Mold/Illness Relationship-

Excerpt from an article on http://www.insurancejournal.com/ on June 18, 2001 By Stephanie K. Jones

"As noted by the trial judge, the relationship between airborne toxic mold spores and adverse health effects is so far unclear and unproven. While it has been reported that Stachybotrys atra and certain other toxic molds produce micotoxins can cause unique or rare health conditions such as pulmonary hemorrhage or memory loss, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that there is a lack of significant data that scientifically links toxic mold to these conditions.

According to the CDC, common health concerns from molds include hay-fever like allergy symptoms. And certain individuals with chronic respiratory disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, asthma) may experience difficulty breathing in the presence of molds. CDC information suggests that molds are very common in buildings and homes and will grow anywhere indoors where there is moisture. The most common indoor molds are Cladosporium, Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Alternaria. Accurate information about how often Stachybotrys chartarum (or Stachybotrys atra) is found in buildings and homes is not available. According to the CDC, although Stachybotrys atra is less common than other mold species it is not rare.

Quade R. Stahl, Ph. D., director of the Indoor Air Quality division at the Texas Department of Health concurs that, while much anecdotal evidence suggests a link between the toxic molds and health problems, more data is needed to prove a positive connection. Stahl said that the collection of sufficient data will be a "slow and tedious process that is not going to happen next year." He added that since media coverage of mold cases has increased, the number of mold-related calls to TDH has increased significantly. A Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) spokesman indicated that the agency has also seen an increase in mold complaints in recent months. He said that while TDI has only had about 16 complaints about the quality of service provided by insurance companies in mold cases in the past 10 years, nine of those have occurred in the past six months.

Dallas attorney Beth Bradley, who has represented insurance companies in a number of mold cases and has followed the developments in the Ballard case closely, agreed that there is "not a lot of hard evidence connecting mold" to illnesses. She said that media coverage of the Ballard case is likely to feed the hysteria surrounding mold issues, but added, "we are just now starting to see the other side of the story" in these cases. Bradley said that concerns about unscrupulous remediation contractors have begun to surface, adding that inflated repairs are likely to drive insurance costs up. In addition, false positives for Stachybotrys caused by improper testing are common and are also a cause for concern, Bradley said.

Mold info-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC/US)

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