

> dampness with the snow etc.

> >

> > I would VENTURE to guess that the homes on MT CHarleston would

be

> more prone to mold as they have the snow at such a high elevation.

> -Angel

> >

>

> Found a fair number of places that give me a slam just walking

down

> the strip, probably about the same as Reno.

> Dr. Craner of Verdi and Stetzenbach of UNLV have

> identified hundreds of sick buildings in Las Vegas, including a

> major office building with nearly a thousand employees. So far it

> looks like the combination of precontaminated materials and

constant

> use of HVAC might make a more dangerous mix than snow load.

> -

>

> LAS VEGAS WEEKLY Jan 28 2005

>

> Specks

>

> It begins with a spore too tiny to see but has become a problem

too

> big to eradicate. It's mold. How threatening is it? The truth can

be

> as hard to see as the spores.

>

> By Kate Silver • Cover photo by Benjamen Purvis

>

>

> You'd think the Apocalypse or at least Saddam had hit Chinatown.

In

> a leased space in the Spring Mountain strip mall, two men

enshrouded

> in white HAZMAT suits work in a harshly lit, white tent-like

> structure, labeled " Terranova Clean Room. " Clean air blows into

one

> side of the tent—built for about $1,000 in a warehouse-like room—

and

> is sucked out through the other. Armed with Q-Tips, toothbrushes

and

> small, air-blowing wands, the biohazard warriors inside swipe at

the

> crevices, holes, buttons and curves of a computer monitor. It's an

> eerie, chilling sight in this era of anthrax scares and endless

talk

> of biochemical weapons, but this is the front line in the war on a

> different kind of terror, that axis of organic evil, mold. Toxic

> mold.

> Each contaminated computer station takes three hours to clean with

a

> distinctly nonadvanced technology: a solution of Dawn dish soap

and

> water. The men have been working on equipment from this office for

> seven months and expect it will take another nine to complete.

> They'll keep swiping until the spores are no more.

>

> I look closely into the room, peer around the perimeter, which is

> about 10-feet by 10-feet. Squint my eyes, trying to catch a

glimpse

> of any black, yellow or green specks. It all looks clean to me. I

> don't see anything.

>

> Doesn't matter, says remediation consultant and expert witness

> Terranova; the room may seem clean, but those computers are

> contaminated—whether you see it or not.

>

> " Mold spores are two to 10 microns in size. Actually, you can have

> some that are as big as 30 microns. A human hair is 59 microns,

OK? "

> roars Terranova. He pauses, as though the silence will help me

> appreciate just how tiny a spore can be. " So the normal human eye

> cannot see mold spores in the air. "

>

> And that's the real problem: Something we can't see has taken

over.

>

> You've heard the stories: People move out of their homes; lose

their

> minds, health and savings; pay thousands for tests and treatments

> they've never heard of, in an industry that's not regulated,

> battling a substance that's not scientifically proven to affect

> their health; as lawsuits multiply, insurance coverage disappears.

> Invisible cause? Foreseeable effects—some compare it to former

> fashionable crises. Remember asbestos? Lead paint?

>

> Like an invisible spore, the mold issue started out miniscule. But

> now it's mushroomed, it stinks and its most tangible impact is

slimy

> and green.

>

> We've Got Fungal Fever

>

> Perhaps second only to terrorists, mold has morphed into the

monster

> of the 21st century, sounding like something straight out of

> King. People claim they're losing their memories, coughing up

blood.

> Homes are being bulldozed. The Yellow Pages are brimming with

> freshly christenened mold experts.

>

> The high-profile cases have fueled the frenzy: In Dripping

Springs,

> Texas, a jury awarded $32 million to the Ballard family because of

a

> black, toxic mold that started with a leaky pipe. Brockovitch

> and Ed McMahon have filed mold lawsuits.

>

> In the last couple of years, mold and mold antidotes have sprouted

> everywhere. Does that mean there's more mold? Maybe. Maybe not.

> Depending on who you talk to, the increase can be attributed to a

> tremendous variety of factors. A) Housing defects—they're built

> quickly, cheaply, with little or no supervision; the insurance

> industry's slow handling of claims (water problems turn into mold

> problems before they approve repairs); C) we've stopped using lead-

> based paint, which may have once prevented mold growth; D) we're a

> get-rich-quick, sue-happy nation; E) thanks to the Internet,we're

> more aware of health issues F) increased flooding in recent years;

> G) there's no increase in the mold problem—just more problem-

solvers

> looking for business; H) the mold problem-solvers are actually

> contaminating houses; I) we've moved on from asbestos and need a

new

> boogeyman.

