No Evidence Indoor Mold Causes Major Illness: Report

By Michael Ha

NU Online News Service, May 27,11:25 a.m. EDT?Building mold and dampness are associated with respiratory problems and asthma symptoms in susceptible people, but evidence is lacking to show dampness and mold cause brain damage or other serious illnesses, a government panel of experts said. [@@]

The group also found limited and suggestive evidence that such conditions might cause a problem for healthy children.

Generally hailed by the insurance industry, the findings came from a nine-member group convened by the Institute of Medicine consisting of epidemiologists, toxicologists and pediatricians.

The institute is part of the National Academy of Sciences that advises the federal government on various health issues. The panel said its members reached their conclusion after reviewing "hundreds of scientific papers and reports."

In its report titled "Damp Indoor Spaces and Health," the panel acknowledged there is enough evidence to show that mold and indoor dampness were indeed linked to respiratory problems and asthma symptoms in some susceptible people.

"Epidemiologic studies?indicate that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the presence of mold indoors is associated with upper respiratory symptoms; cough, wheeze and asthma symptoms in sensitized asthmatic persons; and hypersensitivity pneumonitis (a relatively rare immune-mediated condition) in susceptible persons," the panel found.

It said also that there is "limited or suggestive evidence of an association" with respiratory illness in otherwise healthy children.

However, the panel also found there is "no sufficient evidence of a link" between mold and more serious conditions like brain or neurological damage, reproductive problems, and cancer.

"Inadequate or insufficient information was identified to determine whether damp indoor environments or agents associated with them are related to a variety of health outcome," according to the panel's report.

But more studies are still needed, especially to understand what potential effect interactions between various indoor environments may have, the panel said.

The report observed that indoor environments subject occupants to various elements that could interact physically or chemically with one another and with other factors of the environment, such as humidity, temperature and ventilation rate. But there are only a few studies to date that have examined whether there are "additives or synergistic interactions among these factors," the panel reported.

For the insurance industry, which has been hit with an onslaught of mold damage and injury claims in recent years, the findings were welcome.

Various industry observers hailed the findings, including Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute in New York, who said the insurance industry is "pleased with the results of the report."

"This report reinforces what we have been saying," said Anne Sittmann, spokesperson for the Des Plaines, Ill.-based Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. "Mold poses no significant health problems to the vast majority of the population," Ms. Sittmann said.

However, Melinda Ballard?a policyholders' advocate who brought the seminal Texas mold damage case, Ballard vs. Farmers Insurance, that opened a floodgate of claims in 2001 when a jury awarded $32 million, an amount reduced to $4 million before an undisclosed settlement was reached?told National Underwriter more studies are needed to fully understand mold's effects.

"We agree that only a small portion of the general population is truly affected by mold," Ms. Ballard said. "Not everyone gets affected. In my case, I wasn't affected, but my kids and husband were," said Ms. Ballard, who settled her lawsuit against Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Group in March.

She also said she agrees with the panel's remark that more studies still need to be done. "We need to have more, larger studies done, because studies involving 20-to-30 people are just not going to cut it, and that's what we have right now," Ms. Ballard said. She also observed there are a few studies currently under way that examine in depth the neuro-toxicity issue of the indoor molds and that these studies will shed more light on how molds can have adverse neurological effects for some people.

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No Evidence Indoor Mold Causes Major Illness: Report

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