"Students, teachers, and staff are at greater risk because of the hours spent in school facilities and because children are especially susceptible to pollutants." (EPA)
Today, the EPA announced it will send federal investigators out to toxic school sites. We encourage our site visitors to contact the EPA and ask them to test schools for mold and indoor pollutants, as well as outdoor pollutants. Toxic indoor schools must also be shut down to protect life and health - for remediation or demolition. There are hotlines run by the EPA for other school environmental hazards, such as asbestos or other poisonous or chemical substances, but not for toxic mold in schools. We call upon the United States Environmental Protection Agency to:
1. Establish a School Toxic Mold Hotline
2. Inspect all schools where toxic mold is suspected or reported - using ERMI and state-of-the-art, destructive methods to inspect and test behind walls, above ceilings, and below floors.
3. Use their authority to protect children by shutting down hazardous school sites, including those with toxic molds.
4. Establish an ERMI study for school mold, with a database of molds found in water-damaged or damp school buildings, compared to dry or non-water-damaged school buildings.
When the media anchors experience mold - watch out! They become initiated into those who are aware of the massive health and financial problems mold can cause, forevermore.
We hope our site visitors will contact CNN and Campbell Brown to alert them to the millions of Americans being exposed and suffering dire health effects, often with no help from their physicians, and no compensation for their losses. We need a national news story on this topic that doesn't let up. Environmental illnesses are a leading cause of homelessness in America, chief among them: mold.
Concern about geese is far more prevalent than concern about human health, in CT and nationwide.
"Mold spores were found in the lungs of the geese after a necropsy." (myrecordjournal.com)
Geese are found dead in CT and the news covers it, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection is brought in the dead geese are taken to a pathology lab and analyzed ... and the spores that killed them, from aspergillus molds, are described as deadly. But when children and staff are exposed to these same types of spores, commonly found in moldy school buildings, their illnesses and deaths are not investigated nor are they (or their loved ones) taken seriously. Physicians do not examine their lungs for mold spores. Sick staff are said to be hysterical and are often harassed by their employers. In fact, the offending, toxic schools are kept open, to poison and infect others, for many decades.
It is NOT rare, as reported in this article, that humans contract aspergillosis. This happens all the time in moldy buildings.
Why is the mold illness not recognized by our physicians or courts, very often? Why, it is too political and costly to the building owners, some say.
When will our government agencies care about humans more than geese? For shame.(SMH)
VOL 14/NO 4, OCT/DEC 2008 • www.ijoeh.com Conflicts of Interest and the ACOEM Statement on Mold (Dr. Craner)
VOL 15/NO 1, JAN/MAR 2009 • www.ijoeh.com (Letters to the Editor)
Read these fascinating exchanges on the issues surrounding the ACOEM Statement on Mold, often used in past court cases involving mold, to deny liability. (SMH)
SMH site visitors might consider contacting US Senator Bill Nelson (FL), who experienced just how terrible conditions were inside a recently built, heavily water-damaged, moldy, sick federal courthouse in Tampa, recently. The purpose? To let him know that students are suffering just as much, if not more, inside our nation's thousands of sick schools, often with little chance of escape. We think most legislators need to be educated on this topic. You can help, by contacting your own legislators and those who might also understand, from first-hand experience, like Sen. Nelson. Please direct all of them to our website and add your own story to the email. We commend Senator Nelson for speaking out about this courthouse, see below (SMH).
