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Mold a growing problem on Gulf Coast
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Mold a growing problem on Gulf Coast
Sunday, September 25, 2005
By Rosie Mestel, Los Angeles Times
The Gulf Coast is facing a potential financial and legal morass over mold blooming inside storm-damaged buildings, according to scientists, contractors and insurance experts.
Mold has grown thickly on wet walls, rugs and furniture of thousands of buildings - and the problem will worsen as flood waters recede.
Restoration workers are pouring toward the Gulf Coast.
"There's an Oklahoma land stampede down there," said John Shane, a Chicago-based manager for Environmental Microbiology Laboratory Inc.
Some molds cause structural problems such as dry rot, requiring the replacement of wood.
The biggest problem, however, involves the widespread, but unsubstantiated, claims that some molds can cause serious health problems.
"There's a real industry being created around the mold problem - lawyers who've written about it call it 'black gold.' They see it as the next great asbestos," said Dr.
Dorsett Smith, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.
"It is the fear factor.
You mention the word 'mold' and people are afraid."
Mold is a general term for a group of thousands of different fungi, including "Penicillium," original source of the antibiotic penicillin, and "Stachybotrys chartarum," a black fungus with a fearsome reputation for its supposed effect...
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