Dr. Kahn, Nightline allergist in 2000 Texas school assessment Science is murky

[Guest guest]

" We see allergic tendencies much more common in children than adults, and

nobody really knows exactly why that is, " said Kahn, assistant professor

of allergy immunology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at

Dallas. " The reality is, we can't quite understand the aging process of the

immune system, but it seems to change. "

Kahn said the exchange of fresh air can be diminished in tighter, crowded

buildings, so schoolchildren could be more susceptible to health problems from

indoor air pollution. The problem is, he said, the scientific data is murky on

the issue. " There's just not enough, " he said. "

Invisible invaders: Mold discoveries and ailments on Texas campuses

CNN News

By Miles Moffeit (http://www.star-telegram.com/) July 10, 2000

Web posted at: 4:18 PM EDT (2018 GMT)

____________________________________

FORT WORTH, Texas (Fort Worth Star Telegram) -- As an investigator in the

thick of an environmental mystery, Ken McBride spends his days slogging through

dark crawl spaces in school buildings, lifting grimy carpets and poking

through cobwebs above ceilings.

Each case presents the same tricky question: Is something in the air making

children sick?

In a span of a few days, McBride prowls through a Burleson elementary school

where there have been reports of foul air and children with itchy eyes, then

he walks the grounds of a Dallas high school where students smell " something

dead. " Back in Tarrant County, he responds to Grapevine parents who are

concerned that they might have a " sick " elementary school building because of

repeated mold discoveries.

McBride, an industrial hygienist for the Texas Department of Health, handles

indoor air concerns in a whopping 49-county territory. All by himself.

" It's like I'm fighting so many alligators, there's no time to drain the

swamp, " he said.

The challenges of solving indoor air mysteries at schools across Texas are

formidable: no staff support, weak state standards, scant public awareness and

lots of invisible intruders. Perhaps not surprisingly, problems persist year

after year and appear to grow.

The big issue: Is the health of schoolchildren being jeopardized by a lack of

attention to air quality?

The danger is real, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and

the World Health Organization, which point to a slew of contaminants in some

buildings -- including construction materials, furnishings, cleaning agents,

pesticides, radon, bacteria, lead and mold.

One cause for alarm is that schools are crowded, so fresh air is easily

reduced. Children's maturing lungs are more susceptible to infection and damage.

Also, a school construction boom exposes children to more contaminants,

experts said.

But no agency in Texas closely tracks incidents of sick children or the

severity of health problems in schools, despite reports at some schools of

allergic reactions, headaches, itchy eyes and other ailments associated with bad

air.

Political barriers

Because of a dearth of data and a lack of guidelines for identifying levels

of dangerous exposures, most lawmakers are not ready to attack the issue.

" If they don't believe it's a real health threat, many say, `Why put money

into it?' " said Quade Stahl, chief of the indoor air quality branch of the

state Department of Health.

Health Department officials said many indoor air problems can be avoided with

careful construction and building maintenance. But many school districts,

already overwhelmed by the construction boom, are unaware of what steps to take

and do not have indoor air policies.

The state and federal governments have standards for indoor air at schools,

but many Texas school districts do not know them.

Then there are political barriers.

About five years ago, a state health task force proposed a set of indoor air

mandates, including a proposal believed to be unprecedented: banning

carpeting in schools because of problems with mold and chemical emissions.

The effort was blocked by hard-lobbying carpet companies that said it was

off-base and would damage the industry.

But recent indoor air problems are prompting another push for strong

controls.

This spring, a wave of mold discoveries and various air problems disrupted

schools in Tarrant and Dallas counties. In Austin, administrators shut down a

mold-infested school. In Burleson, administrators closed an elementary school

because of sewer odors.

In response, state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, chairman of the House Human

Services Committee, said he plans to resurrect his decadelong effort to make

indoor

air monitoring mandatory for school districts. A group of Tarrant County

residents is pushing for a statewide forum on the issue.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency's goal is that 15 percent of

U.S. schools follow government indoor air standards by 2005.

The potential payoff is too profound to ignore, advocates of better indoor

air controls say. Healthy air means healthy children, they say. And healthy

children mean a better learning environment.

" It boils down to common sense: We just don't want or need to live in a

moldy, contaminated environment, " said Mike , indoor environments

coordinator for the Texas region of the EPA.

Hazardous breathing?

Three years ago, investigator McBride was about 15 feet outside the front

door of W.A. Porter Elementary School in Hurst when his senses were assaulted by

mildew odors, he said.

