Panel Hears Testimony on Toxic Mold

[Guest guest]

July 8, 2008

Panel Hears Testimony on Toxic Mold

New York Times*

By Colin Moynihan

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/panel-hears-testimony-

on-toxic-mold/

The New York State Toxic Mold Task Force, which first met in

December, convened in an office building in Lower Manhattan on

Tuesday for a daylong meeting on the health and economic impacts

associated with mold.

The task force, which was formally established in 2005 but did not

begin work until last year, is to prepare a report for the governor

and the Legislature.

One task force member, D', a research scientist at

the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, presented

the panel with an update on guidelines that his department was

preparing to advise residents on how to find mold and get rid of it.

He said that the city received about 20,000 mold complaints each

year and issued about 14,000 citations. But not all mold problems

rise to the same level. Mr. D' projected a slide of a shower

stall, three feet long by three feet wide, to illustrate the type of

potential mold environment that people ought to feel comfortable

taking a brush or sponge to on their own.

In contrast, in places where mold has spread over 100 square feet,

Mr. D' said, professional mediators are appropriate, along

with workers wearing respirators, coveralls and gloves.

In some situations, he said, mold removers might even want to

consider using an airlock to separate mold-infested zones from other

areas.

Just before noon, the task force took a break for lunch. Downstairs,

on Broadway, several dozen demonstrators were gathered, holding

aloft banners and a jumbo model of an asthma inhaler. They said that

they were concerned about adverse health effects connected to mold,

but that they had been blocked from attending the meeting.

(Officials said that the meeting was open to the public but that

participants had to register their names in advance; the

demonstrators said they had indeed registered, only to be told there

was no record of their having done so.)

" Neither New York City or New York State has strong regulations

around mold, " said Irene Tung, the director of organizing for Make

the Road New York, an advocacy group that organized the

demonstration. Ms. Tung said that she arrived with about 40 people.

In the afternoon session, other witnesses described their

experiences, both professional and personal, with mold.

Lourdes , a resident of Bushwick, Brooklyn, told the task

force that many people in her neighborhood suffered from asthma

exacerbated by mold.

Guy Vann, a lawyer who has represented plaintiffs in mold-

related cases, submitted 15 academic papers to the task force that

he said illustrated the dangers of mold in construction,

particularly in walls and ceilings that become waterlogged.

He noted that mold was one of only several environmental

hazards. " Mold has gotten a lot of attention because it is visible, "

he said. " Bacteria can grow and grow, but you're never going to see

it. "

Another witness was Dr. Eckardt Johanning, who specializes in

occupational and environmental medicine and for 15 years has treated

people affected by mold. He works with the Fungal Research Group, a

nonprofit group based in Albany that promotes the study of the

health effects of airborne exposure to mold in workplaces and other

group settings.

While it is widely known that mold can worsen allergies, Dr.

Johanning said, new research has associated mold with other

disorders, including depression and neurological conditions.

" These toxins that are produced by the mold are very potent

chemicals, " he said.

Cheryl Borden, who lives in Huntington, N.Y., told the panel that

she was exposed to mold for 16 months in 1999 and 2000 while living

in Woodbury, N.Y. She said she had suffered from upper-respiratory

infections and yeast in her lungs and become acutely sensitive to

changes in environmental conditions.

Ms. Borden, who said she favors strict laws controlling mold, said

she had attended all of the task force's meetings. " I want them to

see my face every time, " she said. " I want them to remember me. "