My Turn: Encourage better mold legislation

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My Turn: Encourage better mold legislation

Tricia Padden

Truckee

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Sierra Sun - Truckee,CA,USA

It is better to be homeless than sickened by your home or work

place. I know. It happened to me and my children. I urge the

residents of the Henness apartments who have suffered from mold and

formaldehyde exposure to leave those units in question.

I also urge community support for the families who have become

homeless and for those wishing to leave the contaminated apartments.

Nothing is worth one's health. Nothing. Not all humans are alike and

not all will react to exposures in the same way. Many will not even

be affected.

But for those who are sickened, symptoms could last a life time.

Exposure sometimes leads to an immune disorder and victims could be

set up for a hypersensitivity to a number of irritants, disease or

even death.

Insurance companies deny claims because they are more interested in

the bottom line, and doctors are hesitant to speak for patients in

fear of censorship because the medical community and the government

has failed to establish guidelines due to lobbying from builders,

owners and insurance companies.

Attorney Marsh-Linde and mold and contaminant expert Jack

Goshow are heroes, who, at their own personal expense, have

supported sickened residents at the Henness apartments. Their

actions can be likened to those of Brockovich who assisted

survivors of another and more well know toxic exposure.

It is not surprising to me that the companies for the residents and

those for the builders have found a large discrepancy in the toxin

count. I spent 1986, 1987 and 1988 in bed due to a similar exposure.

Experts on both sides came to opposite conclusions.

Illness caused by exposure is often blamed on depression which has

similar symptoms, but depression is often the result of serious

illness and not the cause. It took years, but the predominance of

evidence was in my favor. I won my case but was poorly compensated

for the suffering during those 3 years, and for a life- time

sensitivity which predisposed me to arsenic poisoning from Truckee

drinking water in 2002.

I have discovered that arsenic levels ebb and flow in this

community. I may have been the only person poisoned, but a

neurologist, aware of a past exposure, knew enough to order a heavy

metal's test, and I had to endure harsh and extended treatments.

The hardest thing for any parent is to see his or her child suffer.

My son, likewise exposed in the 80s to mold, pesticides and

formaldehyde, now suffers from a potentially fatal lymphatic disease

that surfaced many years later. This disease has only two

commonalities – Germanic descent and a chemical exposure in

childhood. He was Phi Beta Kappa; now he lives at a subsistence

level on disability. My daughter continues to be challenged by

chemical sensitivities on a daily basis. Prior to the exposure, my

family was perfectly healthy.

Sadly, money counts more than people — especially poor people. Since

only a minority of residents of the Henness apartments have been

hurt, owners and their insurers don't want to invest money to clean

up the 3 buildings contaminated. When did the bottom line become

more important than the individual?

Why do insurance companies get to decide who deserves a healthy

environment and who gets to live in a toxic one? I urge this

community to treat the sickened residents at the Henness apartments

seriously and to support them.

Encourage the medical community and congress to establish specific

guidelines for mold and chemical contamination by writing a letter.

Help protect our fellow community members from illness and

homelessness by insisting these units be cleared of high levels of

toxins before more people are injured. It happened to my children

and me; it is sickening some of our friends and neighbors, and it

could happen to you and your family.