Toxic Intruder: Black Mold Panic Has Families Fleeing Their Homes

— Believe it or not, families around the country are fleeing their homes — or having them destroyed — because of an insidious intruder they say is making them sick.

The invader? Black mold. Its technical name is Stachybotrys chartarum — stachy for short — and it's got a lot of people panicked.

In Oregon, the O'Hara family asked their local fire department to burn their $450,000 home to the ground after black mold was found inside. "It's basically just a house that poisoned my family," Mark O'Hara said.

In Hawaii, a $95 million Hilton Hotel tower has been closed since July because black mold was found in some of the rooms.

In a July 2001 story Time magazine said toxic mold is spreading "like some sort of biblical plague." The New York Daily News called it "killer mold."

Whatever you call it, across the country, black mold is causing people to abandon buildings, close schools and leave beautiful homes sitting vacant.

In Seabrook, Texas, the Hammond family lived in tents in their backyard for almost nine months, waiting for their insurance company to settle their claim and clean up black mold they say they discovered in their home.

Beverly and Mike Hammond say a bathroom leak caused the black mold to grow. The Hammonds lived for months with a "potty tent" that served as an outhouse. "As soon as I saw the mold, then we, you know, hightailed it for the tent," Beverly Hammond said.

They say the mold made them sick, causing fatigue and joint pain, and will only go in their house with a respirator.

Melinda Ballard's mansion near Austin, Texas is considered by many to be the "ground zero" of the current mold hysteria. Like Diane Fortner, Ballard once thought of her estate as a dream home. Ballard now refers to it as "Toxic Tara."

Ballard says it all began with a leaky roof and some burst pipes. She claims her insurance company lied to her, delaying her request to have the wet materials in her home replaced. That's when she says the black mold began to grow under the kitchen floorboards and spread to other areas. Finally, she and her family left.

"On April 23rd, 1999, we walked out of that home with nothing more than the clothes on our backs," Ballard said.

Ballard is suing her insurance company because of the black mold. She invited 20/20 to look around her home, but insisted we wear protective suits and respirators.

Ballard's case made news last year when a jury ordered her insurance company to pay her a staggering $32 million for acting in bad faith. The judgment is now being appealed.

In addition to making her house unlivable, Ballard claims, the mold also caused serious health problems.

She said her son, Reese, was gasping to get air into his lungs, coughing up blood and suffering terrible headaches. She said her husband, Ron, had similar symptoms, including what she calls early Alzheimer's.

Ballard said, "I know men forget their anniversaries and they forget things like that, but they don't forget what kind of car they've driven. They don't forget where they live. … He did."

"You can see mucosal bleeding, like bleeding from the nose and the ears, you can see hair loss … and there are some individuals that feel that indeed cognitive dysfunction or the inability to think, is also the result of the inhalation of fungal spores," said David Straus, a microbiologist at Texas Tech.

Straus acknowledged that there is no conclusive proof that these serious illnesses are caused by black mold. However, Straus said, "The data are coming."

Straus even claims his one visit to "Toxic Tara" as a consultant resulted in permanent hearing loss.

"I can't prove that the hearing loss occurred because of my exposure to mold in Melinda's house," but Straus added, "that's exactly the day that it began."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are very few case reports of mold in the home causing internal bleeding or memory loss, and no link has been established. Most scientists say the only proven effects from mold are allergic reactions and possible respiratory problems — including asthma. Some say mold fear is being whipped up by lawyers and mold cleanup companies eager to turn mold into gold.

University of Texas Medical Center immunologist, Dr. Gailen Marshall said some of his patients have been told to leave their homes and that black mold can kill them. But Marshall insists there's no cause for alarm.

"I think it's being blown horrendously out of proportion … All the stories that are out there are based primarily on testimonials and conjecture, not on hard scientific evidence," Marshall said.

The stories of mold panic are so widespread — they're even being spoofed on kids' cartoon shows. The parodies of mold fear ring all too true to Gordon Stewart of the Insurance Information Institute.

"There is no such thing as killer mold," Stewart said. He said mold — including black mold — has been around for centuries, and that people have only become hysterical about mold in the past few years.

Two years ago, there were only 1,000 mold-related insurance claims in Texas. That number soared to 14,000 last year. And now insurers, nationwide, are raising rates or dropping mold coverage altogether.

"There isn't more mold now than there was two years ago. There is more mold fear than there was two years ago, and there may be in some cases, more mold greed," Stewart said.

Marshall said he does believe most of his patients complaining of mold-related illnesses really are sick. "The question is what is the relationship between the presence of mold and their illnesses? … There's really no evidence that the very presence of mold, which is really everywhere in our environment, will by itself create bleeding, will by itself create memory loss or deficit, et cetera," Marshall said.

