The EPA Does Not Have a Mold Awareness Month

[Mike Lamb]

The Chicago Tribune printed an article by journalist, Alan J. Heavens, a syndicated columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, stating that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared September as National Mold Awareness month. This is patently false. This hoax appeared in not just a single article but all over the Internet.

Other statements were also made in the news article attributed to the EPA such as, "The EPA states that molds create toxins that cause asthma, respiratory infections and chronic sinus problems. The agency attributes a threefold increase in asthma cases nationally in the last 20 years to mold". These statements are also inaccurate.

I e-mailed Mr. Heavens to ask what his source was for these statements. He did not reply so I contacted his editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the editor at the Chicago Tribune regarding the veracity of this article. Nobody responded to my queries.

I then contacted the EPA directly, and Mr. Lou Witt, program analyst for the indoor environments division, was kind enough to respond. As far as naming September Mold Awareness Month, he said that, "this is not and never has been an EPA designated awareness month".

The additional statements in the newspaper article, "The EPA states that molds create toxins that cause asthma, respiratory infections and chronic sinus problems. The agency attributes a threefold increase in asthma cases nationally in the last 20 years to mold". Mr. Witt responds, "The statements as quoted cannot be attributed to (the) EPA"

Mr. Heavens article can be found here: http://articles.philly.com/2014-08-31/r ... h-landlord

[kurt]

Wow. They didn't respond to the request for references because they have none.

More good reasons to ignore our idiotic local paper.

[Nolan Kienitz]

Similar lack of proper investigation, research and reporting ... it is rampant amongst a rather large cross section of the media types.

I worked for the world's largest news organization over 30 years ago and at least there was some in-depth reporting at that time.

It is so sad with the mold issue as the low-information folks just don't do the proper due diligence to determine what is actually true or false.

Good information ML.

[Marc]

The media, the lawyers and the guys playing the 'mold is gold' game all feed at the same trough.

But the world goes 'round and 'round

Marc

[Bill Kibbel]

The first "National Indoor Toxic Mold Awareness Month" was declared in a press release in 2008 and was issued by the "National Indoor Mold Society".

Their web site is long gone but the President of this "Society", Letitia Peters of Ewing, NJ, maintains a site at: http://www.manifestthetruth.com YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! She seems to have moved on from mold as she is too busy with her duties at the International Spiritual Awakening Ministries and the Coalition Against Non-Consensual Human Experiments.

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[kurt]

I got a "Site Not Published" sign; no website.

Letitia has popped up a few times over the years, all in similarly obscure goofy disciplines.

I'm kinda interested in this Non-Consensual Human Experiments thing.....

[Jim Baird]

Good for you Mike.

I have had clients who were clearly disappointed that I would not feed their morbid mold-linked fantasies. As an AHJ I responded to rental tenants (who were usually behind on rent and looking for ways to get off the hook) who, when I arrived to inspect, put on faux coughing performances that verged on slapstick.