Scientists, insurers keep eye on growing 'mold hysteria'

[Guest guest]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/stories/news/state2002/0630_mold_from_vnews_20

02.shtml

Scientists, insurers keep eye on growing 'mold hysteria'

Dartmouth-Hitchcock employees exposed

Sunday, June 30, 2002

By KRISTINA EDDY

Valley News

Lebanon

If home inspector Jac Castle of Sunapee sees black stains on a wall or green

slime in a corner, he alerts the homeowners to the presence of what could be

mold.

Castle said he's no expert on the fungi that come in thousands of different

varieties, but he knows the basics. " There could be a health issue. That's

why I tell them, " said the owner of Castle Home Inspections. Those first six

words of his succinctly sum up why issues surrounding mold are entangling

scientists, insurers, homebuilders, lawyers and everyday people who find

their homes and workplaces making them sick.

Some call mold the new asbestos, while others decry a growing " mold

hysteria. " Insurance companies across the country are restricting mold

coverage, and scientists are trying to get a more precise handle on what

mold does to the human body. The recent closure of a reception area at

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center due to mold in the walls that employees

claimed was making them sick is just one small piece in the mold puzzle.

Straus, a leading expert on mold exposure and a professor at the Texas

Tech University Health Sciences Center, said the three types of mold

identified at Dartmouth-Hitchcock - aspergillus, penicillium and

stachybotrys - are " pretty much the three big ones. "

Molds play a vital role in breaking down organic matter. They grow in wet

areas, and microscopic mold spores are present almost everywhere. They are

carried into buildings on people's clothes and make their way in through

open doors and small cracks. Some molds are easily carried through the air;

others are more firmly held in place by the surrounding moisture.

" We've learned that the way they affect people's health is essentially by

producing spores and mycotoxins, " Straus said.

All molds produce spores because that's how they reproduce. Some people are

allergic to these spores and some are not, just like some people develop a

rash from the slightest touch of a poison ivy leaf while others can roll in

the stuff with no adverse effect. Allergic reactions to mold can include

runny noses and itchy eyes, Straus said.

Some molds also produce mycotoxins, which affect everyone, Straus said.

Dosing animals with some of these mycotoxins has proved they're harmful,

Straus said, and effects on humans have been documented as well. There have

been nosebleeds, headaches, fatigue and memory loss, he said.

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that one specific mycotoxin can

cause liver and lung cancer but adds that it's found on contaminated grains,

peanuts and other foodstuffs and is not commonly found indoors.

" I think the scientific community agrees exposure to these things isn't

good, " Straus said. But the science isn't at the level where it's possible

to say that X amount of mold Y causes illness Z.

" (S)tandards for judging what is and what is not an acceptable or tolerable

quantity of mold have not been established, " states the national Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.

" Science has already shown the danger. The government is way behind the

curve on this, " Straus said.

Three Dartmouth-Hitchcock employees are out of work complaining of

mold-related illnesses.

Employees in the obstetrics and gynecology department complained to the

federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration about migraines,

headaches, sinus infections, exhaustion and dizziness. While not conceding a

direct link between the mold that likely grew after a roof leak and the

employees' problems, Dartmouth-Hitchcock officials have hired a second

company to test the air and clean up the area. The medical center estimates

it will spend more than $50,000 to do inspections and cleanup.

Several things play into what, if any, effect mold has on an individual:

What kind of mold is present (there's never just one, Straus said); whether

the mold is breathed in, ingested or absorbed through the skin; how much

mold is taken in and over what period of time; and whether a person is

basically healthy or particularly sensitive to the molds.

The ambiguity about mold's effects - coupled with some very big payments to

homeowners complaining of mold problems - has sparked a panic in the

insurance industry. " The industry is really concerned about where this trend

is heading, " said Don , an assistant vice president with the National

Association of Independent Insurers in Illinois.

Some say it seemed to start about a year ago when a Texas jury awarded $32

million to a family that claimed its insurance company botched repairs of

water damage at its mansion, allegedly allowing mold to grow out of control

and seriously sicken family members. said insurers worry when they

see huge payouts coupled with science that doesn't tell them how much mold

is bad or how to know when it's been cleaned up enough.

" The science is not real well-defined at this point, " said. The

National Association of Independent Insurers states that many of the

symptoms linked the mold can also be caused by other agents.

(Policies vary, but some in the industry say most homeowners insurance won't

cover mold damage if it is caused by something like a leaky pipe that should

have been tended to as part of routine home maintenance. If a storm blows

off your roof and dumps several inches of rain into your bedroom, then it

would probably be covered because storm damage is covered.)

Sevigny, assistant insurance commissioner for the state of New

Hampshire, said even in the relatively drier climes of New England, mold is

a hot topic. Insurance companies are asking the state to put limits on mold

coverage and to allow them to exclude mold from their policies, Sevigny

said. He said the state is not allowing companies to exclude mold from their

homeowners policies.

" We don't have any statistics provided to us to cause us to change how

homeowners policies are written, " he said. The state isn't convinced that

insurance companies are being overwhelmed with mold complaints that they

can't handle, Sevigny said.

Officials in Vermont said that state is also not allowing mold exclusions,

but they didn't want to discuss the issue further, citing its complexity.