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State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery
by Paul C. Clark
Staff Writerwrite the author
June 25, 2009
The pressure on Guilford County Schools to solve the
mystery of health symptoms reported by students and parents
at Oak Ridge Elementary School is increasing.
Students and parents at the school have reported persistent
and increasingly severe symptoms at Oak Ridge since it was
completely rebuilt in 2005.
On June 15, the Occupational Safety and Health Division of
the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) , which
investigates complaints of hazardous workplace
environments, wrote to Guilford County Schools with the
first official complaint from Oak Ridge employees and
parents, ordering the school system to investigate the
conditions at Oak Ridge and report its finding to the NCDOL
by June 24.
The complaint released by the NCDOL said that employees at
the school are exposed to mold inside the HVAC unit, walls
and carpet of the school, and that employees are
experiencing adverse health effects, including skin rashes,
headaches, nosebleeds, fever, blurred vision, sore throats
and fatigue.
The NCDOL wrote to Oak Ridge Elementary School on June 15
stating that the agency has not yet determined whether or
not the hazards alleged in the complaint exist, and isn't
conducting an independent investigation of the school at
this time. But the agency ordered the school to conduct an
investigation, and to correct any environmental hazards
found.
"Within seven working days of your receipt of this letter,
please advise us, in writing, by certified mail of your
findings and of the action you have taken," the NCDOL
wrote. "Your response should be detailed, stating
specifically what actions you have taken to correct each
hazard. You should enclose any supporting documentation,
such as monitoring results, equipment purchases,
photographs, etc."
The NCDOL also warned the school system not to retaliate
against any employee involved in filing the claim, citing
the North Carolina statute against such retaliation.
The NCDOL wrote that the North Carolina Occupational Safety
and Health Act allows it to issue citations and penalties
to the school if the school system doesn't adequately
respond and the NCDOL has to investigate the building
itself.
The NCDOL wrote, "If we do not receive a response from you
within seven working days indicating that appropriate
action has been taken, or that no hazard exists and why, an
inspection may be conducted."
The NCDOL's involvement is just the latest chapter in the
Oak Ridge saga, which dates to the 2005 rebuilding of the
school. In addition to the health symptoms, parents and
teachers at the school have reported persistent water leaks
in the building since then, and internal and third-party
inspections began turning up mold in the floors, bathrooms
and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system of the
school at least as early as 2007, the earliest date for
which records are yet available.
Some parents and teachers at the school accuse Guilford
County Schools of inaction on Oak Ridge. Others say the
school system has been responsive, but obviously has not
yet found the cause of the problem, which, according to a
survey of symptoms released by the Guilford County
Department of Public Health on June 12, increased between
the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years.
One toxicologist, Jack Thrasher, said Guilford County
Schools hasn't done specific enough tests to identify any
mold-related health risks at Oak Ridge.
Thrasher is a California toxicologist who has reviewed some
of the test results done over the past two years at Oak
Ridge. Unlike Linda May, the self-proclaimed mold expert
who has grabbed the spotlight in recent weeks in the Oak
Ridge controversy, Thrasher provided a resume that lends
credence to his opinions. He's a Ph.D., not a medical
doctor, but his resume lists the things you'd expect to
find in an environmental expert: a 1964 doctorate in human
cellular biology from the University of California School
of Medicine, professorships at the University of California
School of Medicine and the University of Colorado School of
Medicine, numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals
on the medical effects of environmental hazards, bearing
titles such as, "On the Neuropsychological and
Electrocortical Impacts of Mixed Mold Exposure," and
numerous memberships in scientific societies.
We haven't verified all of the material on Thrasher's
resume – news outlets rarely do, unless, as with May, there
are reasons to doubt a person's qualifications – but we
have no reason to doubt them. Like May, Thrasher works as a
consultant on issues of mold and other environmental
contaminants. Unlike May, Thrasher shows a precise
knowledge of the peer-reviewed literature on mold, the
chemical and biological tests for mold exposure, and the
medical effects of exposure to mold and other contaminants.
He may be right or wrong, but he's not speaking from
ignorance.
Thrasher reviewed some of the tests done by Workplace
Hygiene, the industrial-hygiene firm hired by Guilford
County Schools to test the air and carpets at Oak Ridge,
and said he found them lacking. "Those were all standard
testing, but it's incomplete testing," he said.
Thrasher said that the tape-lift and air tests done at Oak
Ridge are fine, but should be followed up with dust tests
to measure the school on the US Environmental Protection
Agency's "Environmental Relative Moldiness Index." Such DNA
tests of mold found in dust identify 36 types of mold more
precisely than air tests and tape lifts, and supporters of
dust tests say they are more useful in diagnosing the
danger level posed by mold in a building. Others say dust
tests are useful, but don't correlate directly to known
health symptoms – and that positive results on the dust
test show a need for more investigation, rather than
proving a causal effect by the mold on reported health
symptoms.
