Public health threat looms in coming days

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adrianastuijt

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Re: Public health threat looms in coming days

« Reply #3 on Sept 13, 2005, 11:13am »

Stachybotrys toxin threat in New Orleans

I viewed the CNN report about the Dutch sea defences with great

interest as I am one of the many witnesses of the 1953 floods,

living just

outside Rotterdam at that time. See:

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/13/quest.holland/index.html

I visited the levies 12 years ago and couldn't believe that the

people

of New Orleans believed themselves to be safe behind just a few

concrete plates...

As a retired medical reporter, I do however hope that the US news

media

also sees it as its civic duty to warn both the authorities and all

the

New Orleans flood survivors of the extreme dangers of returning too

soon to their homes.

Besides the fact that these badly weakened (and so very poorly made)

levies undoubtedly will break again soon in other places -- because

the

pumping is going far too fast, according to Dutch hydro-engineers --

there's also another, long term danger which I want to warn about,

and

with which the Dutch have had to deal with for many centuries.

We indeed have little or no choice in living in permanently damp

houses, which means that due to the dangerously toxic molds which

thrives in

this environment, our population also suffers from high levels of

chronic asthma, sudden infant death syndrome and many other

pulmonary

diseases.

Dutch housewives have been made the butt of many jokes because they

battled the household mold aggressively, even scrubbing the

sidewalks --

but until this generation, they also managed to keep their families

reasonably healthy.

Now that our housewives are forced to take jobs outdoors, the

scrubbing

has ceased - and asthmam sudden infant death syndrome and deaths

from

pulomary bleeds has been increasing again.

The fact remains that any homes which have had long-term flooding

such

as in New Orleans, cannot safely be re-occupied, as much as the

families may want to go home.

The health authorities will have to take a very firm stance in this

matter and indeed not give in to political pressure from anyone.

Besides the massive and indeed very dangerous cleanup task ahead

(due

to the toxins now seeped into the soil), the gardens and streets

will be

toxic for many years - the Dutch battle such problems by various

means,

for instance planting huge numbers of fast-growing willow and

salt-marsh reeds, which are amazingly good at cleaning up the soil

within just a

few years.

However it's the basements and timbers of all the buildings in the

flood region where the hidden dangers lie, namely the toxic mold

infections

from the very stubborn stachybotrys mold, which leads to

mycotoxicosis

(pulmonary bleeding) in the very young, frail and very old, and

often

chronic asthma in growing children.

I see it as the news media's duty to point out the dangers of having

residents returning too soon to damp homes which have not been made

safe

for occupation yet.

This dictate should apply to everyone - not just families with young

children, who run the greatest risks.

The health authorities must stop them from returning home willy-

nilly

until that home and its entire environment has been made relatively

free

of the strachybotrys toxic mold.

It's a vicious killer, a creeping health hazard which can infect

households for many years, leading some families to even believe

that they

are suffering from some genetic lung ailment when it's their

environment

making them ill.

The US health authorities should clamp down hard on any families

wanting to return to their flood-damaged homes until the Centres for

Disease

Control in Atlanta have verified that each home, its basement, its

roof, its timbers, and its gardens, are relatively free of the

stachybotrus

mold.

It's of course everywhere, but I will bet my bottom dollar that the

levels in New Orleans home will be dangerously high for many years

too

come unless there is a door-to door cleanup and dampproofing of

hourses

and schools especially.

For references to this matter, please refer to Dr Dorr Dearborn of

Cleveland, who first identified such an epidemic among babies living

in

previously flooded homes in the downtown Cleveland, ohio area in

1995.

The Dutch have fought against this mold for many centuries and we

have,

as a population, some of the highest levels of asthma in the world.

Scrubbing the basements and streets frequently with copious amounts

of

chlorine is one method we used to use to avoid getting infected by

the

stuff even more than we already are.

Our health system is very concentrated on lung diseases and has a

huge

screening process in place to make sure that we live in reasonably

clean, safe houses.

But it's an uphill battle. My heart truly goes out to the suffering

people of the lovely city of New Orleans - but please, don't go home

too

soon!

And if anybody has heard from my dear friend Lutz of the New

Orleans area, please ask her to contact her friends. We are all sick

with

worry. where are you Jean?

Best wishes

Stuijt

adrianastuijt@...

IP:

[Guest guest]

This is a really great post! It's good to finally hear something substantive

from outside the US. It's not like we keep all the mold over here on this side

of the pond. Fortunately for the writer, she is from a country with a whole

different manner of dealing with public health issues. I can only imagine how

she'd react if she had any idea what the CDC and the Public Health Service is

really all about. " Test " , indeed. From the very folks who are officially trying

to banish the phrase " toxigenic mold " from the vocabulary.)

I also noted that she mentioned use of lots of bleach, yet people's health there

is NOT improved. Makes you want to ask wahat those old-fashioned housewives were

using, no? (I suspect plenty of vingegar and lye or ammonia, possibly also

borax or maybe TSP, since household cleaning methods really didn't change all

that much in either place until well after the Industrial Revolution got into

full swing. Maybe somebody here from a Dutch background can tell us what their

grandmothers or great-grandmothers used?)

" The US health authorities should clamp down hard on any families

wanting to return to their flood-damaged homes until the Centres for Disease

Control in Atlanta have verified that each home, its basement, its roof, its

timbers, and its gardens, are relatively free of the stachybotrus mold. "

Serena

(Drywall Casserole with Gummint Cheese. It's what's for dinner!)

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