Mold in Queen Anne's sheriff's office worries deputies

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Mold in Queen Anne's sheriff's office worries deputies

By DONNA CHIU, Staff Writer

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http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/07_10-21/CKI

For most county departments, it's good to be in the black.

But for the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office, some deputies

think black mold might have made them sick.

A union representing about 40 county deputies called last week for

the immediate evacuation of the office in Centreville after eight

deputies tested positive for exposure to toxic mold in May.

The Queen Anne's County Fraternal Order of Police hired Dr. Ritchie

Shoemaker, a medical expert in mold, to test willing deputies after

black mold was discovered in the facility in February, said

Mc, the union's attorney.

Eight deputies asked to be tested at the May 20 clinic, and all

tested positive, leaving the union worried about the air quality in

the facility, Mr. Mc said.

" The building is overrun with toxic mold, " he said. " It's filled

with sick people, and we want them out of there and the problem

properly addressed. "

County officials dismissed the union's call for evacuation, saying

the building is safe and that testing procedures used on the

employees by Dr. Shoemaker are new and have not been accepted by the

scientific community.

" All the literature on mold-related toxins, by and large, disagrees

with this practitioner's approach and conclusions, " said Dr. Hung

Cheung, former state medical director and a private practitioner

hired by the county to consult with concerned employees in May.

Dr. Shoemaker defended his work against Dr. Cheung's claims. " The

data we have is overwhelming and has been peer-reviewed and

published in some of the highest venues that there is in academic

literature, " he said. " Mold illness is readily identified, easily

separated from other illnesses, and is treatable. "

There has been much debate among researchers in the past few years

over alleged toxic effects in mold, Dr. Shoemaker and Dr. Cheung

said.

County officials also said the county has already taken every action

necessary to ensure the safety of the 40 deputies working at the

facility since mold was discovered in the building's walls.

" We took care of the mold completely, " county administrator

Comfort said. " We gutted the building and spent hundreds of

thousands of dollars on remediation. Obviously, it's not our goal to

harm people. "

A section of the building was stripped to the studs, cleaned,

cleared for safety and rebuilt from February to May, Sheriff

Crossley said.

" The county has done more than enough to remediate the problems, " he

said. " The levels of mold at this point are not anywhere near being

bad for the health of employees. "

Deputies moved back into that section of the building in May, but

FOP president Walsh said the union believes parts of the

building remain unsafe.

Although the building was cleaned and rebuilt from the floor to the

ceiling, parts above the ceiling were not cleaned. Another part of

the building, where the Queen Anne's County ative Extension is

housed, is now being cleaned.

Deputies are concerned that the mold spores will continue to travel

through the ventilation system and are asking the county to evacuate

the building, clean the entire building and allow air-quality tests

to be run by a company hired by the union.

" We just want to know if the building is OK, because you can't see

the mold, " Mr. Walsh said. " You're just breathing it all the time.

This is just the opportunity to see if the building is OK or not OK. "

County commissioners denied the union's earlier request on May 25,

and the union is now seeking to alert the public to what it says is

a danger to all employees and county residents who enter the

facility.

The union's concerns intensified in the past two weeks when two of

the eight employees tested in May recently returned to the building

and developed symptoms again, Dr. Shoemaker said.

However, Dr. Cheung said there could be other reasons for the

employees' sickness.

Dr. Cheung spoke to nearly all deputies in a town hall-style meeting

and explained that the levels of mold spores in the building aren't

any higher than in other areas they're exposed to.

Outside air levels are in the thousands for mold spores, and

gardening or yard work can expose a person to 5 million spores, Dr.

Cheung said.

" Mold is pretty darn ubiquitous, " he said. " We're actually exposed

to mold toxins every day. "

People who get sick from mold could have been exposed to those

spores anywhere, he said.

All areas tested by Arc Environmental, hired by the county

Department of Public Works, in March after the mold was removed

showed fewer than 350 spores per cubic meter of air, whereas the

outside level was 800 spores, according to the testing company's

report.

Another test by Arc Environmental in May after the facility was

rebuilt found fewer than 500 spores in each area and a level of

about 9,000 spores outside, according to the report.

Although the independent testing company hired by the county's

insurance provider found relatively low levels, the union questions

the impartiality of the results, Mr. Mc said.

" (The insurance company) is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars

in claims, " he said. " They're defending themselves against losing

money. "

The union has asked to bring in its own testing company but has so

far been denied that request, Mr. Mc said.