>

> In Nevada, mold contamination has been found in 35 state buildings—

> places like the Desert Willow Hospital, Southern Nevada

Correctional

> Center, the Grant Sawyer Building, the Department of Motor

Vehicles

> main Reno office, the National Guard Complex in Carson City, the

> dome of the legislative building and basement of the Nevada

Capitol.

> Most likely, it's in at least one of your friends' or neighbors'

> homes.

>

> But wait. Look closely. Squint your eyes, trying to catch a

glimpse

> of any black, yellow or green specks. You've heard the stories,

read

> the reports, but have you seen anything?

>

> Mold Buster

>

> Terranova's seen something. With his white Reeboks, white

> socks, and animated, excitable manner, Terranova doesn't look like

a

> frontline soldier in the war on spores. But we've already

> established that this isn't a business where you can trust your

> vision.

>

> " There was enough to choke a horse in there. There was Penicillium

> and Aspergillus and Stachybotrys … "

>

> Terranova is taking a phone call before our interview begins.

>

> " Construction laborers don't have a lot of self-esteem, so they

have

> to be supervised. They need to clean up their own mess. It doesn't

> matter what it's going to cost them. "

>

> He pauses, cupping his hand over the phone's mouthpiece to explain

> the situation: Seems a couple paid a company to perform a mold-

> abatement procedure. They didn't handle the situation properly and

> contaminated the whole house. Now Terranova's working with the

> couple and the couple's lawyers to try to make things right. He

gets

> back on the phone.

>

> " Anyone who goes in there really should be suited up, it's bad in

> there. " Stops, listens. Raises voice. " Well I hope she doesn't

stay

> in there long. I told her not to go in there. Tell her to protect

> her hair. The mold spores like hair. " Listens.

>

> " You cannot clean the vehicle 100 percent. You're better off to

sell

> it and buy a new car. Uh huh. Uh huh. " He fiddles with a hole

> puncher on his desk.

>

> " You're one step away from a bubble, you know that, don't you?

> You're sensitized to everything. "

>

> When he hangs up, he explains his mission to me: He's not trying

to

> scare anyone—really, he isn't. He just wants to relay the

> facts. " Our motto is to help victims become survivors. Just

through

> education. Just so you're not scared of the boogeyman. I mean,

mold

> has been around, that we know of, at least since the Old

Testament,

> Leviticus 14, " he says, calmly.

>

> But after that phone call, it's difficult to block out the battle

> cry of the boogeyman, and even more difficult to see where the

real

> problem lies.

>

> Keep squinting.

>

> The Home Owner

>

> It begins with a drop of water. If it's not dried, that water

> eventually breeds mold—always has, always will. So why are we

seeing

> such a different reaction to such a natural process?

>

> It's happening across the Valley, across the country: They're told

> to get out of the house. It's contaminated, the mold consultant's

> say. So they go.

>

> That's how it was for Ann and Ted (not their real names). After a

> toilet overflowed, the downstairs of their house flooded, leading

to

> mold growth. They'd seen the news reports of toxic, deadly mold,

and—

> since Ted has a lung condition—have reason to be afraid. Ann and

Ted

> move to a hotel. They call in a mold remediation company to do

some

> testing. Rooms are cordoned off, covered in plastic and the

company

> affirms that yes, they have mold. And, yes, it needs to be

removed.

> The specimen is what Ann describes as " basically, a speck. "

> Something she could barely see.

>

> It's a speck that the company says will run them $14,000.

>

> Worse: Their insurance policy doesn't cover mold removal. And

> they're not alone. Over the last year, with mold cases soaring,

all

> of the major insurance companies have dropped mold coverage,

leaving

> the homeowner to fend for him or herself. Ann and Ted could barely

> see the problem, and now they can't see the solution.

>

> Mold Buster II

>

> Meet Ian Simon, the boogeyman's conscientious objector. As the

owner

> of Odor Masters, a Las Vegas company that detects and removes

mold,

> he's waging a war of his own against the fungus—and just like

> Terranova, he says he aims to set folks straight, calm them down.

> But you won't hear him sharing any horror stories. He won't stand

> for such things. He's so tired of the media and mold " experts "

going

> on about the dangers of mold—he says he'll lick it.

