Toxic mold a growing medical (and legal) concern

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http://www.king5.com/localnews/legallyspeaking/NW_013102LSKtoxicmold.ceb1c74

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Toxic mold a growing medical (and legal) concern

01/31/2002

It's caused some families to leave their homes and everything they own

behind. Other have burned their homes to the ground, hoping to get rid of

the problem.

It's toxic mold, and quickly becoming a growing concern - medically,

financially and legally.

Zoya and her young son are getting out, fleeing a toxic mold

nightmare in their own apartment.

" My mattress, there are several chairs in here, my laundry, bedding, stuffed

animals, books, shoes, and my baby's backpack have mold on it, " says .

Their apartment and most of their belongings are contaminated with two kinds

of harmful mold. She blames a water leak from the apartment above for

accelerating the problem. And the toxic mold spores have made both

and her son sick.

" It's been a nightmare, " says . " I have had to deal with not sleeping

every night because he wakes up with breathing problems. While we were

living here he was waking up nightly. "

was able to break her lease because of other construction code

violations. Now she's exploring her legal options.

There are no laws dealing specifically with mold, but property owners and

renters are taking action, targeting insurance companies, architects and

builders.

" (You) might be able to sue developers, landlords, especially if the

landlord refuses to fix what's causing the water infiltration, " says Jany

s, attorney. " If there's water damage or standing water for more than

24 hours, mold is going to start growing and then you could consider it a

constructive eviction at that point. "

s says legal action can help shape future laws on the subject.

" Once we have plaintiffs suing, people will be more careful and lawmakers

will start looking at construction codes or how homes are built, how

commercial buildings even are built, " says s.

s predicts toxic mold issues will become the next big environmental

concern, like asbestos was in the 1970s. For now, though, more work is

needed on the " science " - the standards needed to guarantee proper clean up.

Remember, not all mold is toxic. To learn what is harmful, check out the

Environmental Protection Agency's Web site.

To contact attorney Jany s by email: jacob@...

.. Washington State Insurance Commissioner

.. Centers for Disease Control