" My sinuses suddenly went berserk, and my throat got really raw, " McBride

said. " I'm like a canary in a coal mine. So I know what that means. "

Inside, he set up a ladder near the center of the school and climbed through

ceiling tiles. Perched on a steel rafter, McBride clicked on his flashlight

and illuminated a huge mass of dark mold.

" This was one of the worst cases I've ever seen, " McBride recalled. " I said,

`Somebody's painted the roof up here black.' "

The blob was not confined to the roof deck -- mold covered 100,000 square

feet of vertical and horizontal space, McBride said. Inspections found it

seeping into walls, ceilings, carpets and crawl spaces. Aspergillus, penicillium

and traces of stachybotrys, a potentially lethal mold, were found. But tests

determined that harmful airborne spores had not slipped into classrooms,

according to documents.

McBride's investigation was triggered by parents' concerns that their

children were having breathing difficulties. That summer, carpets were yanked,

wallboard was ripped out and the roof was replaced.

Back then, Porter Elementary and other schools in the Birdville district were

studies in mold horrors.

Three years later, health officials praise Birdville as being progressive in

its efforts to improve air quality. Other school districts should copy what

it did, officials say.

" Most of the roofs in the district were replaced with metal, so you stop much

of the water infiltration, " said , Birdville governmental

compliance officer. " We also do biannual base line air-quality checks in our

campuses. Our policy also is that we will not go back with carpets. "

Scientists are only beginning to understand the threat of mold in public

buildings. But studies during the past decade indicate links between mold and

" sick building syndrome. "

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, requests

for indoor environment evaluations have increased dramatically since 1980.

Investigations have increased to 52 percent of the CDC caseload since 1990

from eight percent in 1980.

Mold is a fungus that can grow on or in objects and is abundant in outdoor

and indoor air. Buildings can feed excessive fungal growth if surfaces or

hidden materials, such as wallboard, are too moist.

The Centers for Disease Control recently tried to tone down alarm about

stachybotrys, which is believed to be one of the most hazardous molds. But

McBride and others say that dozens of other molds pose dangers to the lungs.

There is good reason to believe that schoolchildren need to be better

protected, experts say.

" We see allergic tendencies much more common in children than adults, and

nobody really knows exactly why that is, " said Kahn, assistant professor

of allergy immunology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at

Dallas. " The reality is, we can't quite understand the aging process of the

immune system, but it seems to change. "

Kahn said the exchange of fresh air can be diminished in tighter, crowded

buildings, so schoolchildren could be more susceptible to health problems from

indoor air pollution. The problem is, he said, the scientific data is murky on

the issue. " There's just not enough, " he said.

Two years ago, Texas Tech University researchers published a 22-month

examination of 48 U.S. schools that identifies mold as a prevalent problem.

" It is clear from our findings that fungal growth in building interiors can

be detrimental to the health of the building's inhabitants, " the study states.

In the buildings examined, 38 percent of staff members (622 occupants)

reported problems from the air, including watery and itchy eyes and nasal

drainage, the study states.

The study also cites links to building practices begun in the 1970s. Texas

abounds in aging schools with sealed windows and cardboard-covered air-

conditioning vents, making them traps for moisture and chemicals. Without fresh

air, paint fumes or gases from new furnishings can linger, and mold can develop.

During the past decade, McBride's office has investigated air problems in at

least 52 schools in Tarrant, Collin, Dallas and Ellis counties. That caseload

does not include the rest of his 49-county beat or complaints handled by

air-testing companies. It also does not cover asbestos cases.

Almost half the reports cite suspicions that students or staff members

suffered ailments, such as allergic reactions or headaches, that are possibly

linked to bad air or mold. No detailed numbers are kept because health

inspectors

and school personnel are not required to do so.

Some patterns emerge. Documents point to poor ventilation, moisture intrusion

and carpeting as culprits behind air pollution.

Here is how mold can creep into a building: A roof leak or other moisture

wets the carpet. Microscopic fungi lying dormant in the carpet grow, and spores

go airborne. The air- conditioning system spreads spores to other parts of

the school, triggering allergic reactions.

" One big problem is that in the summer, some schools shut off the air

conditioning to save money, when it would be better to set it on 70, " McBride

said.

" But when you turn the A off and the humidity gets out of control, once it's

above 70 percent, it's all the mold needs to start growing. "

The Texas Tech survey indicates that health problems drastically declined

after the buildings with mold were scrubbed clean, certain building materials

were replaced and air-conditioning systems were overhauled.

