Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery
Posted by sharon on 6/27/09
There is more to this article by Paul Clark than what I
posted. Search "state wades into oak ridge mold mystery" On 6/27/09, Sharon wrote:
> rhinonews.com greensboro
> Articles
> 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.
Posts on this thread, including this one
- State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/27/09, by Sharon.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/27/09, by sharon.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/28/09, by Deano.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/28/09, by Sharon.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/28/09, by Deano.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/28/09, by Sharon.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/29/09, by Deano.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/29/09, by Sharon.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/29/09, by Jack Dwayne Thrasher, Ph.D.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/29/09, by Sharon.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/29/09, by Jack Dwayne Thrasher, Ph.D.
- Re: State Wades Into Oak Ridge Mold Mystery, 6/29/09, by sharon.
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