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Monday Morning Mold Septebmer 27, 2004

Mold in the Media

September 27, 2004

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Mold Stories

-- AUDIO STORY - The Color of Money: Homeowners Insurance Tips (NPR - Sep 21, 2004)

-- $392,500.00 Water Damage/Mold Claim Settlement in Orange County, California (PR Newswire - Sep 22, 2004)

-- Symposium discusses housing on reserves (CBC Saskatchewan - Sep 22, 2004)

-- Ivan Follow-Up: HUD Vows to Help Homeowners Rebuild (WSFA, AL - Sep 25, 2004)

-- Charley, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne Follow-Up: Insurance problems may need legal call (Palm Beach Daily News, FL - Sep 25, 2004)

-- Charley, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne Follow-Up: Hurricanes stir trouble for breathing-related ailment sufferers - Allergens saturate the air and the lack of electricity aggravates the problem. (Palm Beach Post, United States - Sep 24, 2004)

-- Mold Education: Geotrichum spp.

-- Court Mold: Mold problems close Elbert courthouse - Judges, deputies and inmates moving to temporary digs (Rocky Mountain News, CO - Sep 23, 2004)

-- School Mold: School's mold problem returns (phillyburbs.com, PA - Sep 25, 2004)

-- Mold & Insurance: Companies likely will reassess policies, costs (Florida Today, FL - Sep 27, 2004)

-- Media Review: Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control (Flannigan, Brian; Samson, Robert A.; Miller, J. David, CRC Press, Hardback, 490 pages, $149.95)

-- Media Review (con't): Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control

-- Media Review (con't): Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control

-- Media Review (con't): Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control

-- For Fun: www.thesmokinggun.com

Dear C,

This week's book review is of Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control, published by CRC Press. Unfortunately, CRC Press is in Boca Raton, FL, and currently riding out Hurricane Jeanne. I sure wish them the best of luck with that.

This week's photo is Geotrichum candidum, from the Universität Würzburg website.

AUDIO STORY - The Color of Money: Homeowners Insurance Tips (NPR - Sep 21, 2004)

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NPR's Noah Adams talks to personal finance commentator Michelle Singletary about the right time to make claims on a homeowners insurance policy -- and whether homeowners should pay for repairs themselves, to avoid the possibility of future premium hikes. Singletary writes the syndicated column "The Color of Money" for The Washington Post, and is the author of 7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life.

$392,500.00 Water Damage/Mold Claim Settlement in Orange County, California (PR Newswire - Sep 22, 2004)

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Court B. Purdy and William M. Paoli, partners with the firm of Wentworth, Paoli & Purdy located in Newport Beach represented an Orange County family who became ill as a result of exposure to toxic mold and other biological contaminants in their home. Today, it was announced that the case has settled for a total of $392,500.00.

Attorneys Purdy and Paoli represented Joanne Miller, her two children (Ryan and Allison) and niece, Hayley Smith, in a lawsuit against the owner of their apartment complex (The Palm Garden Apartments Limited Partnership), and the Property Manager (Apartment Management Consultants, LLC). This firm, which specialized in water damage/mold litigation, had previously represented another family who had resided in this apartment complex and who had suffered from the same practice of deferred maintenance by the owner and subsequent exposure and injuries as the Miller family. (See, Sienkiewicz, et al. v. Palm Garden Apartments Limited Partnership, et al., Case No. 01CC00072, Orange County Superior Court).

Symposium discusses housing on reserves (CBC Saskatchewan - Sep 22, 2004)

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SASKATOON - Delegates of a three-day symposium on the poor condition of First Nations housing on reserves are trying to figure out how to make a systemic problem better. Eileen Thompson, housing manager for Carry the Kettle First Nation for 12 years, says the majority of the houses on her reserve had problems. Now Thompson is trying to do something about the problem, by taking part in the symposium.

"There is no dollars provided for the problems of mold situations out there. Mold is caused by the way the houses are built. They are so enveloped in plastic and there is a lot of condensation in the houses and sometimes the sewer backs up."

Ivan Follow-Up: HUD Vows to Help Homeowners Rebuild (WSFA, AL - Sep 25, 2004)

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Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson met with Governor Bob Riley and Atmore Mayor Howard Sell last week to tour hurricane damage in Atmore and surrounding areas. Representatives of the Red Cross and local residents joined them.

"Hurricane Ivan may have ravaged this community, but he did not destroy its spirit. HUD's commitment to Atmore is strong, and I am confident that when all is said and done, this community will be even stronger than it was before the storm," said HUD Secretary Jackson.

Charley, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne Follow-Up: Insurance problems may need legal call (Palm Beach Daily News, FL - Sep 25, 2004)

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Thanks to Mother Nature, many of us have hurricane insurance claims. Stuart M. Address, attorney with Rubin & Rubin, Stuart, says he's expecting to soon be deluged by insurance policyholders in the wake of Hurricane Frances.

