OT: Thank Senator Kennedy for assistance of mold illness

[Guest guest]

For those of you who would like to thank Senator Kennedy for his

assistance on the mold illness issue by requesting the GAO investigation for

us,

please use the link here:

_http://www.massdems.org/tk/tk.php_ (http://www.massdems.org/tk/tk.php)

Since Mold Awareness Week held in September 2004 in Washington, DC,

Senator Kennedy has been of great assistance on trying to better understand mold

and its ill health effects. In October of 2006 at our request and on our

behalf, he submitted a request to the GAO (US Government Accountability

Office) to determine the status of the understanding of mold by the various

agencies that would have " jurisdiction " over mold.

The GAO Report on Mold, which was released in September 2008, determined

that mold illnesses do exist but our five government agencies/departments

that had jurisdiction were not speaking with each other and were not

coordinating and the GAO strongly recommended that miscommunication had to

stop.

It also discovered that the vast majority of recommendations made by the IOM

(Institute of Medicine) in both the 2000 and 2004 reports on mold were not

enacted. Huge gaps in information exist but nothing in any meaningful or

coordinated way was being done about it.

It was determined that the Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air

Quality was the appropriate entity to serve as the " point place " for sharing

and coordinating information between EPA, CDC, HUD, Consumer Products Safety

Council and Health and Human Services on mold.

Unfortunately, somehow the funds needed to fund this effort were not

included in the FY2010 budget. I have met with a member of congress this week

to work on making this funding available to at least begin to address the

problems raised by Senator Kennedy's GAO. Will keep you informed on the

progress.

Please take this opportunity to thank Senator Kennedy for helping us at

least get the ball rolling on further advancement in understanding, diagnosing

and treating the untold numbers of us who suffer from mold exposure.

Perhaps everything we wanted didn't get done but Senator Kennedy got us on the

road to solutions and for that we must be grateful. Think of how many

turned their backs on us and remember those who at least brought some truth to

the issue: Our government wasn't talking to each other. At least there

is the beginning of real accountability.

Mulvey son (http://www.massdems.org/tk/tk.php)