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Tuesday, 06 September 2005
 
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Monday Morning Mold August 22, 2005
Mold in the Media
August 22, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mold Stories
-- Got a mold problem? File rent escrow action (Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - Aug 20, 2005)
-- Toxic Mold Postpones School Year (KFVS, MO - Aug 18, 2005)
-- Follow-Up: Colleton River files lawsuit over irrigation (Aug 18, 2005)
-- Louisianna Court Certifies Mold Class Action Lawsuit (Times Picayune, LA - Aug 17, 2005)
-- $8 Mil. Mold Lawsuit Filed by Milwaukee Condominium Association (Milwaukee Business Journal, WI - Aug 16, 2005)
-- New Zealand building residents told Ordered to Settle NZ $7 mil. Mold Lawsuit (New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - Aug 12, 2005)
-- Mold Education: Detection of Mold and Mycotoxin Antibodies in DNA in Blood, Saliva and Lung Secretions (Aristo Vojdani, PhD, M.T.)
-- School Mold: Critics say school mold downplayed (Seattle Post Intelligencer - Aug 18, 2005)
-- Mold & Insurance: Property owners increasingly wary of mould - Canadian Insurers, others learned from U.S. experience
-- Mold & Insurance: Mycotoxins: Insurance, Production Risk for Corn (FarmWeek, IL - Aug 19, 2005)
-- Mold & Technology: EPA Technology for Mold Identification and Enumeration
-- Mold & Technology: Air Quality Sciences Releases Hurricane Guide for Restoring Water Damaged Buildings and Preventing Mold Growth (Market Wire - Aug 16, 2005)
-- Mold & Technology: Non-aflatoxin Aspergillus used as a pesticide against aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus (I-Newswire.com - Aug 13, 2005)
-- For Fun: San Diego Zoo Live Panda Cam

 

Good Morning,

This morning's photograph is of a culture of Aspergillus niger from the Community College of Baltimore County, Maryland. from a Biology 141 Laboratory Manual.

Hot tips on mold? Please let me know. Send information to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Cynthia Coulter Mulvihihll, Esq Hyde Mulvihill APC 216 W. Foothill Boulevard Monrovia CA 91016.


Got a mold problem? File rent escrow action (Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - Aug 20, 2005)
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Q: My daughter and three other girls have rented a home in Marshall, Minn., while they attend college. When they did the walk-through, they noticed mold in the bathroom and were assured it would be removed.

We moved her into the home last weekend and the mold was gone, but when you walked into the home, you could smell mold and a musty smell. We went into the basement, which is covered with wallboard but not painted, and there is mold everywhere. Also, her roommate began to take down some wallpaper in her room and found mold there as well.

Click here for: Got a mold problem? File rent escrow action (Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - Aug 20, 2005)


Toxic Mold Postpones School Year (KFVS, MO - Aug 18, 2005)
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Campbell Hill, IL - Students, and teachers were supposed to be in the classrooms at TRICO Elementary on Wednesday, but instead there were only workers cleaning up toxic mold. So school district leaders decided to push the start of the school year back another week.

"We didn't want to go on a day to day basis closing the school. We just thought let's do if for a week, and everybody should be gone. And all the air samples should be back in a week, and okay," says TRICO Superintendent Dennis Smith.

Click here for: Toxic Mold Postpones School Year (KFVS, MO - Aug 18, 2005)


Follow-Up: Colleton River files lawsuit over irrigation (Aug 18, 2005)
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Colleton River Plantation Club has sued Beaufort- Jasper Water and Sewer Authority and two contractors, claiming a system to carry water for irrigation failed.

The failure occurred three years ago when a section of 30-inch pipe used to move water from lagoons to a pumping station collapsed, according to the lawsuit filed Aug. 5 in the Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas. The suit states the damage cost $800,000 to repair. Aquasouth Construction of Pooler, Ga., and Thomas & Hutton Engineering of Savannah also are named as defendants.

Click here for: Follow-Up: Colleton River files lawsuit over irrigation (Aug 18, 2005)


Louisianna Court Certifies Mold Class Action Lawsuit (Times Picayune, LA - Aug 17, 2005)
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A state district judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit filed by three parents of students who attended the now-closed Chalmette Christian Academy. The parents claimed the children were made ill, one seriously, by mold at the school.

