Reservation housing development's mold problem 'a simmering health emergency'

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Reservation housing development's mold problem 'a simmering health

emergency'

Great Falls Tribune*

By ERIC NEWHOUSE

Tribune Projects Editor

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20071216/NEWS01/712160304

Blackfeet Tribal Councilwoman Betty lobbied Montana's

congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., last week, seeking

funding to replace contaminated homes in Browning.

She brought along the latest in a string of studies that found

serious problems in housing on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

The new study from the University of Montana found a high level of

toxins in three-quarters of the 36 homes tested, with much of that

being the result of black mold.

Two UM students interviewed residents of the homes and found that 71

percent of them reported mold-related symptoms, averaging 2.3

ailments per person.

In addition, 37 percent of the children surveyed reported asthma, a

condition frequently associated with mold exposure. That rate is

about four times the national average.

" We're seeing a simmering health emergency, " said Robin Saha,

associate professor with the UM's environmental studies program.

" It has not been assessed by public health officials, but I'm fairly

confident that a further study would show health problems are

occurring because of the mold, " he said.

Saha led a team of student researchers who tested homes for

mycotoxins, including black mold.

" It's a toxic mold that releases toxins into the environment as part

of its metabolic process, " Saha said. " It has a wide range of toxic

effects, with the most severe including immune suppression, asthma,

allergies and a wide variety of respiratory problems, including

pulmonary hemorrhaging in infants. "

Browning is a perfect location for black mold because of the high

water table in that area, Saha said.

" Mold requires a high level of moisture, generally humidity of 75 to

85 percent, and it thrives in cold places, " he said. " The other

reason reservation housing is vulnerable to this mold is because of

inferior materials, poor construction, poor maintenance or

overcrowding. "

It's not a new problem on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

About 150 homes built there in the 1970s were constructed using

wooden foundations treated with arsenic and other toxic materials as

preservatives.

Housing inspectors found the mold a decade ago.

" Fungal growth is prevalent in the areas that were sampled, " a

report from Analytical Services Inc. of Williston, Vt., said in

1997. " Evidence of the presence of a variety of types of fungi was

observed. "

The report said the fungus stachybotrys was found in swab samples

from a resident and in other places. Stachybotrys can cause disease

in animals and humans, including pulmonary hemorrhaging in infants,

it said.

STAT Disaster Restoration Inc. of Kalispell found the same thing

five years later.

" We believe the existing mold colonization of reservation housing

poses an immediate and serious health threat to affected occupants, "

it reported in 2002.

The health threat and previous inaction compelled a group of

Browning residents to sue the tribe's housing authority and the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2002. The

complainants wanted their homes torn down and replaced with safer

ones.

U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon concluded that he lacked jurisdiction

on an Indian reservation and dismissed the suit in 2004, but a three-

judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San

Francisco disagreed, sending the case back to Haddon for further

consideration.

The appellate court said the Blackfeet Tribe waived any claim to

sovereign immunity in the ordinance creating the tribal housing

authority.

That interpretation created a buzz in legal circles because similar

language is found in ordinances creating many tribal housing

authorities across the nation.

There has been no remedial action taken on the Blackfeet homes to

date.

" It's very important because the health of the people means concern

for babies and elders inhaling black mold and toxic chemicals, "

told the Glacier Reporter weekly newspaper recently. " There

are many tribal employees living in those houses. "

Reach Tribune Projects Editor Newhouse at 791-1485, 800-438-

6600 or enewhouse@...