" Complaints registered after remediation by staff never exceeded 3 percent

which represented a significant reduction in the number of complaints, " the

study states.

Schools full of particles

Of all the molecular villains in the indoor air issue, mold appears to

receive the most finger-pointing. Yet, much more can threaten the air that

children breathe.

A thick soup of particles can swirl through a building at any time, and the

concentration is often up to five times greater than that in outdoor air,

according to the EPA.

Gases are given off by furnishings and clothing. Dusts and fibers are stirred

up during construction projects. Hundreds of volatile organic compounds have

been identified, some of them emitted by carpets, wall coverings, sealants,

paint and stain.

Part of the air problem stretches to a 1970s movement to reduce energy costs

amid the oil embargoes. School officials constructed tight buildings that

were more like chambers, diminishing the fresh air that can flush out organic

compounds and other foreign particles.

To ratchet down energy bills, air-conditioning vents were closed and windows

were sealed.

Later that decade, reports of illnesses in buildings mounted, and health

experts began exploring sick building syndrome. Legionnaires' disease also

stirred alarm about airborne bacteria in buildings. As various problems spread,

the EPA ranked indoor air quality among its top five health concerns during the

past decade.

" We spend 90 percent of our time indoors, and there are exposures to all

kinds of particles and chemicals, " said Mike , the EPA indoor environments

coordinator. " The difficult thing is trying to get the message out to

schools. That's what we're trying hard to do now. "

In Texas, parents are driving the movement toward clean air.

Kim of the Texas PTA has nudged districts to adopt indoor air

policies, which only a handful of districts have.

" In Texas, we've had pockets with really bad problems. In El Paso, they were

really bad, " said , the PTA environmental chairwoman. " They had

buildings that were neglected for eight years, and last May, the parents just

erupted. I got this call from a parent who was just beside herself and couldn't

communicate. It's like this a lot -- I spend my time getting them calmed down

to explain what's wrong.

" I called the Health Department and the EPA, and as a result, they're

implementing indoor air quality rules. They also have a new superintendent, " she

said.

School construction and renovations are moving at record paces nationally,

but attempts to spread awareness about safer construction putter along. That

complicates indoor air issues.

**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL

Home.

(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=aolhom00030\

000000001)

[Guest guest]

The only Murky data i've seen is the crap ACOEM put out. I'm not a Dr but if i

can find strong data that is dated long before this interview. I say he's

walking the company line.

snk1955@... wrote:

" We see allergic tendencies much more common in children than adults, and

nobody really knows exactly why that is, " said Kahn, assistant professor

of allergy immunology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at

Dallas. " The reality is, we can't quite understand the aging process of the

immune system, but it seems to change. "

Kahn said the exchange of fresh air can be diminished in tighter, crowded

buildings, so schoolchildren could be more susceptible to health problems from

indoor air pollution. The problem is, he said, the scientific data is murky on

the issue. " There's just not enough, " he said. "

Invisible invaders: Mold discoveries and ailments on Texas campuses

CNN News

By Miles Moffeit (http://www.star-telegram.com/) July 10, 2000

Web posted at: 4:18 PM EDT (2018 GMT)

____________________________________

FORT WORTH, Texas (Fort Worth Star Telegram) -- As an investigator in the

thick of an environmental mystery, Ken McBride spends his days slogging through

dark crawl spaces in school buildings, lifting grimy carpets and poking

through cobwebs above ceilings.

Each case presents the same tricky question: Is something in the air making

children sick?

In a span of a few days, McBride prowls through a Burleson elementary school

where there have been reports of foul air and children with itchy eyes, then

he walks the grounds of a Dallas high school where students smell " something

dead. " Back in Tarrant County, he responds to Grapevine parents who are

concerned that they might have a " sick " elementary school building because of

repeated mold discoveries.

McBride, an industrial hygienist for the Texas Department of Health, handles

indoor air concerns in a whopping 49-county territory. All by himself.

" It's like I'm fighting so many alligators, there's no time to drain the

swamp, " he said.

The challenges of solving indoor air mysteries at schools across Texas are

formidable: no staff support, weak state standards, scant public awareness and

lots of invisible intruders. Perhaps not surprisingly, problems persist year

after year and appear to grow.

The big issue: Is the health of schoolchildren being jeopardized by a lack of

attention to air quality?

The danger is real, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and

the World Health Organization, which point to a slew of contaminants in some

buildings -- including construction materials, furnishings, cleaning agents,

pesticides, radon, bacteria, lead and mold.