>

> Now that's something we'd all like to see: This bare-headed, tough

> guy sticking his wet tongue against the fuzzy tendrils of

household

> fungus goop. Then he'd swallow and live, exhibiting a few cold-

like

> symptoms, at most. " The point is, the only way to get sick off

mold

> is to lick it off the wall. " (When challenged to demonstrate,

> however, he declines. " I'm getting over the flu, " he says.)

>

> Simon has been in the mold-cleaning business since long before

mold

> was " fashionable, " as he puts it, having cleaned the fungus since

> 1990. Today, he talks about " doing what's right for the mold

> industry. " He's tired of mold consultants charging frightened

> residents for unnecessary tests and procedures.

>

> " More often than not, the residents are prepared to drop the

money,

> because they just want to know. They're scared shitless, they've

> heard what they've heard on the media. We try and educate them on

> what they've heard on the media and what the realities are. What

> actually transpired. You know, 'Another Case of Deadly Toxic Mold

in

> the Valley.' That's the headline that you see on the news, " he

says,

> exasperated. " And then they show a piece of Sheetrock that's got

two

> feet of visible discoloration on it. That's not another case of

> deadly toxic—even if you licked it off the wall, you might get an

> upper respiratory infection, but that's about it. "

>

> Science and Health

>

> " Don't just focus on Stachybotrys, " begs Dr. Stetzenbach. As

> director of the microbiology division of UNLV's Harry Reid Center

> for Environmental Studies, Stetzenbach has been at the forefront

of

> the mold scourge and knows that Stachybotrys has become the

starlet

> of the toxic molds, with cameo appearances on 20/20, 48 Hours and

> just about every major paper across the nation. It's the black

mold,

> the (sometimes) toxic fungus. But it's certainly not alone.

There's

> also potentially harmful Aspergillus, Penicillium, Chaetomium,

> Aureobasidium, Alternaria, Fusarium, Trichoderma, and more.

>

> " Many of these produce mycotoxins, " she says. " Some of them can be

> neurotoxic, can attack the nervous system. Many of them produce

> toxins, and they can act on different organ systems of the body.

> Many can be allergenic if the person is sensitized to them. They

> produce volatile organic compounds, odors that are very pungent.

> Those odors can produce an irritant response likened to if you're

> sitting next to someone in a movie theater who wears a cologne

that

> bothers you. If you're in an office building or a home and you

have

> those pungent odors, that can result in headache or nausea. "

>

> It's when people get sick, obviously, that the spores receive

> attention. Experts say that only about 5 percent of people may be

> affected by mold. And while some speculate that mold exposure is

> tied to memory loss, coughing up blood and respiratory problems,

> there's no solid proof. Of course, the extreme cases are highly

> visible, while the more common mold-associated sniffles don't make

> such juicy stories. And it's the minor health grievances that are

> most common.

>

> Dr. Craner, a board-certified occupational and environmental

> medicine physician who practices in Las Vegas and Reno, is perhaps

> the doctor most often called upon to make the connection between

> mold and health. He's examined hundreds of patients and buildings

> locally. " The health issue of concern is exposure to mold that

> results from water-damaged building materials, particularly gypsum

> board. Such exposure produces 'sick building' symptoms that mimic

a

> head cold or allergies, as well as significant fatigue and

> impairment of certain mental functions. Other, more severe health

> effects are often discussed, but rarely do they actually occur.

What

> distinguishes mold-related health effects from these other common

> disorders is that with mold, multiple occupants are usually

> affected, and their symptoms are reversible—they occur only when

> they are inside the particular building and resolve when they are

> removed from the building, " he says.

>

> Still, the Centers for Disease Control and the EPA state that

> there's no causal link between the presence of toxic mold and

health

> problems like memory loss or pulmonary hemorrhage. Both agencies

> give some fairly basic advice: If you see mold, get rid of it.

>

> Cleaning it up is something you can do on your own, with water and

> detergent, especially if it's less than 10 square feet. But be

> forewarned: The visible mold could just be the beginning. If

there's

> more mold inside the wall cavity, it's best to consult a

> professional. As this reporter found out: micro-organisms (and

their

> stories) aren't always as simple as they appear.