Thrasher reviewed the vacuum-sample tests and tape lifts
done on carpets at Oak Ridge and said they were probably
valid.
"That would indicate to me that there is very little mold
being held by the carpets, and I see nothing wrong with
that," Thrasher said. "But what I'm concerned about is
what's in the HVAC system."
Thrasher said that, in addition to the dust tests, Guilford
County Schools should do bulk tests on any mold-
contaminated building materials found at Oak Ridge. In
other words, if the school system finds a mold-contaminated
section of wall board, it should do DNA testing on that
part of the wall.
Thrasher also suggested that the school system do a gas
chromatographic mass spectrometer test for microtoxins on
samples taken at the school, using even more specialized
high pressure/performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). He
said, "It's a complex test which can be done, but which
they appear not to have done."
Thrasher said that dust tests are more reliable than tests
for mold spores, such as Guilford County Schools has had
done, because specialists have demonstrated in studies that
mold-related microtoxins are found in fine particulate
matter, not just in spores – and that contaminated dust can
enter the alveoli of human lungs and thus enter the
bloodstream.
May is trying to sell parents and teachers at Oak Ridge DNA
tests for human urine. Thrasher said that DNA tests on
human tissue, or on mold-contaminated materials, are valid –
but that he doesn't consider the type of test May
describes valid.
"I doubt very much that you're going to find mold DNA in
the urine, unless there's severe kidney infection," he
said. "The woman doesn't know what she's talking about."
Thrasher said that a test for T-2 microtoxin – a microtoxin
found in molds and, in a highly purified form, used as a
weapon – has been developed, but by Dr. Dennis Hooper of
RealTime Laboratories of Dallas. He said that test has not
yet been approved for use in humans.
Brian Kareis, an industrial hygienist with Workplace
Hygiene, agreed with most of Thrasher's assessments, and
welcomed his input on future tests at the school.
"Most of the typical things have been done," Kareis
said. "You can test and test and test, but unless you have
a direction, you're kind of at a loss. I'm certainly
willing to listen to an outside expert."
Kareis said that most of what he's read indicates that
microtoxins stay in mold spores and shouldn't be found in
loose particles. He said the samples taken so far have been
run through a mass spectrometer, but not using the newer
HPLC method, or testing for DNA sequences. He said that the
DNA tests are expensive, and tend to err on the side of
generating positive findings that may not actually be
causing health problems.
Kareis said many of the connections claimed between mold
and health problems have not yet been proven, and that
federal and state regulations have not yet caught up with
the mold health debate by establishing standards.
"There's no regulatory basis for any of this," he
said. "And a lot of it comes down to individual
susceptibility. It's tricky to interpret that type of
stuff, unless you have a huge amount of a particular type
of mold."
Kareis said he hadn't heard that DNA tests are available
for mold samples taken from HVAC systems. "I'll look into
that," he said. "That's a good idea."
Documents released by Guilford County Schools this week
show that the school system had Oak Ridge inspected or
tested 13 times for environmental issues between October
2007 and June 2009.
The documents show that remediation work was done at the
school by outside contractors four times during that
period: in July and August 2008, when Triad Engineering and
Lomax Construction installed a $534,000 dehumidification
system at the school; in February 2009, when an outside
contractor installed a $5,597 variable frequency drive to
increase the amount of outside air coming into air
handlers; in April 2009, when Right Touch Interiors removed
carpets and replaced them with tile for $990; in May 2009,
when Get Right Interiors did another two rounds of carpet
replacement for $11,000.
Here's a partial timeline of the development of the Oak
Ridge environmental problems, going back to 2007. Guilford
County Schools officials said they are gathering documents
on any earlier reports of air-quality problems, tests or
remediation before then:
The new Oak Ridge Elementary opened in August 2005. Parents
and teachers have said that they reported water leaks and
moldy smells at the school beginning soon after the opening.
After reports of indoor air quality problems, Guilford
County Schools on Oct. 25, 2007, took air samples and tape-
lift samples from carpets in a classroom, at a cost of
$780. The tests indicated slightly elevated mold-spore
counts. Guilford County Schools hired Kareis of Workplace
Hygiene to do additional tests for carbon dioxide and mold,
looking particularly at the air handlers and vacuum pump in
the HVAC system, at a cost of $2,101.
The Workplace Hygiene tests found microbial growth in four
air handlers, and the school system hired All Kleen to
clean the air handlers, at a cost of $3,507.
In July and August 2008, the dehumidification system was
installed.
On Oct. 20, 2008, tape-lift samples found microbial growth
in three air handlers. All Kleen cleaned the air handlers
at a cost of $6,500.
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