[SickBuildings] Mold & Your Health

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Misty L. Trepke

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Mold And Your Health - Iris & TLee

Posted by: " tigerpaw2c " tigerpaw2c tigerpaw2c

Thu Feb 22, 2007 4:19 pm (PST)

Mold And Your Health

 

Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 - 03:58 PM

 

WJBF-TV Augusta

We are bringing you a special report on toxic mold, and a local

woman who says she was poisoned by it. She's been called a fake and

a hypochondriac, but is there any truth to her claim? Mary Morrison

investigates in tonight's WJBF News Channel 6 Medical Report.

 

http://www.wjbf. com/midatlantic/ jbf/news_ index.apx. -content-

articles-JBF- 2007-02-22- 0002.html

 

We are bringing you a special report on toxic mold, and a local

woman who says she was poisoned by it. She's been called a fake and

a hypochondriac, but is there any truth to her claim? Mary Morrison

investigates in tonight's WJBF News Channel 6 Medical Report.

Toxic mold.

 

Fact or fiction?

 

Many in the medical community say it does not exist.

But there are a growing number of doctors who disagree.

Tonight, you'll meet a woman caught smack in the middle of this

medical debate.

 

Iris Harden is finally home.

This barely furnished apartment:

An answered prayer.

 

" I'm just thankful to God and to the people who have helped me "

Harden lives here with fiancee and fellow songwriter Tommy Lee

Brooks. For nearly a year, the couple was homeless.

" .......it's been a long road "

 

That long road Harden says begins in Harlem Georgia on Fairview

Drive. She claims her health headed south after moving into a rental

house in 2003. By 2005, Harden says she was in excruciating pain and

had to leave. " I was having to sleep in motels, when I ran out of

funds, I was sleeping in a cold van, or sitting in the Huddle House

all night or sleeping in a hospital emergency room because I had no

place to go " The couple moves and begins searching for answers.

In the yellow pages, Harden finds David Toole, a home inspector.

Toole takes air samples at Harden's former home, then reports his

findings. " She had a really high elevated case of mold in her house.

David Toole, Home Inspector: " We found stachybotrus. ..

clatasporum. . pennicillum. . and aspirgillus. "

 

By moving, Iris Harden thinks she's escaped the source of their

trouble...but their troubles are just beginning. She says their

possessions cross contaminate their new mobile home. Most items are

thrown out, some remain in storage. And once again, the couple is

homeless. They turn to a Thomson Georgia church for help. Agape

Outreach Ministries gives them food, clothes and a place to stay.

 

The pastor even goes with Iris Harden to the hospital.

Pastor Margaret Sharp, Agape Ministries: " Her eyes were swollen, her

face looked like it was cooked and she looked horrible and there

really wasn't any help for her at that time " . After repeated trips

to local doctors and hospitals, Iris turns to the internet. She

finds others who suffer from the same symptoms..and finally

convinces a local doctor to help her get a sophisticated test called

PCR. Samples of her blood and lung secretions are sent to

Immunosciences Lab in California. I talked by phone to Doctor Ari

Vojdani .

 

Dr. Ari Vojdani, Immunosciences Lab:

" We detected DNA of two different molds, aspergillus and

stachybotrys, in her lung, as well as her blood. " He says the

results make Iris unique and immediate treatment critical. " I

believe that if she wasn't going to be treated for the two molds by

I-V anti fugal material, she was going to die. " A skin biopsy

analyzed by Environmental Diagonostic Group in Madison Wisconsin

confirms the worst. In this report, Dr. William Croft, a medical

pathologist, calls Iris Harden a " Public Health Emergency. " He says

her body was poisoned by Trichothecene Mycotoxins, produced by the

mold in her home. Desperate for help, the couple begins making

weekly trips to a medical clinic in Ashville North Carolina. They

finally find a doctor who believes them and Iris begins treatment,

much of which is done for free. So why did Iris Harden and Tommy

Lee Brooks have to journey so far from home to find medical help?

We wanted to ask that question to doctors at the Medical College

Georgia but were told by an MCG spokeswoman, that the Physicians

declined our invitation to be interviewed. She says their view is

that there is no such thing as toxic mold, people are allergic to

mold and that varies by the person.

 

MCG is not alone in its position. The Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention takes the same stance. OSHA, another government

agency, says more research is needed. You can bet the insurance

industry will be watching any new studies carefully. It has much to

lose if toxic mold is ever accepted as fact by

mainstream medicine.

 

Links:

 

Immunosciences Lab, California:

http://www.immuno- sci-lab.com/ index2.html

 

American Academy of Environmental Science:

http://www.aaem. com/

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

http://www.cdc. gov/

 

Health Group:

http://health. groups.. com sickbuildings/