Stachy also known as 'Black mold'
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Lawmakers Seeking To Protect Home Owners From Mold
Sought are the disclosure of problems upon sale of house, safety standards
www.pureaircontrols.com
by Kim North Shine, Free Press
Cheri Brunner can't see out of her left eye. Her head shakes. Her hands tremble. She says mold in her Warren home caused it all and diminished her IQ.
Her sky blue and yellow wood frame house on Timken Street in Warren became Exhibit A on Saturday in an information-seeking visit by representatives of U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. and state Rep. Samuel (Buzz) Thomas, both Detroit Democrats. Thomas is proposing legislation that would require disclosure of mold before a home is sold. "We've heard more and more stories over the last couple of years from people who have been getting sick, and we want mold to be listed on the sales disclosure forms just like asbestos and lead-based paint," said David Newman, Thomas' chief of staff.
Conyers' legislation would also call for the presence of mold to be divulged upon the sale of a home or transfer of other properties. It would also fund research on the health effects of so-called toxic mold and create a clearinghouse for cases to be reported and tracked. The bill would require standards for mold-removal companies that are now unregulated and, in some cases, making mold situations worse, said Pam Walker, a member of Conyers' staff.
Congressional hearings during which Brunner, 52, and others would tell their stories about mold may be held in about three weeks, Walker said. "These people have nowhere to go. They've lost everything, their homes, their health," Walker said.
Conyers' bill is named Melina, after Walker's 8-year-old daughter who suffered serious asthma attacks last year after the Walker family moved into a home in Southfield. An environmental firm later declared the home unsafe because of the mold. Nationwide, multimillion-dollar lawsuits are being filed over mold, which some people call the new asbestos. Doctors, insurers, builders and lawyers are debating the health effects of mold.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, mold is seen as a trigger for hay fever-like symptoms and, in very sensitive people, slightly more serious respiratory effects. As for cases of pulmonary attacks and severe reactions, the CDC says, "These case reports are rare, and a causal link between the presence of the toxic mold and these conditions has not been proven."
The Environmental Protection Agency currently has no standards for what it considers safe levels of mold exposure, but it outlines clean-up criteria that call for total protection of workers and advises the public how to avoid mold build-up and potential illness. Brunner said mold began growing in her Warren home after a 1999 flood. Repairs were done, but the mold wasn't properly cleaned, she said. She finally connected her and her roommate's symptoms to the home. "I believe this stuff was killing me literally," Brunner said this week from the Clinton Township trailer home she rented after abandoning her house.
While her medical reports say her illness could be due to an environmental influence, she says she has no doubt that the mold made her sick. Tests have found white lesions on her brain, and many neurological tests have ruled out the most common diseases, she said.
Investigators in biohazard suits have already tested Brunner's home. According to a report by Sanit-Air, a Troy environmental firm, the home is uninhabitable. Some levels of mold were thousands of times higher than they should be, the report said. Richard Lipsey, a prominent toxicologist and attorney from Florida who calls himself the nation's top mold expert toured Brunner's home Saturday, wearing a respirator, biohazard suit, boots and gloves.
"This has got to be taken seriously," Lipsey said Tuesday, a day before leaving for a mold conference in Houston. Next week he plans to go to California to investigate actor Ed McMahon's mold-infested Beverly Hills mansion. McMahon has said mold sickened him, his wife and housekeeper.
Homes built after the 1970s with energy efficient standards that don't allow much ventilation seem more prone to spawn severe mold, Lipsey said. Dr. Michael Harbut, who has an environmental and occupational medicine practice in Royal Oak, is one of 57 CDC-approved mold doctors in the country. He sees about 500 patients suspected of having mold poisoning. "Ten years ago, I had an occasional patient. Now, I see one or two every day," said Harbut.
For more information, contact:
Alan L. Wozniak, CIAQP
(800) 422-7873 ext. 802
iaq@pureaircontrols.com
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