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Quick statistics and facts on dampness and health, mold and health, the extent of school IAQ problems and much more - helpful for media, researchers, and those who want to know the extent of this health threat.
For instance:
"The [IOM] committee concludes that... excessive indoor dampness is a public health problem." p. 311
The Center for School Mold Help
Mold Exposure
Research & Statistics
1. Institute of Medicine (IOM) concludes that excessive indoor dampness is a public-health problem:
a. Due to new or enhanced growth of fungi and other microbial agents.
b. Bacteria and fungi can cause allergic responses, non-allergic, toxic and inflammatory effects.
c. Available evidence suggests that classrooms commonly have dampness problems.
d. IOM finds an association between dampness and lower respiratory illness in otherwise healthy children.
e. IOM finds an association between mold and other agents in damp buildings and lower respiratory illness in otherwise healthy children
f. Recommends public health goals: to prevent or reduce the incidence of potentially problematic damp indoor environments…particularly in vulnerable populations.
"The committee concludes that... excessive indoor dampness is a public health problem." (p. 311 http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309091934&page=311)
(IOM, Damp Indoor Spaces and Health, 2004)
2. “Mold and other common pollutants are stealth enemies in schools. There’s a documented link between poor indoor air quality and student health and learning, including increased asthma and absenteeism rates. It’s a problem that requires immediate attention.” (NIOSH NY-NJ Education and Research Center Director Molene, AACSE Panel, March 2006)
3. Biological contaminants include bacteria, molds, and mildew, listed as indoor air pollutants. (EPA, An Intro to Indoor Air Quality) (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/biologic.html)
4. EPA Indoor Air Quality / Indoor Pollution / IAQ school facts:
a. One-half of our nation’s 115,000 schools have problems linked to indoor air quality (IAQ).
EPA Indoor Environments Division, IAQ Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ
(September 1999) (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign/introduction.html)).
b. Twenty percent of the U.S. population, nearly (60*) million people, spend their days in our elementary and secondary schools. (EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)* SMH 2006 update).
c. Indoor pollution can be 2-5 times higher, and occasionally 100 times higher, than outdoor levels. EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
d. Indoor pollution consistently ranks among the top five environmental risks to public health.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
e. Poor IAQ can cause:
i. illness-requiring absence from school
ii. acute health symptoms
iii. decreased performance in school
iv. problems performing specific mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation, or memory.
(EPA, Indoor Air Quality, School Design, Impact on Learning) http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign/impactonlearning.html).
5. Specific Health Implications:
a. Asthma Facts:
i. Incidence has doubled since 1980
ii. Afflicts about 20 million Americans, including 6.3 million children…,
iii. Nearly 2 million emergency room visits and nearly half a million hospitalizations due to asthma, at a cost of almost $2 billion (2000), and
iv. causing 14 million school days missed each year. (EPA) http://www.epa.gov/iaq/
v. Childhood asthma deaths have tripled since 1980; asthma is the only chronic disease, besides AIDS and tuberculosis, with an increasing death rate. Asthma has reached epidemic proportions, higher among children than adults, higher among blacks than whites. (The Asthma and Allergy Foundation)
vi. Children with asthma make more than 2.7 million physician visits annually.
American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology Initiatives. Update on Pediatric Asthma: Promoting Best Practice
vii. CDC: Asthma:
1. is a leading cause of childhood illness and disability (CDC, Health, United States, 2005)
2. is now at epidemic proportions worldwide, especially among school-aged children
(CDC, Forecasted State-Specific estimates of Self-Reported Asthma Prevalence-1998 Morbidity and Mortality (Dec 4, 1998) 47:1022-1025.47:1022-1025)
3. 1 in 13 school-aged children have asthma. (CDC, 2001)
4. Nearly 1 out of 5 (18.9%) high school students reported lifetime (diagnosis of) asthma (CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Self-Reported Asthma Among High School Sudents,United States, 2003, MMWR, August, 2005)
b. Exposure to mixed molds and their associated mycotoxins in water-damaged buildings leads to multiple health problems:
i. involving the CNS and
ii. the immune system,
iii. in addition to pulmonary effects and allergies
iv. initiates inflammatory processes
( Mixed mold mycotoxicosis: immunological changes in humans following exposure in water-damaged building.,Arch Environ Health. 2003 Jul;58(7):410-20)
c. Contributes to Childhood Obesity / CDC:
a. Diet, physical activity, genetic factors, environment, and health conditions all contribute to overweight in children and adults.
b. Limitation of activity among school-aged children causes include asthma, learning and attention problems
(CDC, Health, United States, Morbidity and Limitation of Activity, Children, 2005)
6. 46% of Classified School Employees rated schools “F” on Mold Plans, with only 6.7% reporting “A” for program to test for and control mold growth. (AACSE’s Healthy High Performing Schools Report Card, March 2006)
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and
1. All minorities (including susceptible groups such as children) have the same rights to protection as the general population. In particular, sensitive groups within the population have the right to adequate means for ensuring them an indoor air quality that meets their specific needs.
2. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important determinant of population health and wellbeing.
3. People in modern societies spend most of their time in indoor spaces such as at home, work, school and in vehicles.
4. Commercial interests have often delayed the implementation of indoor air pollution controls in spite of scientific evidence of the harmful impact of such pollution on health.
5. Everyone has a right to healthy indoor air.
6. The right to healthy indoor air applies across the world.
(#1-6, from The Right to Healthy Indoor Air, May, 2000,WHO http://www.euro.who.int/document/e69828.pdf)
7. Poor indoor air quality can cause illness requiring absence from school, and can cause acute health symptoms that decrease performance while at school. (EPA, http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign/impactonlearning.html)
8. Poor IAQ may directly reduce a person's ability to perform specific mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation, or memory. (EPA, http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign/impactonlearning.html)
9. Twenty percent of the U.S. population, nearly 55 million people, spend their days in our elementary and secondary schools. (EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999))
10. One-half of our nation’s 115,000 schools have problems linked to indoor air quality.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, IAQ Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ
(September 1999) (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign/introduction.html))
11. Up to 30 percent of office buildings worldwide may have significant problems, with 10 to 30 percent of the occupants of the buildings experiencing health effects which are, or are perceived to be, related to poor IAQ. (World Health Organization)
12. Asthma afflicts about 20 million Americans, including 6.3 million children….In 2000 there were nearly 2 million emergency room visits and nearly half a million hospitalizations due to asthma, at a cost of almost $2 billion, and causing 14 million school days missed each year. (EPA) http://www.epa.gov/iaq/
13. The number of children under age 18 who have asthma has increased every year since 1985. In fact asthma is now at epidemic proportions worldwide, especially among school-aged children.
United States Centers for Disease Control. Forecasted State-Specific estimates of Self-Reported Asthma Prevalence-1998 Morbidity and Mortality (Dec 4, 1998) 47:1022-1025.47:1022-1025.
14. Children with asthma make more than 2.7 million physician visits annually.
American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology Initiatives. Update on Pediatric Asthma: Promoting Best Practice.
15. An EPA economic analysis of repairs performed at an elementary school showed that if $370 per year over 22 years (a total of $8,140) had been spent on preventive maintenance, $1.5 million in repairs could have been avoided. EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
16. Indoor levels of air pollutants can be 2-5 times higher, and occasionally 100 times higher, than outdoor levels.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
17. Indoor air pollution consistently ranks among the top five environmental risks to public health.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
18. Respiratory health problems accounted for one-third of sick leave…Occupancy of the water-damaged building was associated with onset and exacerbation of respiratory conditions, confirmed by objective medical tests. The morbidity and lost work time burdened both employees and employers. (Respiratory Morbidity in Office Workers in a Water-Damaged Building http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/7559/7559.pdf)
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NEA Health Information Network site with great links on Indoor Air Quality and Schools:
http://www.neahin.org/programs/environmental/iaq.htm
IAQ Stats and Facts Source: National Education Assn. www.nea.org
Health Information Network Website Statistics
1. An EPA economic analysis of repairs performed at an elementary school showed that if $370 per year over 22 years (a total of $8,140) had been spent on preventive maintenance, $1.5 million in repairs could have been avoided.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
2. Twenty percent of the U.S. population, nearly 55 million people, spend their days in elementary and secondary schools.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
3. One-half of our nation’s 115,000 schools have problems linked to indoor air quality.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, IAQ Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ
(September 1999)
4. Indoor levels of air pollutants can be 2-5 times higher, and occasionally 100 times higher, than outdoor levels.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
5. Indoor air pollution consistently ranks among the top five environmental risks to public health.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Actions to Improve IAQ (September 1999)
6. Poor indoor air quality can cause illness-requiring absence from school, and can cause acute health symptoms that decrease performance while at school.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality and Student Performance (August 2000)
7. Indoor air quality can reduce a person's ability to perform specific mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation, or memory.
EPA Indoor Environments Division, Indoor Air Quality and Student Performance (August 2000)
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