He believes what may be making some of them sick is not the mold — but the panic that's been created. Marshall insists the greatest danger isn't from the mold but from the panic that's been created.

He said, "There is clear evidence that the chronic anxiety that may result from something like this itself has a negative health consequence."

While there's no evidence toxic mold in the home is deadly — there is increasing debate about how dangerous it might be — and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is funding a study of mold's health effects.

If you see mold in your home, everyone agrees you should get rid of it. But experts say in most cases there is no need to have expensive mold remediation done. They advise homeowners to stop the water intrusion and to simply clean up the mold with a little bleach. If it has spread, experts advise homeowners to replace moldy building materials like Sheetrock. It's also important to note that not all black-colored mold is Stachybotrys chartarum.

For more information on what you should do if you think you have mold in your home, visit the following Web sites:

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: The EPA Web site includes "A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home," which provides information and guidance for homeowners and renters on how to clean up residential mold problems and how to prevent mold growth. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/moldresources.html

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: The CDC Web site has information on air pollution and respiratory health, including this question and answer page on Stachybotrys chartarum. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/airpollution/mold/stachy.htm.

Very true. The big problem is that right now the science has not yet been done that will allow us to determine with precision which claims are valid and which are not.

The trick, as I see it, is to not repeat the asbestos situation where over-reaction ruled. Asbestos is dangerous in certain situations, but its danger was exagerated in the courtroom and the media to the point that any minute quantity of asbestos was treated as though it were nuclear waste, despite its low toxicity in most cases. The cost to American industry was huge. We are a much weaker country in terms of true productivity due to rulings like those involving asbestos. Are there any lawyers in China?

My question to you is...are sheetrock walls more prone to this kind of damage than plaster walls? If so, is the paper content in the sheetrock the reason?

BINGO!

Plaster is chemically close to concrete. Molds cannot eat it, since it is inorganic.

Drywall is paper made of cellulose (the fibrous portion of the wood) with the other mold repellent parts of the wood (lignins, tannins) removed. Paper is like baby food for mold. Then they laminate this paper onto both sides of a sponge (gypsum) and seal at least one side of it up inside a wall cavity so it can dry only very slowly.

BTW, some scientists have used drywall from Home Depot as a growth medium in laboratories for Stachybotrys. It grew better on it than on anything else they could find.

Heck - just do what I do. Get a squirrel to punch a hole in your wall and then after getting him 'trapped' and 'removed' have him come back. Not just once but THREE times! My house is definitely no-longer air tight. Of course the warped wood siding on the sun-ward side (in Houston) helps too. Dang I really don't want to fork out the dough to replace that - but it might have been a blessing in disguise. The neighbor behind us had to evacuate his home due to mold.

How dry is "dry"?The technical way of measuring materials for their ability to support growth is "water activity." If that is below .60, no fungi will ever grow on that material. Very few will grow below .70.

Unfortunately, measuring it is somewhat technical and requires equipment few people have.

If you place a paper towel on the carpet and stand on it for 30-60 seconds, it should not feel damp. That's dry carpet.

In some climates, getting carpets dry quickly enough is fairly easy. In others, it's very hard.

Without a truck-mount, airmovers, possibly dehumidifiers and expertise, it can be dang near impossible.

I would hope that those doing the research aren't left-wingers and otherwise don't have a dog in this race.

Scientists aren't supposed to have dogs in races.

Unfortunately, a surprising number of scientists are left-wing. One of my best friends is a leading environemtal consultant specializing in this issue. He's actually shifted his viewpoint over the years and is now really mildly conservative. But he still thinks of himself as a leftist.

Thank you for your reply.

Do you have any advice for someone who has experienced a water heater leak that soaked the basement?

The standing water was removed immediately by the homeowners (three shopvacs going at the same time), the insurance company sent a water damage team to the house, and the basement carpet and pad were all removed and discarded within hours, along with anything that was truly damaged beyond repair. Then they set the big blowers going for 72 hours (being moved around every few hours), the whole basement was sprayed with an antifungal agent, and mold and mildew paint was applied to the affected (sheetrocked) walls. In addition, the owners kept the basement well-lit and ventilated for a few weeks, the theory being that mold doesn't like light. This was a few months ago, and the homeowners have checked and rechecked for mold and have found none. There have been no further problems, but how long would it take for such mold to show up?

Thanks again,
Regards,

Unfortunately I do not have the funds or the where-whithall to replace it now. I've used screws to secure what I can. However, my post was partly in jest. I am not the least bit worried about black mold. My house is not 'air tight' by any stretch of the imagination and many of the homes that I've seen suddenly develop black mold are older than 25 years. This is a hysteria and it's costing me a pretty penny in higher home insurance premium.

