Toxic Mold in Your Home: Is Your Family's Health at Risk?

What is toxic mold?

Mold is a naturally occurring and essential component of the environment. Their function is to break down dead organic matter into material that can be readily recycled into the soil and into the food chain. Outdoors in its natural environment, molds pose no health threat to humans. On the other hand, when mold is allowed to grow and populate indoors when it can release millions of spores, its impact on the health of the building's occupants can be mild to fatal. Epidemiologist and mycologists have estimated that there are some 100 to 300 different species of mold that are potentially hazardous to health if inhaled, ingested or in some cases...touched.

Why a problem now?

Mold, like all plant life, requires water and food to grow and thrive. In today's more tightly constructed homes that trap moisture indoors, mold can find these indoor water sources and take up residence. In addition, advances in medical science have made it possible to trace more and more illnesses back to the mold pathogens and allergens that cause them. As early as 1976, the medical community was aware of the serious health risk associated with toxic mold when 221 people died from exposure to the bacteria later dubbed "Legionella pneumophila." More recently, several highly publicized, mold-related court cases have had real estate professionals and builders diving for cover. This heightened public awareness has also created a feeding frenzy in the legal profession and chronic headaches for the medical community.

Are you at risk from toxic mold?