Amazing Nothr attack by an environmental blog.Bushwacked science at its finest

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Mold: Toxic Menace or Life on Earth?

While I was gone, I missed a great (and long) story in the LA Weekly (_here_

(http://www.laweekly.com/2008-07-24/news/the-toxic-mold-rush/1) ) about the

mom who turned mold " toxic, " creating a storm of lucrative litigation out of

fear, misunderstanding, and greed.

Like those who would later join the cause, including ny Carson sidekick

Ed McMahon, [sharon Kramer] saw a conspiracy funded by businesses out to end

mold claims while risking the public's health. She believed that the

well-being of thousands depended on her exposing that deceit. Like the fight

waged by

McMahon over the death of his dog purportedly from mold, Kramer's belief has

consumed her. It has wiped out her comfortable suburban life and financial

security and caused her to lose touch with many friends.*

But the great mold scare never rose to the level of accepted epidemic among

serious researchers. Despite public hysteria that continues even now, science

today finds no direct link between mold and serious illness in people with

normal immune systems......

My comment:

FYI, the LA Weekly intentionally got the story completely wrong. That was

nothing more than a sensationalist hit piece with a two fold message sent by

the insurance industry:

1. Mold does not harm prior healthy people.

2. Mrs. Kramer is crazy, so don't listen to her.

To set the record straight, I do not think mold is the scourge of the earth.

However I do recognize that excessive exposure to mold in water damaged

indoor environments can and sometimes does cause severe illness in prior

healthy

people.

It is not me who is keeping this issue in litigation. I work hard to push

for physician education so that people do not become severely ill, so that they

receive proper medical treatment early before the illnesses become anything

worth litigation. Early detection and diagnosis is the key.

These are the types of people who know I write the truth of the matter. The

following article ran on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Jan. 2007.

Seasoned investigative reporter, Armstrong, flew to my house in mid

2006. We hooked our computers up and downloaded files for an entire day as we

talked of the deceit in science over the mold issue. After interviewing over

50 people, including Kelman, Armstrong wrote, " Court of Opinion, Amid Suits

Over Mold Experts Wear Two Hats " .

_http://www.moldwarriors.com/SK/WSJOnlineJan92007.pdf_

(http://www.moldwarriors.com/SK/WSJOnlineJan92007.pdf)

Jill of LAWeekly is a real piece of work. The way they portrayed me

in such a false light is disturbing that this could actually be published as

journalism. I have documentation showing they flat out lied on many points of

that article. Several people they quoted said they were never even

interviewed. Things like they failed to mention we received a sizeable

settlement in

my suit with my insurer for bad faith claims handling practices and cross

contamination of our home which was falsely cleared for occupancy by the lab

they

sent to us. Or that it was my daughters’ physicians who determined she could

not be in the house. It is my new house that is bigger than my old and has

the lake view. The " black spot " I was so fearful of was about 20ft x 20 ft

after the remediators let water sit for six weeks. I have never owned a trailer

in my life and couldn't keep one in my front yard even if I wanted to. My

homeowner's association would never allow it. I have never forced my daughter

to

sleep in a trailer or held her out as a " starring victim " . The only thing

she is a victim of is LAWeekly. She is a great kid who just graduated from

college and started her first job in her field of education.

They also failed to mention that I do occasionally leave my dark hovel where

I purportedly obsessively blog lies and fear. I have traveled extensively

over the past four years even keeping an apartment in Washington DC from time

to time. Senator Kennedy ordered a Federal Government Accountability Office

audit into the issue at my request. It is due out right after Labor Day.

In detail: What stakeholders of moldy buildings want kept quiet is that Dr.

Kelman, who is an old tobacco scientist, simply applied math to a single

inhalation study of rodents to conclude (spin) that it is implausible people

could ever be exposed to enough mold toxins in a water damaged building to

cause

human illness. This conclusion has NEVER been duplicated. It belongs in the

Journal of Irreproducible results. He knows better than to form this

conclusion based on such limited info as he used to oversee rodent inhalation

studies

for Big Tobacco. See 1987 letter from RJ Reynolds, Chief of Toxicology to Dr.