Without a truck-mount, airmovers, possibly dehumidifiers and expertise, it can be dang near impossible.

I've seen a couple of carpet cleaning folks in my time, with and without the truck. I think "expertise" may not be the appropriate term here. I'll grant that truck-mount vacuums are generally more powerful than plug-in models, and air movement to help pull the moisture out of the carpet presents a useful tool, but the guys I've seen cleaning carpet range from pretty intelligent to those that are lucky to be able to plug the vacuum hose in properly. Yet, they still manage to clean a carpet and have it dry in a timely manner. They always recommend 1 day before removing the little furniture coasters regardless of their skill. I imagine that represents covering for the ones that soak a carpet and fail to pull the water back out.

If something isn't right, it simply ought to be made illegal by the elected legislature, not by the unelected court system.

I don't disagree. Frankly, I think executives of large corporations should be held criminally responsible for the misdeeds of their employees in the interests of the corporation.

We all know that almost never happens now, so the primary effect of getting rid of punitive damages would be to remove all disincentive for corporations to misbehave. The end result of that would probably be more regulation, micro-management by government oversight.

Punitive damages, with all their drawbacks, are certainly preferable to that, IMHO.

I've had a case where the amount needed to repair fire damage properly was $20k. The adjuster was going to offer them $10k. He looked me in the eye and said, "They're old, black and poor. What are they going to do about it?" The answer was they accepted the 10 grand.

This behavior did not put money in the pocket of the adjuster. It put $10k on the bottom line for the insurance company. It was immoral, unethical and possibly illegal. But you can't put a corporation in jail.

If a corporation has strong financial incentives to behave badly, it needs at least some financial counter-incentive to avoid such behavior. Punitive damages, for all their faults, provide that counter-incentive. (Well, sometimes they do.) :)

I'm an architect, and as a licensed architect and a member of the American Institue of Architects I must attend classes, lectures and seminars to maintain my continuing education credits. I would say that in the last 2 years, 80% of my credits have in some way addressed mold and the prevention of mold. In one recent lecture a contractor brought up that mold IS a serious and dangerous problem. One of his carpenters was installing new baseboard and in the process, touched a contaminated area. Apparently the man touched his face after because he eventually lost half of it to a face eating mold that devoured his skin.

Mold is no joke.

The primary cause of mold is moisture getting inside your house and inadequate ventilation to deal with the moisture getting out. The top priority should be to keep moisture out of the house. Grade outside of homes should be sloped away from foundation walls, gravel should be properly placed, drains located, eaves and overhangs incorporated into homes, and proper vapor barriers specified. If cracks in basement foundation walls are not properly sealed, moisture will infiltrate your house.

Much moisture in homes also is formed directly from human activity such as showering and cooking. Cooking and showering deposits several pints of water a day into the atmosphere of your home.

Due to natural thermodynamics, in the summer warm humid air outside a home tends to condense in wall cavities when it hits the cooler dryer interior portions of walls. In the winter the reverse is true. This is why good insulation in walls and ceilings is imperative. More importantly, vapor barriers or mold resistant drywall should be utilized on surfaces suceptible to mold growth.

Without water, mold cannot grow. And remember, mold needs a food source. Wood and the paper found on most drywall is the perfect food medium when combined with water.

Most importantly, keep the water out. The number one problem in homes is water or moisture related.

The trick, as I see it, is to not repeat the asbestos situation where over-reaction ruled.

Absolutely correct. About $60 billion has been spent on abating asbestos. The net effect was a slight increase in average exposure to the mineral.

There are numerous types of asbestos. They are made up of different minerals, with similar fire-resistance characteristics, but very different properties otherwise.

Most types of asbestos do not cause health problems. But the government had only one category and insisted that all asbestos be treated the same, regardless of its true health risk.

Probably wasted $50 billion, not counting side-effects on business.

IMHO, the mold issue is going to cost a lot more than asbestos, even if we figure out the most cost-effective way to deal with it. And that ain't very likely!

Have the owners contact the water damage contractors for their moisture content log. If they don't have one, the chances of their having done a proper job are slim.

According to a number of studies, 40 to 80% of mold problems in buildings are completely hidden from view.

A visual/physical inspection by a qualified environmental consultant should turn up any indicators that further investigation might be needed. Should cost less than $500, if they can find somebody qualified to do it.

This will be traced back to some government regulation mandating insulation requirements.

You dont have a clue what you are talking about,

Lack of proper insulation is one of the chief reasons mold grows. Without insulation, condensation happens in exterior walls and roofs/ceilings. Moisture=mold.p> The ideal temperatrure for mold to grpw is 33F to 120F and 65 to 95% humidity.

With better insulation,proper vapor barriers, and adequate ventilation none of these homes would have mold problems.

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