Parents' expert to run mold tests

[Guest guest]

Parents' expert to run mold tests

Greenwich Time - Greenwich,CT*

By Hoa Nguyen

Staff Writer

04/06/2008

http://www.greenwichtime.com/ci_8827206

Reversing a decision that earned them much criticism, school

officials have agreed to allow a parent-hired expert to run

environmental tests on the Hamilton Avenue School modular buildings.

The Board of Education, which has hired its own environmental

hygienist, recently told Hamilton Avenue School parents that their

own expert would be allowed to run tests in the modular building.

But their hygienist will be restricted to certain areas, a condition

that does not sit well with some parents.

" If they are going to limit our tester to places that we need to

have tested, we have a concern with that, " said DiBella, a

Hamilton Avenue School parent who had lobbied for an independently

hired expert to perform the tests. " Our tester should be allowed to

test where their tester tested. "

Moriarty, a Board of Education member, said that disturbing

mold-infested areas, such as in the roof eaves or inside the walls,

in order to perform tests could help to spread the mold. Officials

don't want the mold spores to spread to other parts of the modular

building because they want to leave open the possibility of

remediating the situation and reusing the structure.

" The concern is that when you open the wall and disturb the space,

it comes into the building, " Moriarty said. " An option is to reuse

the building and so we don't want to make that job more difficult. "

But parents, such as DiBella, said that the whole point of the

resetting was to confirm that the earlier tests done by the school-

hired hygienist were accurate and that the mold infestation presents

no health hazards.

" My son was in the hardest hit classroom, " she said. " I want to find

out what they found in there. "

DiBella said that in her mind, the retesting is a crucial step

toward repairing the mistrust parents have of school officials.

" There has been a lot of mistrust and a lot of it has to do with how

some of this was mishandled, " she said. " There is this level of

mistrust that we have to get past. "

[Guest guest]

I just posted my comments as follows:

The parents need to know the full range of contaminants present in

the building since combinations of toxicants tent to have more

powerful, synergistic effects, than those singly encountered.

Formaldehyde is a powerful sensitizer just as some molds incite

allergic activity and even infection. I became disabled in a NYC

school I used to supervise after the application of neurotoxic

pesticides.

Teachers have an unusually high incidence of occupational illness,

particularly autoimmune diseases. The findings of parental

investigation can only aid their own cause and they should

communicate their concerns to the parent's expert as well.

Any toxicological investigation begins with a good history of this

modular structure and an understanding of potential sources for harm

from paints, heavy in fungicidal content to sealers used on floors

and joints. Allergy and cancer are not the sole concerns:

formaldehyde is a sensitizer, caustic irritant that can damage

sinues, is processed internally as formic acid with effects upon

multiple body systems etc.

No contaminant should ever be dismissed as 'just'

affecting 'allergic' or 'sensitive' persons. If their constitutions

were healthy prior to being in that environment, then it is the

environment that is spreading illness and not a defect in the

building inhabitants. Buildings are built to house diverse

individuals. We can't build people to occupy our preferences in

economical and inadequately maintained structures.

Barbara Rubin

============================

--- In , " tigerpaw2c " <tigerpaw2c@...>

wrote:

>

> Parents' expert to run mold tests

> Greenwich Time - Greenwich,CT*

> By Hoa Nguyen

> Staff Writer

> 04/06/2008

>

> http://www.greenwichtime.com/ci_8827206

>

> Reversing a decision that earned them much criticism, school

> officials have agreed to allow a parent-hired expert to run

> environmental tests on the Hamilton Avenue School modular

buildings.