In a ruling issued last week, 34th Judicial District Judge Manuel Fernandez approved the request from the parents to certify their suit as a class action including all students who attended the school during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years.

Click here for: Louisianna Court Certifies Mold Class Action Lawsuit (Times Picayune, LA - Aug 17, 2005)


$8 Mil. Mold Lawsuit Filed by Milwaukee Condominium Association (Milwaukee Business Journal, WI - Aug 16, 2005)
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A group representing owners of the $15 million Highbridge condominiums on Milwaukee's east side have sued the building's developer, contending that poor construction and materials have caused their windows and walls to leak.

The Highbridge Condominium Owners Association, representing owners of the $300,000 condominiums at 1888 N. Water St., filed suit Monday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court against New Land Enterprises L.L.P. The association is seeking $8 million from New Land, which is owned by Boris Gokhman and Walter Shukh.

Click here for: $8 Mil. Mold Lawsuit Filed by Milwaukee Condominium Association (Milwaukee Business Journal, WI - Aug 16, 2005)


New Zealand building residents told Ordered to Settle NZ $7 mil. Mold Lawsuit (New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - Aug 12, 2005)
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Minmetals NZ Residents of a large three-block Ellerslie apartment complex have been ordered to reach a settlement with the units' developers to avoid complicated court litigation.

A Chinese Government-owned organisation that developed the leaking apartments was this week taken to court by angry owners.

Click here for: New Zealand building residents told Ordered to Settle NZ $7 mil. Mold Lawsuit (New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - Aug 12, 2005)


Mold Education: Detection of Mold and Mycotoxin Antibodies in DNA in Blood, Saliva and Lung Secretions (Aristo Vojdani, PhD, M.T.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Molds and fungi have been present on this planet for almost three billion years now.The majority of molds are quite harmless, but a few of them, under certainenvironmental conditions, may produce spores containing mycotoxins. Indeed, out of the many thousands of molds contaminating the air indoors, only a few have beenfound to possess allergens or allergy-inducing antigens. This means that even if individuals may be exposed to a multitude of molds found indoors, they will reactonly to those that produce mycotoxins.

Many molds reproduce by making spores, which, upon achieving contact with a moistfood source, can germinate and commence the production of a branching network ofcells called hyphae. Molds have varying requirements for moisture, food, temperature,and other environmental conditions for growth. In water-damaged buildings, environmental laboratory examinations utilizing swabs forcounting viable microbial activity or air samples and total bioaerosols detected the presence ofthe following molds at the rate of 10-1000 fold greater than that found in the air outdoors.

Click here for Mold Education: Detection of Mold and Mycotoxin Antibodies in DNA in Blood, Saliva and Lung Secretions (Aristo Vojdani, PhD, M.T.)


School Mold: Critics say school mold downplayed (Seattle Post Intelligencer - Aug 18, 2005)
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Workers surveying Seattle Public Schools buildings earlier this year found evidence of mold in at least nine schools, and potential environmental hazards in a number of others.

Inspection reports cite suspected mold outbreaks, water leaks, deteriorating ceilings and poor air quality in schools around the city. At some schools, teachers, nurses and principals complained to inspectors about health problems stemming from offices and classrooms.

Click here for School Mold: Critics say school mold downplayed (Seattle Post Intelligencer - Aug 18, 2005)


Mold & Insurance: Property owners increasingly wary of mould - Canadian Insurers, others learned from U.S. experience
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Concern in the real estate, construction and insurance industry about hazardous materials such as asbestos has given way to a relatively new risk - mould. Since the late '90s, mould-related litigation and insurance claims have exploded in North America.

Bruce Stewart, vice-president of Pinchin Environmental Ltd., sees the growth in his business as proof of increasing mould awareness in Canada.

Click here for Mold & Insurance: Property owners increasingly wary of mould - Canadian Insurers, others learned from U.S. experience


Mold & Insurance: Mycotoxins: Insurance, Production Risk for Corn (FarmWeek, IL - Aug 19, 2005)
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After years of not having to deal with drought- damaged corn, some farmers may not be aware of a few key drought risk-management issues. For example, under the federal crop insurance program, aflatoxin in corn is an insurable cause of loss only if grain is tested before being moved into commercial or on-farm storage.

Drought and related insect pressures can cause kernel damage, increasing potential for development of molds such as Aspergillus that can produce harmful toxins in stored grain.