"What you'll probably see within the next few weeks are people who feel they're getting low-balled by various insurance companies," he predicts. "Many people likely won't get what they feel their damage deserves. Or, they'll be told something is not covered due to an exclusion in the policy."

Charley, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne Follow-Up: Hurricanes stir trouble for breathing-related ailment sufferers - Allergens saturate the air and the lack of electricity aggravates the problem. (Palm Beach Post, United States - Sep 24, 2004)

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WEST PALM BEACH - Struggling with sinuses? Sneezing up a storm? Blame Frances. And keep an itchy red eye on Jeanne.

Given the amount of dust, pollen and spores kicked up by Frances, Charley and Ivan, you don't have to have allergies to experience their hallmark ills: sinus headaches, ear pain or the lung-clutching wheeze of asthma.

Mold Education: Geotrichum spp.

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Geotrichum is one of my favorite molds, because it can grow on CD's. Yes, I do mean compact discs. It can grow on video tapes as well. (I'd guess it probably can grow on DVD's as well, but I haven't seen any reports on that yet.) I've had some so-called experts laugh when I've mentioned this phenomena, but it can -- and does -- happen. I've seen it in discussions in several Brittish publications. How does this happen? It's my understanding that these products are manufactured, in part, with cellulose -- which, of course, comes from plants. The moral of the story is if you've had a water problem, don't assume your CD's, videos (and presumably, DVD's) are safe; dry them out.

Taxonomic classification

Court Mold: Mold problems close Elbert courthouse - Judges, deputies and inmates moving to temporary digs (Rocky Mountain News, CO - Sep 23, 2004)

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KIOWA - The Elbert County Courthouse is closed indefinitely after health officials confirmed mold in the building.

"At this point, with the potential that there is a health risk, we had to take immediate action," Karen Salaz, spokeswoman for the Colorado Judicial Department, said Thursday.

School Mold: School's mold problem returns (phillyburbs.com, PA - Sep 25, 2004)

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Bristol Township school officials are awaiting results from air quality tests conducted Friday at Maple Shade Elementary School after mold was found in the building.

The school's principal discovered water damage last May on some interior walls of a classroom in the 80- year-old building, prompting the tests, said Jim White, district director of safety and transportation.

Mold & Insurance: Companies likely will reassess policies, costs (Florida Today, FL - Sep 27, 2004)

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For Philip Carey of Palm Bay, the prognosis for his home after Hurricane Frances isn't good. He is looking at anywhere between $56,000 and $96,000 in structural and mold damages.

And although the 56-year-old retired Army veteran has experienced some speed bumps in getting his insurance company to quickly process his claims, Carey is confident that, eventually, he will be compensated.

Media Review: Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control (Flannigan, Brian; Samson, Robert A.; Miller, J. David, CRC Press, Hardback, 490 pages, $149.95)

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This fascinating book has a compendium of studies on indoor microorganisms, including, of course, fungi. The Table of Contents gives a great idea of what is in the book.

Here's the table of contents:

Media Review (con't): Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control

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Chapter Five is several hundred pages long, and has full color photographs of cultured microorganisms (in petri dishes) and microphotographs of the microorganisms. Several of the microorganisms are photographed in situ. For example Serpula lacrymans (commonly known ad dry rot) is shown on wood. This section would be very helpful in confirming the identification of common microorganisms.

Media Review (con't): Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control

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Table 1, Chapter 3.1, lists the various families of Moulds and other fungi noted in the literature for which IgE-mediated allergy has been demonstrated. This half-page table simply lists the families of moulds (it's written by someone from the UK) that are known allergens.

Media Review (con't): Microorganisms In Home and Indoor Work Environments - Diversity, Health Impacts, Investigation and Control

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The genius of this book is its compilation of complex information and presenting it in one place, in an easy- to-understand format. For example, Table 1 of Chapter 4.1 has a simple list of mould damage at various building envelope construction defect points. The most common defect cause for the exterior building envelope is (surprise, I'm sure) problems. The list is detailed - for example, "poor flashing at head or sill" caused problems.

So, is it worth $149.95? From my point of view, Chapter 3.5 on Respiratory Illnesses alone is worth the purchase price.

For Fun: www.thesmokinggun.com

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I love this site (although I thought the TV show was so horrid, I only lasted a few minutes). Some of the recent additions are Macauley Culkin's marijuana bust mugshot; a cease-and-desist letter from Dualstar Entertainment telling a blogger to stop using a drawing of Mary Kate Olsen on a "Save Mary Kate" t- shirt; and the Britney Spears - Kevin Federline "faux wedding" agreement.

By the way, THEY AREN'T MARRIED!

Monday Morning Mold Archives

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·  Hyde Mulvihill APC

·  Monday Morning Mold Archives - 2004

·  Monday Morning Mold Archives - 2003

Contact Information

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email: cmulvihill@cmsynergy.com

phone: 626-358-7471

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