>

> Mold Ride-Along

>

> I'm accompanying Odor Master Simon on his morning's mold

> inspections. We arrive at a house in Summerlin, where the builder

> leads us into the master bedroom. There's a 2.5-by-1-foot piece of

> the wall cut off, exposing the house's innards. There had been a

> water intrusion, and the piece of wall was removed to let the area

> dry out.

>

> Simon runs his humidity meter along the exposed wall, searching

for

> that sign of mold's life force: water. The meter goes off. Bleep

> bleep bleep.

>

> Aha!

>

> No.

>

> " It's just reading me, " Simon says. He's allowed the meter to

touch

> his finger, and it was reading the water in his body.

>

> He moves across the room to the other side of the wall and starts

> scanning. Bleep bleep bleep. There's water along the baseboard.

> Simon draws two X's in permanent marker about a foot apart. " That

> needs to be cut out, " he tells the builder, who then pops it off.

>

> Aha!

>

> Mold. Visible, tangible, lickable mold. Finally. There's dark

growth

> on the underside of the baseboard, exactly where Simon said it

would

> be. It's a blackish-green discoloration that looks like, well,

mold.

>

> The board is wrapped in a trash bag and thrown away, and the moldy

> area is to be left open for two days so it can dry out. We've been

> at the house for less than 10 minutes and the mold-inspector's job

> is done.

>

> In the truck, Simon explains how some of the other mold inspectors

> in town would have handled the situation: They would have covered

> the room in plastic and forbidden the homeowner to enter. Told him

> to move out. Get his blood tested. Burn everything in the house—

it's

> contaminated. And they would have charged the homeowner up to

> thousands for an air test to determine what kind mold it is (an

> unnecessary measure, since the fungus has to be removed in the

same

> way, regardless of species).

>

> " I would have gladly standing right in front of [remediators who

> exaggerate] scraped that off that piece of baseboard and licked

it.

> And then had no problem being monitored by a physician the next

few

> weeks to see if I had a cold. "

>

> Remediation

>

> In Nevada, anyone can be a mold consultant—no certification or

> licensing required. Thanks to mold hysteria, the experts are

coming

> out of the infested woodwork, often with credentials as difficult

to

> see as an aerosolized spore. You could list yourself in the Yellow

> Pages tomorrow as an expert, then start telling people what to do.

> Happens all the time.

>

> Russ Nassof, an environmental lawyer and president of

Environomics,

> an environmental consultant firm with a Las Vegas office, says his

> company has handled close to 5,000 mold claims nationwide over the

> last four years, with about 300 going into litigation. His clients

> have been taken to the cleaners by fly-by-night

mold " specialists. "

>

> " I've been on cases—actually, we have some now, horror shows—that

> have literally put people out of business, and when we look at the

> sample results now, going into trial, there's no mold. But they

use

> some wacko consultant who didn't understand what they were doing,

> and told the client, 'Oh, my God, this is a horrible mold

problem.'

> The insurance company paid them a bazillion dollars, and now

someone

> marched off merrily into the sunset, but the person who ultimately

> has to pay the money can be out of business. It's very sad what's

> happened. And the insurance companies, and I'm really in general

no

> big defender of them, but I have to tell you they've really been

> screwed on this end of the deal, because a lot of these claims

> really are bogus claims. "

>

> Of course, the insurance industry took that into account when it

> started excluding mold coverage on homeowner's policies. Fire

> Insurance Exchange, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Farmers

Group

> Inc. and Nevada's largest provider of homeowners insurance, began

> excluding mold damages from its policies in May 2001. State Farm

> Fire and Casualty Co., Nevada's second largest provider, followed

> suit in March, 2002.

>

> " Insurance is like any other business—you can't afford to have

more

> going out than you have coming in or you go out of business, " says

> Sharon Rorman, public relations director for Nevada Insurance

> Council, a nonprofit consumer education organization funded by

> various insurance companies that do business in Nevada.

>

> And to make matters worse, professional liability coverage for

mold

> remediators is next to impossible to get. So if a mold job is

> botched and a homeowner hopes to successfully sue the mold company

> that botched it? Fat chance, if they're uninsured.

>

> Mold Ride-Along, Stop II

>

> We pull up to a rental property in Summerlin. The woman who lets

us

> in immediately apologizes for the smell—something neither Simon

nor

> I are able to detect. The, ahem, glamour of Simon's job soon

becomes

> apparent. He's on his hands and knees over the toilet, looking

down.

> His face wrinkles. " There's hairs, " he says, disgusted. I look

> around the room, noting the plastic bags full of cash sitting on

the

> dresser, tampons laying out, bras strewn around, panties. Ewww.

