Re: Lab Report

[Guest guest]

This is very true. I got lucky and a union rep went to the outside contractor and got a copy. Molds, stachy amounts, numbers, which was high enough to cause respiratory distress, that the stachy was active and biologocal. I give that union rep a star. Please take the advice about the Freedom Of Info Act. And write. I email the same two senators every other day. They finally contacted the shipyard....Janet

[Guest guest]

A report from a lab will only have data. This data may only be one or two pages long (depending on how many samples were taken). The interpretation of the data, where the samples were taken, all the information regarding the methods of sampling and places, time of day, etc., this is what makes for a long report. IF YOU ONLY GET THE REPORT WITHOUT NUMBERS FROM THE LAB, INSIST ON THE LAB RESULTS, ask for them with a certified letter requesting them on the grounds of Freedom of Information, and give them an exact number of days to respond. If they keep ignoring your requests, at least you have more legal ammo to fight the battle and prove that they were hiding something.

If you received a lab data sheet you will have to understand what it means. The number of spores present on the sample of one species or another will be quantified. However, they don't mean much unless compared to an outside sample taken roughly at the same time, up wind of the suspected building.

The most important fact is if you have a certain species found indoors in numbers larger than they are found outdoors, this means that there is a source of spores indoors. In certain species you might find 0 outside, while there are many spores inside. For the number of spores to be a usable number depends on how much air was allowed to pass over the cassette. If an inspector wanted to find spores, he would simply take a much larger amount of air and pass it over the cassette. Conversely, if the inspector doesn't want to find any mold, he would pass little air over the cassette. In essence, you have to compare apples to apples, and when you really don't want to find mold, there are ways to ensure that this is exactly what you find.

Your best bet is to find an independent consultant that will follow the air sample team around so that there is no "adjustment" to the samples, and everything is on the up and up.

The lab can not be paid off by the landlord, but the samples, as I mention above, can be skewed by a corruptible individual. The custody reports would be a good thing to request in a Freedom of Information letter (they detail who held the samples and how long they held them for beginning when the sample was taken and ending when the lab counts the number of spores). The report, again, is something that can be skewed, depending on who is paying the bills, and what that person wants to find. Even though the samples show a high count of a mold, the person writing the report can site one or another document that states that these levels (however high they are) are below "standards" for Indoor Air Quality. Don't put any money on the written language of the report, just the numbers, and even these are suspect. That is why it is better to have at least two different individuals test any building, one on "their" team, and one on "your" team. Unfortunately most of us can't afford this.

I hope this helps to answer your question.

E. Brad Marsh [Marsh, Brad]

-----Original Message-----From: Dana Gatlin [mailto:danagatlin@...]Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 9:17 PM Subject: [] Lab Report

Has anyone ever seen a one-page report from an environmental laboratory hired to test for the presence of sewage micro-organisms and mold? Is it likely that Restoration would send men in moon-suits out to remediate for weeks based on a one-page report? Is it possible that a lab can be paid off by a landlord to doctor a report so that it looks pretty innocuous before finally releasing the report to the tenant (after weeks of putting the tenant off while waiting for the landlord to sign a release)? I know I've been naiive, and perhaps now I'm paranoid too, but the lab report I got here (on samples from my sister's apt) was several pages and quite indepth, and nothing like the one from the lab in New Mexico. Can anyone give me some feedback on this? Many thanks.

Dana

[Guest guest]

Brad,

I'd like to add one item to your otherwise excellent response.

Comparing indoor levels to outdoor levels is not quite that simple. It

is frought with many difficulties. Here is just one of them.

The level of comparison has changed from previous beliefs based

on industrial hygiene principles for chemicals that wanted a level

indoors 10 times higher than outdoors before they considered it to

be a problem. Some still believe this.

With more experience with the reality of indoor mold and

compaints by occupants, more and more investigators begun

operating on the assumption that the levels inside a building

without an internal source of mold should approximately equal that

outside.

Now, however, a study published in April, 2002, by Pathcon Labs

and Emory Univ, School of Public Health <Applied and

Environmental Microbiology 10.1128/AEM.68.4.1743-1753.2002>

found that the mean fungal contamination outdoors is 6-7 times

higher than indoors. { SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1}

Using this basis of comparison, an indoor source is evident long

before the two become equal. And by the time it reaches 10X, the

problem could be severe.

---------------------

Carl E.Grimes

grimes@...

Healthy Habitats (sm), Denver, CO

303-671-9653 voice, 303-751-0416 fax

" Starting Points for a Healthy Habitat, " GMC Media, 1999.

================

[Guest guest]

yes...I was given tests by a caring safety worker at work. Inside the room they moved me to, 107 spores per cft. if hepa filters and air conditioner are running right.Outside the room next door, was 20,000. OUTSIDE was 30,000.

Janet

[Guest guest]

Last winter when I requested that a saturated locker room be examined my

employer had an industrial hygiene company come in. On the first visit it was

documented as having a saturated carpet and also visible mold behind the cove

base and above the ceiling tiles. Swab samples were taken indicating

Stachy,Aspergillus,Penicillium,Cladosporum,etc.

Two weeks later air sampling was done which showed that the spores were less

inside than out. I was told by members of the maintenance team that the

filters were changed prior to the air sampling testing. Because the air

sampling showed less amounts nothing has been done to remedy the problem.

Now that I have to have another sinus endoscopy because of " gunk in my

maxillary sinus " ,scarring of the passage and calcium deposits indicating a

fungal infection administration is now listening.

Eileen B.

[Guest guest]

Dear Eileen,

Now that they are listening...keep going. Save emails. Save everything. I have 6 folders full of emails between me and bosses or anyone else talking about the problem. Anything to do with it. Use the freedom of info act if you have to. I have yelled for eight months and am finally getting listened to. Of course I had to leave in an ambulance, play all their games about going to clinic to go home. If you have a union, ask to find out the co. who did the testing. He can ask them for it without going through your employer. I only say all this as I am very sick from a building that had an environmental report done a YEAR ago and didnt tell anyone it was toxic,poisonous and full of stachy and aspergillis. When that repot came out I hadnt reached asthma yet. Started with hives and sinus problems. Now I wear a 3m mask everywhere as I am soooo sensitivee I can smell a mold spore on your kitchen table!! KEEP GOING!!! Write senators everyday on email if you have to. I wish you the best. I just feel if I have to be this sick I want to help someone else. I have been tested. Given shots, doctors letters and now he can do no more for me and is sending me to a specialist at Mass. General. Mine is federal so is VERY hard to fight. Good luck.....................Janet

[Guest guest]

Subject: RE: Lab ReportBrad,

Thank you for your info. Are you saying that the Freedom of Information Act takes precedence over whoever paid for the test having "ownership" rights to the report?

In my case, it was the landlord who ordered the report at my insistence (stupid me, I was so trusting back then) and then refused to give me a copy and forbid the lab to release any info. When I went freakazoid after weeks of being jerked around, they gave me a one page document with NO numbers. It was a copy of a fax they sent to , saying that they tested for the "presence of mold and sewage microorganisms." One tape sample. No air samples. No numbers. Molds found: "penicillium, chaetomium, and others." OTHERS???? Samples taken in January, before $35K in restoration by (at least the landlord says it was that much). Would Corp really work with such a report? I tried to get it from them; same runaround about it being the property of the person whose report it is. They said I need to contact the homeowner or the insurance company. My landlord made it sound like this was all out-of-pocket; I don't know which insurance company to contact. How do I find out? I'm not thinking clearly at all. All help appreciated. ~ Dana