Studies Confirm Public Health, Economic Risks of Dampness and Mold

March 3, 2009

-- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 6/13/2007 10:03:00 AM

The journal Indoor Air will publish a pair of studies that quantify the public

health risks and economic consequences in the United States from building

dampness and mold.

One paper by J. Fisk, Quanhong Lei-Gomez and Mark J. Mendell, all from

the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley

Lab), concludes that building dampness and mold raised the risk of a variety of

respiratory and asthma-related health outcomes by 30% to 50%.

" Our analysis does not prove that dampness and mold cause these health effects, "

Fisk said. " However, the consistent and relatively strong associations of

dampness with adverse health effects strongly suggest causation by

dampness-related [pollutant] exposures. "

The second paper, written by Mudarri of the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA), and Fisk, uses results from the Berkeley Lab study plus additional

data on dampness prevalence to estimate that 21% of asthma cases in the United

States should be attributed to dampness and mold exposure.

The EPA paper estimates that the annual cost of asthma attributed to dampness

and mold exposure is $3.5 billion. The paper also summarizes the evidence of

adverse health effects from dampness and mold in offices and schools, and

suggests that exposure to dampness and mold in those venues appear to have

similar health impacts on those exposed.

These studies are part of the Indoor Air Quality Scientific Findings Resource

Bank project, funded by the Indoor Environments Division, Office of Radiation

and Indoor Air of the EPA. The project is a cooperative venture between EPA and

Berkeley Lab to quantify the health and productivity impacts of indoor air

exposures and make those data publicly accessible.

To view the papers from the web site of the /Indoor Air/ journal, click here.

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