One cause for alarm is that schools are crowded, so fresh air is easily

reduced. Children's maturing lungs are more susceptible to infection and

damage.

Also, a school construction boom exposes children to more contaminants,

experts said.

But no agency in Texas closely tracks incidents of sick children or the

severity of health problems in schools, despite reports at some schools of

allergic reactions, headaches, itchy eyes and other ailments associated with

bad

air.

Political barriers

Because of a dearth of data and a lack of guidelines for identifying levels

of dangerous exposures, most lawmakers are not ready to attack the issue.

" If they don't believe it's a real health threat, many say, `Why put money

into it?' " said Quade Stahl, chief of the indoor air quality branch of the

state Department of Health.

Health Department officials said many indoor air problems can be avoided with

careful construction and building maintenance. But many school districts,

already overwhelmed by the construction boom, are unaware of what steps to take

and do not have indoor air policies.

The state and federal governments have standards for indoor air at schools,

but many Texas school districts do not know them.

Then there are political barriers.

About five years ago, a state health task force proposed a set of indoor air

mandates, including a proposal believed to be unprecedented: banning

carpeting in schools because of problems with mold and chemical emissions.

The effort was blocked by hard-lobbying carpet companies that said it was

off-base and would damage the industry.

But recent indoor air problems are prompting another push for strong

controls.

This spring, a wave of mold discoveries and various air problems disrupted

schools in Tarrant and Dallas counties. In Austin, administrators shut down a

mold-infested school. In Burleson, administrators closed an elementary school

because of sewer odors.

In response, state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, chairman of the House Human

Services Committee, said he plans to resurrect his decadelong effort to make

indoor

air monitoring mandatory for school districts. A group of Tarrant County

residents is pushing for a statewide forum on the issue.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency's goal is that 15 percent of

U.S. schools follow government indoor air standards by 2005.

The potential payoff is too profound to ignore, advocates of better indoor

air controls say. Healthy air means healthy children, they say. And healthy

children mean a better learning environment.

" It boils down to common sense: We just don't want or need to live in a

moldy, contaminated environment, " said Mike , indoor environments

coordinator for the Texas region of the EPA.

Hazardous breathing?

Three years ago, investigator McBride was about 15 feet outside the front

door of W.A. Porter Elementary School in Hurst when his senses were assaulted

by

mildew odors, he said.

" My sinuses suddenly went berserk, and my throat got really raw, " McBride

said. " I'm like a canary in a coal mine. So I know what that means. "

Inside, he set up a ladder near the center of the school and climbed through

ceiling tiles. Perched on a steel rafter, McBride clicked on his flashlight

and illuminated a huge mass of dark mold.

" This was one of the worst cases I've ever seen, " McBride recalled. " I said,

`Somebody's painted the roof up here black.' "

The blob was not confined to the roof deck -- mold covered 100,000 square

feet of vertical and horizontal space, McBride said. Inspections found it

seeping into walls, ceilings, carpets and crawl spaces. Aspergillus,

penicillium

and traces of stachybotrys, a potentially lethal mold, were found. But tests

determined that harmful airborne spores had not slipped into classrooms,

according to documents.

McBride's investigation was triggered by parents' concerns that their

children were having breathing difficulties. That summer, carpets were yanked,

wallboard was ripped out and the roof was replaced.

Back then, Porter Elementary and other schools in the Birdville district were

studies in mold horrors.

Three years later, health officials praise Birdville as being progressive in

its efforts to improve air quality. Other school districts should copy what

it did, officials say.

" Most of the roofs in the district were replaced with metal, so you stop much

of the water infiltration, " said , Birdville governmental

compliance officer. " We also do biannual base line air-quality checks in our

campuses. Our policy also is that we will not go back with carpets. "

Scientists are only beginning to understand the threat of mold in public

buildings. But studies during the past decade indicate links between mold and

" sick building syndrome. "

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, requests

for indoor environment evaluations have increased dramatically since 1980.

Investigations have increased to 52 percent of the CDC caseload since 1990

from eight percent in 1980.

Mold is a fungus that can grow on or in objects and is abundant in outdoor

and indoor air. Buildings can feed excessive fungal growth if surfaces or

hidden materials, such as wallboard, are too moist.

The Centers for Disease Control recently tried to tone down alarm about

stachybotrys, which is believed to be one of the most hazardous molds. But

McBride and others say that dozens of other molds pose dangers to the lungs.

There is good reason to believe that schoolchildren need to be better

protected, experts say.

