Mold debacle more real estate than health

By: Frank  O'Brien March 13, 2003

Canadians are right to be skeptical about the latest health bogeyman in the housing market – so called "toxic" mold.Many will remember the urea formaldehyde foam debacle of the 70s, when the federal government, spurred on by media hype, spent millions of dollars ripping the "dangerous" insulation out of thousands of homes.  Real estate sales forms nationally were changed to include disclosure if a home had UFFI in the walls. Later, of course, it was discovered that urea formaldehyde was totally harmless to humans unless you ate about a ton of the stuff.The problem was that it had by then become not a health issue but a real estate issue. A house insulated with UFFI had become a liability. The same thing seems to be happening today with mold, which has suddenly become public enemy number one in Canada. There are now entire federal government departments focussed on "toxic mold" and a liability issue is rearing. To date, there have been no Canadian cases where any amount has been awarded for personal injury related to mold but there are several cases heading towards the courts. Already, some Canadian insurance companies are considering excluding mold from both first party and third party coverage. But some insurance professionals are trying to bring some sanity to the mold issue before it gets right out of hand in Canada as it already has in some U.S. states."In spite of the three-ring-circus treatment it gets in the media, mold is just mold," said Dave Golden, a director of the National Association of Independent Insurers. "It's been around forever, it's easily remediated, and its health threat has been greatly exaggerated and virtually unproven by scientific fact."Fears of mold-related health risks have tainted America's legal system and insurance market with million-dollar lawsuits and paranoia over exposure to a harmless substance, according to Golden. "Mold is often a simple maintenance issue," Golden noted. "If you get rid of the water, you get rid of the mold."He has a point. There is no solid scientific documentation on the harmfulness of mold. A recent study by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine concluded that, "current scientific evidence does not support the proposition that human health has been adversely affected by inhaled mycotoxins (mold) in home, school or office environments."Yet, if you have mold in your house today and you are trying to sell, you have a problem. It is wise to get rid of the mold as quickly as possible.Mold is found everywhere, but only a few are "toxic molds." Two such bad molds are in the genus Aspergillus and Stachybotrys chartarum. However, in small quantities, even these molds would have little or no effect on people who are not hypersensitive to molds.

The key to controlling mold growth is to control the moisture and humidity levels. First, find the source of the water and moisture and stop it. Then, the mold should be cleaned up. However, once the problem gets beyond a small clean up, mold remediation may be needed. It is important to ensure that the entire problem area is remediated otherwise the mold will grow back.

Frank O'Brien can be reached at fobrien@dccnet.com.

Copyright 2004 Inman News