Kelman. _http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ati84d00/pdf_

(http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ati84d00/pdf)

In 2002, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine,

(ACOEM) which is a medical association with a long and dubious history of being

in service to industry (read " Doubt is their product, how industry's assault

on science threatens your health " by Dr. s) legitimized Kelman’

s little feat of scientific magic by making it a position statement of their

org. Position statements carry much weight in the eyes of the court because

they are portrayed to be the scientific opinion of thousands of physicians.

They specifically brought Kelman, his business partner Hardin and another old

expert defense witness, Saxon, into their org to write this position paper.

[A paper I co-authored about ACOEM for the International Journal of

Occupational and Environmental Health: " ACOEM A professional association in

service

to industry "

_http://www.moldwarriors.com/SK/IJOEH_Oct07_LaDou.pdf_

(http://www.moldwarriors.com/SK/IJOEH_Oct07_LaDou.pdf) . One of my co-authors

is Dr. Huff,

assistant director of chemical carcinogen, National Institute of Environmental

Health Sciences.]

From there, the conservative think tank, the Manhattan Institute (that also

has a history in Big Tobacco) spun the " not plausible " stance based on never

duplicated science of Kelman and Hardin, to mean all claims of mold induced

illness were just a result of “trial lawyers, media hype and Junk science.â€

The US Chamber and a Congressman with strong ties to the building industry -

who is currently under FBI Investigation- promoted it, used it to lobby and to

" educate " judges. Voila! Instant current accepted science…with no scientific

foundation.

And the above is what I was writing about in my press release and what they

wanted silenced. I was the first, but certainly not the last, to bring the

mass marketing of false science over the issue to greater public light. I have

a degree in marketing. I got it. I wrote about it.

From my 2005 press release:

" In 2003, with the involvement of the US Chamber of Commerce and

ex-developer, US Congressman (R-CA), the GlobalTox paper was

disseminated to

the real estate, mortgage and building industries'associations. A version of

the Manhattan Institute commissioned piece may also be found as a position

statement on the website of a United States medical policy-writing body, the

American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "

So while I feel like LAWeekly just elevated me to the starring role in the

play " Wicked " , I have absolutely no intention of shutting up about a mass

marketing of a deceit in science that is causing many who are ill beyond simple

allergy from mold to be unable to receive medical treatment, simply because

stakeholders of moldy buildings are seeking to limit financial liability in

court.

Yes, Virginia, prior healthy people can and sometimes do become ill from

excessive mold exposure in water damaged buildings. Just from asthma alone it

is

considered a national health threat by the EPA. “Berkeley Lab, EPA Studies

Confirm Large Public Health And Economic Impact of Dampness and Mold: They

estimate that number of asthma cases attributable to exposure in home is 4.6

million, at $3.5 billion annual costâ€

_http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/EETD-mold-risk.html_

(http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/EETD-mold-risk.html)

Personally, I think what has been done over this issue is nothing short of

criminal. For the sake of saving money, the physicians of America have been

intentionally misinformed. Tis I who is considered mainstream in my

understanding of the science among legitimate researchers and physicians. But

the

marketing of industry is very hard to fight, even when you hold a degree in the

subject of marketing as I do. I think the LA Weekly article by young Hempiel

–

whose career as a serious journalist was just ended by Ms. - is a

prime example of the power and reach of industry. And I find journalism such as

this far more scary and a greater threat to public health than mold could ever

be.

Posted by: Sharon Noonan Kramer | _09/01/2008 at 04:25 AM_

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1604)

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[Guest guest]

Tis I who is considered mainstream in my

understanding of the science among legitimate researchers and physicians.

 

Sharon, This is a great post. Very well written and explanitiry. As always,

Bless your efforts.

 

Thank you.

Chris...