What is it?

        Mold is one of the oldest life forms on Earth. Neither a plant nor an animal, mold belongs to the fungi kingdom, along with mushrooms, rusts, smuts and mildews. Fungi can't produce chlorophyll, as green plants do, and rely on rotting organic material (wood, leaves, grass, paper, etc.) for food. There are hundreds of types of mold. (Penicillium, Aspergillus, Stachybotrys, Fusarium and Alternaria are a few), and experts sometimes disagree when identifying individual types of mold and on what criteria to use to classify them.

How can it affect my health?

        Mold can affect people's health in three ways:

        • Allergic reactions: runny nose, asthma, hypersensitive pneumonitis.

        • Infectious: the growth of mold spores in or on the body. Histoplasmosis is a common mold infection in the Tristate.

        • Toxic: disruption of cellular and DNA function, including cancer.

What harm can mold-produced toxins do?

        Molds produce mycotoxins, poisons that can harm people and animals if they're eaten, inhaled or touched. There are plenty of data available that indicate mycotoxins are harmful to animals and to some agricultural workers. There's little information showing a direct link between mycotoxins and health problems in people in non-agricultural, indoor settings. Molds that produce mycotoxins include:

        • Apergillus: These common molds produce aflatoxins, which can cause miscarriage, birth defects, immunosuppression and cancer in animals. In humans, aflatoxins have been implicated in cases of liver cancer and hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis and Reye's syndrome. The toxin is regularly found in moldy peanuts, peas, bread, cheese, rice, corn and other grains, and some studies suggest that people who work in peanut processing have higher cancer rates. Some lab workers who have inhaled aflatoxins have reported lung disease and lung cancer.

        • Fusarium, Stachybotrys, Memnoniella and other strains: These molds produce more than 100 compounds classified as tricothecenes. T-2 toxin, a biological warfare agent, is probably the best known of the tricothecenes, and is believed to be the mycotoxin responsible for some forms of aleukia (the absence of white blood cells). T-2 toxin is believed to have killed thousands of Soviets who ate mold-infested cereal grains toward the end of World War II. Symptoms of tricothecene poisoning include skin irritation, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, hemorrhage and convulsions, sometimes resulting in death. Stachybotrys poisoning has been associated with fatal hemorrhaging in horses and other livestock, and dermatitis, bloody rhinitis, cough and severe respiratory tract irritation in people. Farm workers, workers in cottonseed oil plants and grain elevators, textile mill works, grain processing workers and binder twine factory workers report occupational exposure to stachybotrys toxins.

        • Penicillium produces several toxins, including ochratoxin A, which has been shown to cause miscarriage, birth defects and kidney damage in experimental animals. It has also been linked to a form of kidney disease found in people in the Balkan Valley region of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Romania, theoretically because they ate contaminated foods.

        • Alternaria, a very common mold, produces more than 30 compounds that are toxic to animals and cell cultures. Its toxicity to people is unknown, though it can cause allergic reaction

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