I just completed an oline class about mold. (And unlike an earlier online course which took me 6 hours to complete, this one only took about 3 hours....both of which granted me 4 credit hours). Some of the more interesting things I took away from the course are:
- Mold is everywhere.
- Mold is like a natural garage disposal.
- Common household molds are: Penicillium, Fusarium, Aspergillus, Alternaria, Mucor, Cladosporium
- Not all molds are "toxic".
- One of the biggest reasons that mold has become a problem in households today are that most homes built since the 1970s have been buit for energy efficiency or air-tight, which means molds have no place to go but to colonize inside (given the right conditions).
- The most important conditions mold need to grow are: moisture, humidity, and nutrition (like cellulose)
- Although there are no formal studies or reasearch that blames mold for specific illnesses, mold has been linked to dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, fatigue, internal organ damage, cancer, immune system supression, personality changes, and nervous system problems.
- Real estate broker must make sure to educate their clients about mold (at the same time ackowledge that they are not mold experts). Part of this education involves sharing literature and/ or resources to learn more about mold
- The EPA has published an informative article on mold which can be found at: www.epa.gov/ iaq/molds/ moldguide.html
I now have a greater respect towards mold. Not only for its amazing ability to colonize itself and help clean out the "junk" here on planet earth (much like the importance of wetlands), but also for its potential to cause ill health effects. I will definatly be more agressive in addressing issues and concerns about mold in all future real estate transactions.
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