Re: Existence of toxic mold syndrome questioned

[Guest guest]

I think that we should put out our own publication titled: " The Anals

of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology " and expose these debunkers in it.

Barth

TOXIC MOLD SURVEY: www.presenting.net/sbs/sbssurvey.html

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jmc> List members,

jmc> I don't remember seeing reference to this article. Sorry if it is a

repeat:

jmc> " Existence of toxic mold syndrome questioned "

jmc> Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:35 PM BST

jmc>

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews & storyID=2005-10\

-14T193343Z_01_EIC470430_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-TOXIC-MOLD-DC.XML

jmc> By Will Boggs, MD

jmc> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mold and dampness can cause coughing and

wheezing, but there is little evidence to support the existence of the so-called

toxic mold syndrome, according to a report

jmc> by researchers at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.

jmc> Toxic mold syndrome -- illnesses caused specifically by exposure to mold --

continues to cause public concern despite a lack of evidence that supports its

existence, researchers explain in the

jmc> September issue of the ls of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Several

critical reviews have failed to find scientific support for toxic effects from

breathing in mold spores as a viable

jmc> mechanism of human disease, they add.

jmc> Dr. Barzin Khalili and Dr. Emil J. Bardana, Jr. describe the clinical

characteristics of 50 patients with complaints of illness they attributed to

mold exposure in their home or workplace. The

jmc> patients had been referred by a defense attorney in a civil litigation or

by insurance adjusters representing worker's compensation agencies.

jmc> There was no consistent set of symptoms, the authors report, with patients

having an average of more than eight symptoms. Most patients reported a family

or personal history of allergy or asthma.

jmc> Three quarters of the patients had abnormal physical examination results,

the researchers note, with inflammation of the eye or skin and congestion

occurring most commonly.

jmc> Thirty patients had other non-mold-related illnesses that could explain

most, if not all, of their mold-related complaints, the report indicates, and

nearly two thirds of the individuals had

jmc> evidence of a previously diagnosed mood disorder.

jmc> " In fact, " the investigators write, " when the entire history and objective

evidence were scrutinized, a number of well-established and plausible diagnoses

emerged that explained many, if not

jmc> all, the complaints. "

jmc> In a commentary in the journal, Dr. Abba I. Terr from UCSF Medical Center,

San Francisco contends that toxic mold disease is " the latest in a series of

environmentally related pseudo-illnesses "

jmc> that include multiple chemical sensitivity, also known as idiopathic

environmental intolerance, and chronic fatigue syndrome, which was attributed at

one time to infection with Epstein-Barr

jmc> virus.

jmc> " Since these authors have determined that the patients they describe do not

have a mold-related disease but are nevertheless seeking compensation for

presumed illness through a legal process

jmc> that has defined it in those terms, toxic mold disease is truly a diagnosis

of litigation, " Terr concludes.

jmc> SOURCE: ls of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, September 2005.

jmc>