PEPPERELL -- The offices of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy have joined those of Massachusetts Sen. Marian Walsh and Boston City Councilor Maura Hannigan in opening dialogue with lobbyists for House Bill 1268 sponsored by Michigan Congressman John Conyers Jr. to protect homeowners from toxic molds, Pepperell mold sufferer-turned-activist Nancy Davis said this week.

The bill is aimed at establishing national home purchase covenants similar to asbestos and lead paint laws.
Walsh is Assistant Majority Leader in the State House. Kennedy sits on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee known in the Capitol circles as the Health Committee.

Davis, who became ill from mold in her Pepperell home, has just returned from lobbying legislators in Washington D.C. regarding passage of Conyers' bill. She has also accepted presidency of Mold Relief Inc., a national non-profit organization that helps victims of pervasive mold who are forced for health reasons to leave their property.

She said some of her colleagues had a two-hour conference with Kennedy's staff. One colleague is Mary Mulvey-Jacobsen, a mold activist and one of 300 sufferers who have complained to the City of Boston over mold conditions in City Hall that caused them health problems.

Mulvey-Jacobsen has worked with Conyers, a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, for three years. She said the recent lobbying effort attracted the support of Rep. Charles Rango, ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and opened the door to communications with Kennedy's committee staff.

"We met with three doctors on the committee, which is huge as far as getting their ear," Mulvey-Jacobsen said Monday. "The door is open and conversations will continue.

"One of our goals as citizens is to try to get complimentary legislation on the Senate side and hopefully we can get Kennedy's help," she said.

She and fellow lobbyists convinced Boston City Councilor Maura Hannigan to develop citations that were handed out to participants that included celebrities such as Bianca Jagger, a mold-induced asthma sufferer and former wife of rock star Mick Jagger.

"I was hearing from people that it took great leadership to offer that [the citations]," she said. "This is one of the things Conyers suggested we do, push this effort forward in a grass roots way."

Mulvey-Jacobsen had been chief of staff for Hannigan, who has asked the city council to conduct a hearing possibly in December about the Washington, D.C. campaign. The hearing will be open to the general public and Davis expects to be one of the speakers.

"It's important for Boston to be in the forefront because the city is a Mecca for health care, guidance, and assistance and I know they're not on top of this as best they can be," Mulvey-Jacobsen said.

She said one of the national difficulties regarding mold-induced sicknesses is that doctors don't know the symptoms and are not being given proper direction to look into the illnesses. They often prescribe Prozac which, she said, has its own set of problems.

"We're luckier now than when people were dealing with asbestos and lead paint because we have quick communications," she said. "I'm hoping this will move forward quickly."

Davis said she is still suffering recurring infections from the use of steroids prescribed to counteract the several types of asthma she acquired before she was forced to move out of her Shawnee Road, Pepperell home. The steroids, she said, have depleted her bone density yet she hasn't been able to reduce her dosage.
 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pure Air Control Services
800-422-7873