Re: Extreme home last night

[Guest guest]

a,

YES... 'Sell out' is exactly what is going on.. I have been trying to

understand this situation but it really has no relation to logic.. In

private, SO many people agree about that. Its scary.

Yesterday I spoke with a longtime mold guy - not someone from this list,

someone else. He made a lot of sense.

I think most of us are terribly, tragically naive on how these decisions are

made by the people who make them.

We don't have a clue. Myself included. We are barking up the wrong trees,

and unless we are willing to change the entire system, very little we do can

make a difference because of the way mold inspections get done AND WHO PAYS

THEM.

First, the decisions on mold and illness are made based on business factors,

not the science AT ALL. No matter what anybody says to the contrary, its a

lie. We look to the government to make these decisions but the current

government is ON THE RECORD as saying that their decisions are driven by

industry's needs. By industry I mean the building industry, the real estate

industry, the insurance industry. Industries would be very displeased if it

was declared that mold caused illness because then sick people would win

more lawsuits. That would cost them money.

So nobody influential who wants to keep their jobs can displease them by

saying mold causes illness.

We look to the experts in the mold inspection/remediation field for help on

this, but its also VERY naive as the mold inspection industry is 'customer

driven'. The larger firms main customers are the same people who influence

the government's decision making, mostly insurance carriers, builders, real

estate interests like developers and brokers. They pay the bills for mold

inspectors. These are people with mortgages, children etc. and they are not

in a position to argue with these power brokers. They would go bankrupt

because they would not get any business. That is why many mold inspectors

seem so adamant that things that we know are important like removal versus

shortcuts are not the way to go. Again, they may say otherwise, but these

positions they take are driven by the economics. They don't want to lose

chunks of their business.

Other customers, homeowners and then renters are a much smaller piece of the

pie. (They are also largely served by the inexperienced 'two day wonders'

because they won't pay more for the service.)

If other people want the mold inspection industry to change, those other

people are going to have to start paying some of their bills somehow or make

other arrangements.

Another alternative is government stepping in and setting a safe criteria

for mold exposures. Then they would ALL have to follow that criteria and

that would put those who didn't in a liability situation. The good ones

would get more business, the bad ones would end up in trouble.. But that

would require a WILL to overcome the big money interests which would ONLY

happen by lots of those interests losing so much money in lawsuits that it

became cheaper for them to comply..

Another thing I didn't realize. People with next to no training are doing

this work more and more. Almost no training..

Increasingly, in many areas, 'mold inspections' are done by plumbers and

electricians as a sideline who charge $300 total, and that includes lab fees

(!)

These are people taking one or two DAY courses and then hanging out a

shingle as 'mold inspectors'.

If almost any (even the conscientious ones) mold inspector 'fails too many

properties', they run into a problem. The people who refer them most of

their business, the real estate agents, won't send them any customers!

Instead, they will steer their business to the inspectors who never fail

properties..

That is a structural issue that is caused by how we pay mold inspectors..

and it wont change as long as they get paid in that way or unless the

customer base is somehow educated to the point where they realize just how

big the differences in quality are.

Another thing I have heard now several times that I think is totally true..

(All) " Sampling is inherently flawed "

*sigh*

On 10/8/07, a Townsend <kmtown2003@...> wrote:

>

> Did anybody watch? I thought it was a sell out!

> Pretty clear to me, Girl gets cancer from her home, goes into remission

> and than goes back to pretty moldy home. Parents surprised cancer came back.

> It probably caused her cancer.

> Than the idiot host says at the end says with her immune system so low

> from cancer that the mold could cause infections. That was it. oh wait they

> did mention at the beginning the air quality was bad from the mold.

> K

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

They would never say that because most of the contractors they use on the show

are pretty big and we know who their in bed with. God forbid that they would say

the mold is from piss poor building materials and that any type of moisture

mixed with it could cause severe health hazards. I noticed last nights show

they didn't show any scenes of them really putting the house together. Was that

because of all the particle board they used? hmmmm?

K