Two new laws attack ill effects of toxic mold

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Two new laws attack ill effects of toxic mold

By Lesli A. Maxwell -- Bee Capitol Bureau

(Published Wednesday, January, 30, 2002 9:38AM)

SACRAMENTO -- Discoveries of toxic mold in Valley courthouses, schools and a

state prison in Corcoran have inspired tough new laws to regulate the slimy,

greenish-black fungus blamed by some for causing breathing troubles,

headaches and other ailments.

Gov. signed the Toxic Mold Protection Act during the weekend, which

directs state health officials to set exposure limits for homes, schools,

businesses and other public buildings.

also signed a second measure by Assembly Member Hannah Beth ,

D-Santa Barbara, that requires state officials to study the health effects

of mold and report their findings to the Legislature by 2003.

Both bills will take effect in January.

hailed the legislation as setting the most stringent standards for

toxic mold in the nation. The Toxic Mold Protection Act, written by Sen.

Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, directs the state Department of Health Services

to set permissible exposure limits and requires real estate owners and

landlords to disclose to sellers and tenants when mold limits exceed the

standards that the state will set.

Toxic mold first generated headlines in the Valley when Tulare County

Superior Court Judge beth Krant took medical leave in January 2000

because of a multitude of symptoms she traced to a mound of stachybotrys

mold discovered in her chambers at the Visalia courthouse.

Stachybotrys grows in damp areas. It has been linked to coughing, wheezing,

memory loss, runny nose, burning nose, eyes and throat, skin rash, diarrhea,

fever, headache and fatigue.

Dozens of courthouse workers followed in Krant's footsteps and took medical

leave. Others filed worker compensation claims they linked to sickness

caused by the courthouse mold.

More than 100 employees also hired the same lawyer to sue Tulare County,

claiming exposure to the mold caused rashes, headaches, breathing problems

and memory loss.

Krant also has sued the county over the matter.

Both lawsuits are pending.

Krant has since returned to the bench, hearing cases at a courthouse in

Tulare.

In September 2000, Clovis Unified School District officials shut down

Buchanan High School for more than a week after discovering mold on the

campus.

Experts hired to test the mold determined that it was not the harmful

variety.

And news last spring that stachybotrys mold had been found at Addams

Elementary School in Fresno upset teachers who said they had been

complaining to administrators about the fungus since at least 1994.

Stachybotrys also was found at Corcoran State Prison in the past year,

prompting two employees to file claims saying they had been sickened by the

patches of mold discovered in classrooms where inmates take computer and

electronics repair courses.

The reporter can be reached at lmaxwell@... or (916) 326-5541.