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.

Not too long ago while living in Northern CA my daughter made friends with a girl who's family lived on a hill overlooking their 14 acre horse stables, arena, and 20 miles of trail for riding. It was a 40 or 50 year old house, and it smelled of damp mold. It was a nauseating, disgusting smell and it stayed on you after you left the house.

Clean they were not, reminding me of Ma and Pa Kettle and my daughter would not stay overnight, even if I would have let her do so. I liked the family, but that mold aeroma was too much for me. The girl spent a lot of time at our house and the smell was always around her like Pigpen. She had a immune system problem, (so they said). She would get an open sore and it would grow to epic proportions eating the skin around the open sore and getting bigger and bigger and deeper. Finally cortisone injections seemed to stop it.

She does not have this condition any more, but she left home at 17 and moved far away from the "Smell". I tell you, the smell was awfull.

Was this black mold?

If it worked for you, I'm glad. Others who have tried similar approaches have mostly succeeded in spreading the microscopic spores into other areas.

The most important thing at this point is to make sure you have determined and corrrected the source of the moisture intrusion that caused the mold growth.

The best single source of info is from the EPA at http://www.epa.gov/iaq/molds/mold_remediation.html

Like lead paint in the seventies and asbestos in the eighties, mold is the cash crop of this decade.

Curious to know if homeowner's premiums around the country have gone significantly up w/in the last year. Talking to my Mom in California, hers nearly tripled, and she's been claimfree. She was told that her company has been getting a lot of claims for mold damage.

Or, like you said slimer, could all be just a racket.

Sorry guys and gals but this new "black mold plague" is a humongous piece of happy horsewaste fiction created by the corrupt lawyer industry. This is pure Junk Science but is of course a gold mine for these vermin.

That sleazeball attorneys and contractors have a financial incentive to blow this out of proportion is not surprising.

It should not be overlooked, however, that insurance companies, property owners, realtors, builders, and lots of other groups have an exactly equal and opposite financial incentive to downplay the problem and/or to denigrate those who advocate further research.

As others have pointed out, the big problems have arisen because buildings in the last 25 years, for a host of reasons, have created an indoor ecology that has never existed before. It would not be beyond the realm of reason to expect previously rare organisms to thrive in such environments and create previously rare health effects as a result.

Good points.

My dad tried to build and sell well-built homes and couldn't compete with the guys who could slam them up and sell for 5% less. People would look at all the features he would point out, agree that it made the house better, then ask if he could match the 5% less of the guy down the block.

If all you care about is what's on the surface, you're likely to get a building that is mostly surface.

Last year, the insurance industry as a whole spent 1.2 billion on mold claims. State Farm alone lost $4 billion in the same period.

Increasing rates and losses by insurers have little to do with mold. Mostly it's because they've lost their shirts in the stock market, like everybody else.

But mold makes a great excuse to raise rates and demand exclusions from the state insurance departments.

BTW, I don't remember seeing premium rates going down when they were making a killing in the market during the 90s.

Melinda Ballard sounds like the same person who turned her "nightmare" into a "cottage industry" to teach people how to sue their insurance companies.

There have been several scams in Houston where people have bought two-story houses; flood the top floor with hoses or break pipes and collect big bucks.

I think it's the newest rip-off for lawyers. We have insurance companies who are choosing to no longer write home-owner's.

Even here in mild climate San Diego the air tight house is mandated.

Excellent point. The biggest problems arise because structures are not designed around their climate.

Go to www.buildingscience.com for a lot of really great information about this topic.

I am not an expert on mold but the phrase *toxic* mold was invented by lawyers and passed on to the media.

I don't know about that, but many of mold's mycotoxins and endotoxins are toxic.

That rip-off artists take advantage of a problem does not mean the problem does not exist.

People stage auto accidents all the time to defraud insurers. That doesn't mean real auto accidents don't also happen.

Some insurers routinely deny what they know are legitimate claims. This is just as much insurance fraud as the situations you describe. Both should be prosecuted to the max.

Ms. Ballard can be located at http://www.policyholdersofamerica.com/index2.html if you're interested in her story, rather than somebody else's version.

Most of the changes made to buildings since the 70's have made them much more likely to develop serious mold problems. A colleague of mine refers to them as "self-composting buildings." And, unfortunately, he has a point.

I've also read that the more tightly constructed, well-insulated modern houses have also contributed to the increasing prevalence of asthma. Any thoughts?

This is pure Junk Science but is of course a gold mine for these vermin.

I can tell you that in N. Litchfield Beach, south of Myrtle Beach a few miles, a complete complex that was built 3 years ago sits in litigation over mold. The sheetrock got wet while under construction. People moved in, some got sick. Legal costs are over 1 Million bucks now. It isnt resolved yet.

I've also read that the more tightly constructed, well-insulated modern houses have also contributed to the increasing prevalence of asthma. Any thoughts?

It seems pretty clear that the increase in asthma and the increase in the number of these buildings occurred during the same time period. Evidence of a direct causal link is not yet available.

This is pure Junk Science but is of course a gold mine for these vermin.

I'll simply disagree with you as you probably don't have a clue about this. Of course, if you can kindly direct me to your info or sites that demostrate that mold endotoxins and mycotoxins are harmless to humans, then I'll read and possibly reconsider.

This whole business is part of the lawyer's full employment act. The homeowners are being fleeced to pay for this non-existant problem. I'm paying four times what I paid in Missouri. This is the same old mold that has been around for decades. Mass hysteria and lawyers getting rich.

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