" We see allergic tendencies much more common in children than adults, and

nobody really knows exactly why that is, " said Kahn, assistant professor

of allergy immunology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at

Dallas. " The reality is, we can't quite understand the aging process of the

immune system, but it seems to change. "

Kahn said the exchange of fresh air can be diminished in tighter, crowded

buildings, so schoolchildren could be more susceptible to health problems from

indoor air pollution. The problem is, he said, the scientific data is murky on

the issue. " There's just not enough, " he said.

Two years ago, Texas Tech University researchers published a 22-month

examination of 48 U.S. schools that identifies mold as a prevalent problem.

" It is clear from our findings that fungal growth in building interiors can

be detrimental to the health of the building's inhabitants, " the study states.

In the buildings examined, 38 percent of staff members (622 occupants)

reported problems from the air, including watery and itchy eyes and nasal

drainage, the study states.

The study also cites links to building practices begun in the 1970s. Texas

abounds in aging schools with sealed windows and cardboard-covered air-

conditioning vents, making them traps for moisture and chemicals. Without fresh

air, paint fumes or gases from new furnishings can linger, and mold can

develop.

During the past decade, McBride's office has investigated air problems in at

least 52 schools in Tarrant, Collin, Dallas and Ellis counties. That caseload

does not include the rest of his 49-county beat or complaints handled by

air-testing companies. It also does not cover asbestos cases.

Almost half the reports cite suspicions that students or staff members

suffered ailments, such as allergic reactions or headaches, that are possibly

linked to bad air or mold. No detailed numbers are kept because health

inspectors

and school personnel are not required to do so.

Some patterns emerge. Documents point to poor ventilation, moisture intrusion

and carpeting as culprits behind air pollution.

Here is how mold can creep into a building: A roof leak or other moisture

wets the carpet. Microscopic fungi lying dormant in the carpet grow, and spores

go airborne. The air- conditioning system spreads spores to other parts of

the school, triggering allergic reactions.

" One big problem is that in the summer, some schools shut off the air

conditioning to save money, when it would be better to set it on 70, " McBride

said.

" But when you turn the A off and the humidity gets out of control, once it's

above 70 percent, it's all the mold needs to start growing. "

The Texas Tech survey indicates that health problems drastically declined

after the buildings with mold were scrubbed clean, certain building materials

were replaced and air-conditioning systems were overhauled.

" Complaints registered after remediation by staff never exceeded 3 percent

which represented a significant reduction in the number of complaints, " the

study states.

Schools full of particles

Of all the molecular villains in the indoor air issue, mold appears to

receive the most finger-pointing. Yet, much more can threaten the air that

children breathe.

A thick soup of particles can swirl through a building at any time, and the

concentration is often up to five times greater than that in outdoor air,

according to the EPA.

Gases are given off by furnishings and clothing. Dusts and fibers are stirred

up during construction projects. Hundreds of volatile organic compounds have

been identified, some of them emitted by carpets, wall coverings, sealants,

paint and stain.

Part of the air problem stretches to a 1970s movement to reduce energy costs

amid the oil embargoes. School officials constructed tight buildings that

were more like chambers, diminishing the fresh air that can flush out organic

compounds and other foreign particles.

To ratchet down energy bills, air-conditioning vents were closed and windows

were sealed.

Later that decade, reports of illnesses in buildings mounted, and health

experts began exploring sick building syndrome. Legionnaires' disease also

stirred alarm about airborne bacteria in buildings. As various problems spread,

the EPA ranked indoor air quality among its top five health concerns during the

past decade.

" We spend 90 percent of our time indoors, and there are exposures to all

kinds of particles and chemicals, " said Mike , the EPA indoor

environments

coordinator. " The difficult thing is trying to get the message out to

schools. That's what we're trying hard to do now. "

In Texas, parents are driving the movement toward clean air.

Kim of the Texas PTA has nudged districts to adopt indoor air

policies, which only a handful of districts have.

" In Texas, we've had pockets with really bad problems. In El Paso, they were

really bad, " said , the PTA environmental chairwoman. " They had

buildings that were neglected for eight years, and last May, the parents just

erupted. I got this call from a parent who was just beside herself and couldn't

communicate. It's like this a lot -- I spend my time getting them calmed down

to explain what's wrong.

" I called the Health Department and the EPA, and as a result, they're

implementing indoor air quality rules. They also have a new superintendent, "

she

said.

School construction and renovations are moving at record paces nationally,

but attempts to spread awareness about safer construction putter along. That

complicates indoor air issues.

**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL

Home.

(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=aolhom00030\

000000001)