Fwd: Is Mystery Mold to Blame for Student Sickness?

[Guest guest]

Dear Ms. Blaha:

Your article was posted on a list of people who have had various health issues

coming from mold an mycotoxin exposure.

My compliments both to your writing AND to your campus for taking the matter

seriously and addressing the situation promptly.

I must take issue, however, with one quote because it is factually incorrect:

Reid Raudenbush, Director of the Plant, said, " Mold is present everywhere and

there are tons of thousands of strains existing. Mold needs high humidity and

wet areas in order to grow. While there is no such thing as a toxic mold, there

are people who are more sensitive to it with respiration and asthma issues. "

He's correct that there are a LOT of strains of mold out there. As he states,

molds certainly can cause infection, irritation and allergy, but his comment

neglects to recognize that under certain circumstances, some molds are able to

produce secondary metabolites which can be extremely poisonous or 'toxic.'

Antibiotics are among these secondary metabolites, and as we know, they are

capable of killing off bacteria - something helpful to humans under certain

circumstances. Other secondary metabolites, however, can be extremely dangerous

to humans. 'Trichothecene' is one such mycotoxin - it is generally accepted to

be the poison that was known as 'yellow rain' dropped over Laos in the 70s.

You'll note that the CDC clearly indicates that Trichothecene mycotoxins have

the potential to be lethal:

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/trichothecene/casedef.asp. Poisoning from

Trichothecene is seen from time to time in humans in this country, but testing

for it is not standard, so many cases go unidentified.

I'm not asserting in any way that there are problems with mycotoxins at the

school - it sounds as if remediation is being handled in a thorough and

responsible manner and that students are safe while cleanup is accomplished.

However, there has been a very effective campaign in this country to downplay

potential danger from indoor mold growth, and Mr. Raudenbush is repeating a line

from this campaign when he says there is 'no such thing as a toxic mold.' A

very simple search on the web would show that this is not a true statement -

many molds are capable of producing substances quite toxic to humans - it is

attempting to split hairs in a legalistic fashion to say that molds themselves

are not toxic when they can (and sometimes do) produce toxins.

Haley Mack

Austin, TX

September 14, 2007

Is Mystery Mold to Blame for Student Sickness?

http://elm.washcoll.edu/past/079/02/myst.php

BY KATIE BLAHA

News Editor

After discovering mold growing in a House bathroom on Saturday,

Washington College is in the process of having the air quality in all eleven

Western Shore buildings tested.