PHILADELPHIA - Call it the creeping crud, the green horror, the spores from hell. Call it mold. Mold has
been around for billions of years, living off damp surfaces, wafting its spores aloft and breaking down organic material.
Such a simple thing, causing such an uproar.
Mold has been especially prevalent in the Northeast recently
because of a wet spring, summer and fall. Nationally, mold has cost millions of dollars in clean-up efforts and widespread
anxiety over health concerns. A 2003 report from a Chicago law firm found that mold-related lawsuits increased 300 percent
since 1999.
Mold has even invaded Congress: A "Toxic Mold Safety and Protection" bill, which would create
a national insurance program for homeowners and "educate the public about the dangers of toxic mold," awaits a hearing
in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill targets molds that emit toxins, while most spores cause only allergy problems.
But experts say mold shouldn't become the stuff of mythic horror.
"Mold has always been there
and it's always been a bad situation," said Mike Berry, former EPA manager of indoor air research, adding that many
problems can be prevented by simply stopping leaks early. "We told Congress to start a research program for mold back
in the early '80s."
Health problems, including headaches, eye irritation and wheezing, can result from
allergies to the spores that mold releases in order to spread and reproduce. Some molds, particularly the Stachybotrys chartarum,
a black-green mold, produce mycotoxin, which has been linked by the Centers for Disease Control to a "very few case reports"
of pulmonary hemorrhage or memory loss.
Mold can be a problem for homeowners and school districts alike.
"Every time it rains I cringe," said Spring-Ford Superintendent Genevieve Coale, who said the Montgomery County,
Pa., school district has spent about $400,000 in the last four years on testing for the presence of mold.
Although
some parents have been concerned that their children's health problems are due to mold in the schools, Coale said no repairs
were required.
"My kids now have asthma and they never did before going to the intermediate school,"
said Barbara Hagan, whose children attend Spring-Ford Intermediate School. Hagan is suing the school district to pay $160
a month for her children's medical costs.
Schools in particular have been hard hit, because flat roofs and
aging buildings - some without air-conditioning - are mold environments waiting to happen.
Rowan University in
Glassboro, N.J., is spending $500,000 to renovate 68 rooms in a student apartment complex where air conditioners leaked, causing
mold problems in some of the rooms' closets.
Pennsylvania's Neshaminy School District spent $4,000 to clean
several hundred library books, after a summer of being locked in a humid library caused the pages to deteriorate. Lower Pottsgrove
Elementary School in Lower Pottsgrove, Pa., spent $600,000 to clean up mold before giving up completely and moving its students
to the middle school last spring and then to another building this year.
"We consider it one of the top public
health problems for schools in the country," said Eugene Cole, professor of health science at Brigham Young University
in Utah. "When budgets are cut, the first thing to go is maintenance and janitorial staff, and you start ignoring musty
odors that indicate you have a problem."
But mold is more than a school problem - it can also be a source
of trouble for homeowners and apartment dwellers.
