Archive for August 2007
The Mother Of All Natural Mold Fighters - Tea Tree Oil
August 15, 2007, 12:06 pmHere’s an interesting home remedy from The Good Human blog:
I think I found the holy grail of uses for a natural cleaning product. By combining 3 drops of all natural tea tree oil and about a cup of water in a spray bottle you can effectively both remove mold from your tub and shower and help to keep it from coming back. Seems that tea tree oil kills the mold bacteria and stays behind to fight off future growth, making it a great mold fighter that is way safer to use than bleach. To be sure you are getting the best tea tree oil you can get, look for the kind derived from the actual Melaleuca Alternifolia, or as we call it, the tea tree. Although that seems obvious, there are a lot of different brands and versions of tea tree oil, so be on the lookout. You can find tea tree oil at most natural food stores. Oh, and once you clean out the problem area, just make sure you spray down the area with this mixture every once in a while to keep the mold from coming back.
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(posted in the Resources category)
Renters need to check for mold, mildew in property
August 13, 2007, 11:41 amDue diligence on the part of prospective tenants is something that increasingly has to involve mold. Check out this article from St. Petersburg Florida:
Jodie Baker, 25, struggles to tend for her ill son while her other two sick children beg for attention at her feet.
“They have had some kind of ongoing stomach virus that has come and gone for the past three months, vomiting and fevers,” she said.
Baker said her children started getting sick about two weeks after she moved into her new Midtown apartment.
“All three of my children are asthmatic,” Baker said. “I’ve had them out of day care for three weeks.”
While the ailments of the kids might not be directly attributable to possible unhealthy conditions in the apartment, renters should, however, be aware of possible health hazards that can come with new leases, said Jeannine Mallory, spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Health Department.
Renters should be extra cautious before signing a lease because they do not benefit from home inspections like potential homeowners do.
“Mold and dust and mildew are really big allergy and asthma triggers,” Mallory said. “You can inspect the property before you move in with an eye towards any health issues that you might have.”
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(posted in the Resources, News category)
AAOHN Hosts Mold Webcast
August 7, 2007, 11:38 amThis looks like a fascinating event to be held by a respectable organization about the mold crisis that threatens individual and public health:
The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses has recently announced that it is hosting a one hour webcast, titled “The Mold Crisis: An Update on Current Thoughts and Practices,” conducted by René R. Salazar, Ph.D., CIH, on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007 at 2 p.m. EST. Participants will receive 1.0 CNE credit.
The purpose of the webcast is to offer an industrial hygiene approach to recognizing and evaluating mold problems of non-industrial, indoor environments. The presentation will discuss scientifically-sound methods of assessing mold problems, common methods of characterizing potential exposures to individuals, and generally recommended remedial response strategies. AAOHN says participants will learn the basic characteristics of mold elements, their ecological benefits, and how they have come to be perceived as hazardous agents.
Salazar holds an undergraduate degree in microbiology, and masters and doctorate degrees in Public Health from the University of South Florida, College of Public Health.
Questions posed to faculty during the live webcast program through a chat function will be answered in the last 10 minutes of the program. Questions not answered during the broadcast will be posted with answers in the online archive.
The registration fee for AAOHN members is $50 if registering online, and $60 if registering via fax or by mail. For non-members, the registration fee is $75 if registering online, and $85 if registering via fax or by mail. There is a 3-for-2 registration offer available only to AAOHN members working for the same employer who register via fax or by mail. For registration information and complete details go to www.aaohn.org or call 770-455-7757.
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(posted in the Resources, General category)
Renters lobby for laws on mold
August 1, 2007, 11:35 amAs awareness around the health effects of mold increases, more people will organize themselves to protect their rights. Illustrating this is a story from Olympia Washington:
“The pain starts right here,” Nicole said, gesturing to her upper chest, “and it moves down to the left side and it grows down to the other side.”
A next-door neighbor, 8-year-old Scott Thom, also felt bad. He said he couldn’t bicycle around the doublewide trailer in which he lived without feeling tired.
“He had a 102 fever for two days. He was not eating; every time he ate, he started hurting,” said his mother, Holly Thom.
The problems were a mystery for the mothers until Kennedy smelled something. She pulled Nicole’s bed away from the wall and found mold growing on the wall.
Thom inspected her trailer and also found mold, which both women blamed on leaky roofs in their rented homes.
Mold is a complex issue, both in its effects on people and in the government’s ability to clamp down on affected buildings.
When Kennedy tried to call and complain about the state of the rented trailers, she said she was “bounced around all over the place,” until the Thurston County Department of Health said mold wasn’t something that health codes cover.
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(posted in the legal, News category)
Toxic Mold Forces Local Family Out Of Home
August 1, 2007, 11:33 amSometimes ignorance is the only explanation for poor urban planning and development that causes tragic stories such as the one below from Burlington County in New Jersey:
(CBS 3) BURLINGTON COUNTY, N.J. One Florence Township family is blaming the construction of a new high school for toxic mold that mysteriously started growing in their home.
The family has since moved out and filed a lawsuit against the township’s school board.
They claim a five acre water basin that was built to allow the construction of a high school, flushed water into their basement causing harmful mold.
Home owner, Bart Shrader said his house was ruined.
“There’s stuff in the basement that got destroyed, my kids don’t have half the memories that were here, I can’t explain it” Shrader said.
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(posted in the News category)