>

> Simon detects some sewer gas coming from the toilet (normal, he

> says, but it could account for what she's smelling. He instructs

her

> to flush some bleach.) Then his humidity reader goes crazy in the

> shower. Bleep bleep bleep. Bleep bleep bleep. Seems there's water

> stuck behind the tiles two-thirds of the way up the wall. He finds

> that it's also in the bedroom walls. The woman tells him that when

> she moved in, there was a suspicious, smelly puddle in front of

the

> house. He concludes that the puddle is somehow connected to the

> water in the walls and that the water must be dirty—hence, the

smell

> that neither he nor I can detect. He recommends having someone

come

> back and get into the walls to see what's going on—we could have a

> case of mold on our hands. But the woman has to get her landlord's

> approval to bring Odor Masters back at a later date. So there are

no

> more mold sightings in store for the day.

>

> Of course, that doesn't mean the fun's over. Simon has a trick to

> show me.

>

> " Want to see something criminal? " He runs his humidity meter down

a

> wall, and it makes no noise. " Now watch, " he says, running it down

> the same place. Bleep bleep bleep. He looks at me, eyebrows

> raised. " You put your finger under it, " I point out. The meter was

> reading Simon's humidity, not the wall's. You wouldn't have seen

it

> if you didn't know what to look for.

>

> " I'll tell you, it will probably be at some point detrimental to

us

> that we've been this honest, simply because we'll make a decent

> living while this whole mold thing is going on, while these other

> companies will get rich quick. "

>

> Finger Pointing

>

> As quickly as homeowners can blame slow-acting insurance

companies,

> and mold consultants can blame other mold consultants, and

everyone

> can blame the media, and doctors can blame home builders, so can

the

> home builders blame the lawyers.

>

> " This is being generated primarily by plaintiff's attorneys, trial

> attorneys, who are looking at a new avenue, another avenue, as

they

> have looked at many avenues, including the fast-food industry, for

> pain and suffering award potential, says Caruso,

spokeswoman

> for the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association. " It's an

attorney-

> generated alleged 'issue,' and we always put issue in quotation

> marks. "

>

> Look closely. Squint your eyes. Try to catch a glimpse of an air

> quote. It's almost as elusive as a mold spore. Until more research

> is done and solid facts to consult, the air quotes—and the blame

> game—will continue.

>

> The Boogeyman, or Not

>

> Back in his office, next door to the Clean Room, Terranova is

> sharing stories about Mold Survivors, a nonprofit organization

he's

> head of. He can't understand why the group's salacious-sounding

name

> has annoyed folks in the mold business; they're accusing him of

> encouraging lawsuits. He's just trying to educate people, he

reminds

> me. Teach them that mold is not the boogeyman, he says. Over the

> next couple of hours, he enlightens me with more and more

examples.

>

> " I've got medical doctors here in town, one of which run a cancer

> clinic. Him and his wife lost their million dollar home because of

> mold. His wife had cancer, she was immuno-compromised, they had

> mold, she was sensitized. She was not able to live in that—you and

> I, no problem. That was her home, right on the country club, it

was

> on the golf course. They had to bulldoze it down. "

>

> And then: " I've got a report right here from an international

> financial institution that asked me to go look at a local

residence

> to see if they have a mold problem or not so they can value that

> home. After my report, all the background information and

> conclusions, my recommendation is to bulldoze the house down. "

>

> And next: " She is now on the verge of divorce because of

> mold. ...The baby's getting sick, throwing up. Throwing up.

Getting

> hives. Temperature. Shaking. Nauseated. They take the children on

> vacation, they clear up in one day. They stay cleared up until

they

> come back from vacation. The day they come back from vacation, the

> kids are throwing up again. What's wrong with this picture? "

>

> Not the boogeyman, eh? After hearing those stories, it seems

> difficult to deny the connection between mold and monster. Once

> those spores (and stories about them) spread quickly enough to

make

> a visible nuisance, as we've seen sweeping the nation, it's

> impossible to tell which developments are toxic, like good ol'

> Stachy, and which are healthy, like penicillin. You've got to

assume

> that the truth about mold and its effects on your health lies

> somewhere in the middle, between not-the-best-thing-for-you, and

> certainly-not-the-worst—kind of like bleu cheese. No one's afraid

of

> licking that.

>

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