Policyholders of America Re: Dr. Straus, mycotoxin detection in blood

[Guest guest]

Defense Argument About Mold Related Illness Goes Down in

Flames

a POA exclusive

The long awaited Texas Tech University research study has

just been published (even though the study was submitted

for publication in June, 2004, it just came out this week)

and can now be used to prove up what we knew all along but

lacked the peer reviewed scientific literature to support

our position.

A few years ago, Texas Tech’s Straus, PhD, embarked

on a research project. With the help of a few medical

doctors and a pathology lab, blood sera samples from

patients were collected and sent to Texas Tech under tight

scientific protocols. Such rigorous protocols were

established so that no one could shoot holes through the

study.

Approximately 60 blind samples from three distinct groups

of patients were collected and analyzed by Texas Tech

University’s Health Sciences Center. The code (that made it

a “blind study†was broken only after analysis was complete

so that conclusions could be made without compromising the

integrity of the study.

The mechanism of exposure was inhalation, not consumption

nor absorption. This is important since the defense’s

position tends to be that eating Stachy is the only

exposure mechanism that can make you sick.

Three distinct groups of participants surfaced from the

study:

Group A: Patients with documented evidence that Stachy was

found in building;

Group B: Patients who knew they were exposed to mold but

the mold was not the species of mold was not known;

Group C: Control group (not exposed to indoor mold).

The study found that Patients with documented evidence of

Stachy contamination (Group A) had trichothecene mycotoxins

in blood sera.

The patients who did not have documented Stachy in their

buildings (Group and control group members (Group C) did

not have trichothecene mycotoxins in blood sera.

The paper entitled: Detection of Trichothecene Mycotoxins

in Sera in Individuals Exposed to Stachybotrys Chartarum in

Indoor Environments is attached.