Click here for Mold & Insurance: Mycotoxins: Insurance, Production Risk for Corn (FarmWeek, IL - Aug 19, 2005)


Mold & Technology: EPA Technology for Mold Identification and Enumeration
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The presence of molds in homes, schools and business has become of growing concern in the US. In order to begin to understand their significance, a standardized technology was needed to identify and quantify these molds. In May of 2002, the EPA was granted patent 6,387,652 which describes mold DNA sequences which can be used to do just that. This technology has been licensed by many US firms and one in the UK, shown below.

The patented technology teaches the best available DNA sequences to use for over 130 of the major indoor air fungi. Perhaps the best part of the technology is that it is fast. A licensed company can go from sample to result in only a few hours. This eliminates the need for plating and culturing or identifying and counting. Other analytical techniques can take days to weeks to complete. Even better, it can be performed by a technician and lends itself to automation. Any of the typical sampling systems can be adapted for use with this technology. Anyone, anywhere, if the technique is used properly, should get the same identification and quantification for the target molds as anyone else.

Click here for Mold & Technology: EPA Technology for Mold Identification and Enumeration


Mold & Technology: Air Quality Sciences Releases Hurricane Guide for Restoring Water Damaged Buildings and Preventing Mold Growth (Market Wire - Aug 16, 2005)
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ATLANTA, GA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 08/16/2005 -- Atlanta-based indoor air quality firm, Air Quality Sciences, Inc. (AQS), today announces the release of a guide to educate commercial property owners and managers on the initial steps required to begin the hurricane recovery process. The guide, "Post Hurricane Basics: Restoring Your Property," outlines best practices for beginning the process of remediating a water damaged building.

Only two months into hurricane season, five tropical storms or hurricanes have already left a trail of destruction and floodwater damaged buildings. Wind is destructive, opening buildings to water damage from land (run off), sea (storm surge) and air (rain) sources. Excessive water damage poses a significant risk to health and property. "When commercial buildings are damaged by a natural or manmade water disaster, the restoration process can be long and complex," says Anthony Worthan, president of AQS. "The sheer size of the building, the number of players involved, and the implications for the business make the process infinitely more complex than it is for water damaged homes."

Click here for Mold & Technology: Air Quality Sciences Releases Hurricane Guide for Restoring Water Damaged Buildings and Preventing Mold Growth (Market Wire - Aug 16, 2005)


Mold & Technology: Non-aflatoxin Aspergillus used as a pesticide against aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus (I-Newswire.com - Aug 13, 2005)
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(I-Newswire) - The tasteless toxin is produced by the mould aspergillus flavus. It grows in hot, arid regions, in the south-west of the US and in many regions of Africa and Asia. In Third World countries, particularly, this dangerous paintbrush-shaped mould is ubiquitous. This may be one reason for the high rate of liver cancer in Africa. "Our colleagues from the IITA in Nigeria recently succeeded in proving that 99 out of 100 children from Benin and Togo had aflatoxin in their blood," Professor Richard Sikora of the Bonn Institute of Plant Diseases explains. "The consequence is drastic impairment of growth and of other types of development."

'Good' mould displaces its highly toxic cousin The remedy may lie in the idea of US researchers Dr. Peter J. Cotty, which is both simple and ingenious. "In addition to the dangerous strain aspergillus flavus there are also others which cannot produce any toxin," the Bonn plant pathologist Dr. Sebastian Kiewnick explains. "Cotty propagated this non-toxic strain of aspergillus on grains of corn and spread the mould-infected grains in fields of cotton. As a result, the non-toxic strain was present in substantially larger amounts and was thus able to almost entirely supplant the toxic variety." The success was overwhelming: aflatoxin infection of the cotton cobs dropped from an average of 1,000 ppb ( parts per billion ) to below 20 ppb, thereby lying within the US safety limit for animal food - cotton seeds serve as food e.g. for dairy cattle.

Click here Mold & Technology: Non-aflatoxin Aspergillus used as a pesticide against aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus (I-Newswire.com - Aug 13, 2005)


For Fun: San Diego Zoo Live Panda Cam
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This is so cool -- I logged in to see Bai Yun and her baby boy cub, born on August 2, 2005. Bai Yun was cleaning him, and I was able to see the baby quite clearly.

Click here For Fun: San Diego Zoo Live Panda Cam


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