Oct 31 2009
Common Household Mold Linked to Many Common Illnesses
According to a study by Berkeley Labs, out of the 28 million Americans diagnosed with asthma, 4.6 million of these cases are linked to dampness and common household mold. The Mayo Clinic also recently cited mold as the predominant cause of 37 million cases of chronic sinus infections. MoldFacts.org, a prominent online mold resource, aims to address this national health issue by educating the public on the detection, correction and prevention of mold and its causes.
MoldFacts.org was founded by Jason Earle, a nationally recognized expert in indoor mold issues. At the age of 4, Jason Earle was misdiagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease that had caused the death of several family members. A second round of testing eliminated cystic fibrosis and concluded he had asthma compounded by pneumonia and multiple allergies.
Years later, Jason realized the cause of his suffering was in fact the very home he had lived in. The house was damp and moldy, and Jason was allergic to everything from dogs and cats to cotton and corn. After eight years of living on an inhaler, Jason moved out of that home and his maladies faded away. He has since made it his mission to ensure others avoid the needless suffering he endured as a child.
“I now know it was mold and the other unhealthy byproducts of dampness indoors which were at the root of my severe asthmatic condition as a kid,” says Earle. “Without the constant exposure to mold, I am now incredibly healthy.”
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside the average American home can be over 100 times more polluted than the air outside. It isn’t only old homes that are affected by mold. In fact, new homes usually have poorer air quality than older ones because they are more airtight. The energy-saving building methods developed in the 1970s have created more mold-friendly homes.
What Can Be Done?
- Get informed and stay informed! MoldFacts.org is a reliable source of current mold-related articles and other useful information for people concerned about mold and indoor air quality.
- A safe, easy and cost-effective way to help determine whether your home, office, or classroom might have a mold problem is by using the GOT MOLD? Test Kit available at http://www.gotmoldtestkit.com.
- Companies such as 1-800-GOT-MOLD? can quickly and accurately sniff out mold using specially trained Mold Dogs™.
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- Visit http://www.IndoorHealthSolution.com for mold prevention items such as dehumidifiers and other tools for healthy living indoors such as air purifiers.
“There is absolutely no reason why people should have to needlessly suffer when there are so many solutions available for mold detection and remediation,” said Earle. “If only the resources available now were in existence when I was a child, I would never have suffered the constant and unnecessary pain associated with such a common household issue.”
Source: http://www.moldfacts.org/