Re: Doctors' wheezy answer: Cut mold

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Health Department officials said they've met with several asthma groups.

What are they going to DO? Have they said anything about what their enforcement ACTION is going to be?

Doctors' wheezy answer: Cut mold

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2008/02/14/2008-02-14_doctors_wheezy_answer_cut_mold.html

By JORDAN LITE

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, February 14th 2008, 4:00 AM

Asthma specialists want the city to crack down on mold and other housing code violations that are triggers for the disease.

Forty doctors wrote to Mayor Bloomberg, Health Commissioner Frieden and Housing Commissioner Shaun Donovan asking for stricter enforcement of mold removal. They also want pest infestations reclassified from " hazardous " to " immediately hazardous. "

They say housing code violations for mold, which contributes to asthma, have doubled in the past two years.

" The vast majority of our asthma patients - at least 80% - live in apartments rife with asthma triggers, " said Dr. Bob Morrow of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Hospitalization rates for kids in " Asthma Alley " - North Brooklyn, East Harlem and the South Bronx - are more than 10 times higher than the rest of the city, the doctors say.

Health Department officials said they've met with several asthma groups.

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