Confronting mold in our schools

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Confronting mold in our schools

By SARAH LARSON

The Intelligencer

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-01282006-604707.html

phillyburbs.com Pa.

If bacteria or chemicals are contaminating water at your child's

school, routine testing usually will find it.

If mold is contaminating your child's school, however, no routine

test would reveal it.

That is because, while standards regulate and require testing of the

quality of our drinking water, none exist to regulate or require

testing of the quality of the air we breathe indoors — despite the

fact that we spend 75 percent to 90 percent of our lives inside.

" The Clean Air Act is about outdoor air; the Clean Water Act is

about outdoor water. There are very, very few laws on indoor air

quality, " said Barnett of the New York-based Healthy Schools

Network. " What's really astounding is there are 54 million children

in school across this country, and there is no agency tracking

what's happening to children there, whether they're sick, whether

they're well, whether the environment is harming them. No one does

that. It always boggles our minds. "

The air we breathe indoors can be degraded by a litany of

contaminants, from radon to chemicals from carpets to disease-

causing viruses and bacteria. Children are at greater risk because

their still-developing bodies are particularly susceptible to

pollutants and

because they spend many hours inside schools, according to the

Environmental Protection Agency.

That makes the healthfulness of school air a hot topic these days.

" There are many more seminars being put on now to educate us about

indoor air quality, " said Dave Hansel, director of operations for

the New Hope-Solebury School District. " Even putting new carpet in

classrooms is an issue because it gives off (chemicals). There's a

lot of information that's been out there in the past, but it seems

lately there's a lot more. "

Just four out of every 10 schools in the United States have an

indoor air quality management program, a July 2005 EPA report found.

Even among those schools, performance varied, " suggesting that

having a program is not equivalent to implementing effective "

policies, the authors concluded.

In most cases, the problem is mold.

" It's far and away the No. 1 issue in all places, " said Ed Montz,

who founded Pottstown-based Indoor Air Solutions, Inc. in

1993. " Mold wasn't even on the radar screen 15 years ago, and now

it's the No. 1 complaint. "

Montz's company was called in December to help the Souderton Area

School District, the latest district in this area to grapple with

mold. Mold was found on carpets and student desks in several

classrooms at West Broad Elementary in July and September, and

parents there continue to be concerned about its impact on their

children's health.

Superintendent Amuso said he is awaiting written reports

from an EPA and a state Department of Health representative and will

then schedule a public meeting to discuss the situation.

Meanwhile, he said he is convinced the cleanup the school already

has done is sufficient.

" I want the building to be safe. I am very comfortable that it is

safe, " said Amuso, who started as superintendent in February

2005. " Whatever the EPA recommends, whatever the state department of

health recommends, we'll do. "

This isn't the first time the Souderton district has had to contend

with mold. It was found growing on insulation around air

conditioning pipes at Franconia Elementary School in the summer of

2003. About eight of the school's 27 classrooms were affected.

Cleanup cost more than $35,000.

But Souderton is by no means alone. Mold is increasingly infesting

schools across the country, and it's making kids sick.

A Fairfield, Conn., elementary school was so contaminated with mold

that it had to be bulldozed and rebuilt. In June, a Dickinson Law

School graduate sued the school's owner after developing skin

problems while living in a residence hall. Her doctors advised her

to check for mold, and the lawsuit says she found it in the living

room.

And in Boyertown, coincidentally where Amuso previously was

superintendent, a school had to be closed for a month in August 2003

to deal with mold.

Finding mold raises questions, but there are few solid answers.

No standards outline how much mold is too much, and it is unlikely

that any will be set any time soon.

" There are too many variables, " said Montz, who served on a

Pennsylvania mold task force the Legislature formed last

year. " There are probably a million species of molds, and some are

more harmful than others, and some people are more sensitive to them

than others. You have to take a variety of factors together. "

And when it comes to the health of individual children, he said,

much of the objective measures are meaningless without documented

health effects. Parents need to work tirelessly to determine if

their children are sensitive to a contaminant, such as mold, and get

it documented by a doctor, he said.

" Otherwise, you'll never know the cause and make the link between

something like asthma and an environmental cause, " Montz said. " But

to do that, we all have to work together. And too often, students,

parents, employees, tenants, whatever, all end up on one side, and

the school, landlords, employers end up on the other. It ends up

being an inherently adversarial relationship. "

Complicating the picture is the fact that scientists are still

learning about mold.

" Before the mid-1990s, everyone thought that mold was simply a

nuisance, " said Dr. Ruth Etzel, who headed the Environmental Health

Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics and was involved in

early research into mold's effects on children, particularly

babies. " There was a total paradigm shift from something not

considered to be a medical problem to the point where many people

who are at the forefront of this research now realize that mold is a

much larger medical problem even than we thought 10 years ago. "

But science moves slowly, and debate over mold remains. That gives

people who grapple with it precious little to go on.

" It's frustrating for those of us sitting out here in the hinterland

waiting for the oracle on high to tell us what to think about this, "

said Montz, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention hasn't updated its position on mold or funded research to

advance scientific knowledge on mold in years. " The scientific

community is far too slow to catch on and lead the way. "

In the end, that leaves the burden of concern on parents.

" Some doctors and health officials will say, " We don't know anything

about it, it must not be true,' when what they should say is, " We

don't know anything about it, let's collect data on it,' " Etzel

said. " So those parents who are most active in seeking out this

information are better placed to protect their children. But often,

those who are willing to stand up and say, " This is the truth as I

see it' are very much alone. "

Larson can be reached at (215) 345-3187 or

slarson@....

January 28, 2006 8:29 AM