Mike
Carruthers:
Is
mold in your home really toxic?
Gary Ginsberg:
The concern from the early 1990's was that black mold
can be deadly, quite toxic, damaging to the lungs.
Dr. Gary Ginsberg,
Senior Toxicologist for the Connecticut Department of Public
Health and author of the book What's
Toxic, What's Not?…
That part of
the story isn't true - as a matter of fact that study was retracted
by CDC (Center for Disease Control) - so, we don't think that
mold is actually toxic and does damage to the lungs, but what
the problem with mold is that it can cause allergy.
One of the reasons
organic food sales are increasing is the fear of pesticides
in growing conventional food.
The reality is
we get more exposure to pesticides around the home than what
comes in from our food supply. As a matter of fact we put more
pesticides on our land acre-for-acre than farmers use. But back
to the food supply - the biggest concern is for mercury in fish
and for dioxin and PCB's and old persistent pesticides that
still come at us in things like fatty foods.
What else should
we not be too concerned about?
Asbestos around
the home - if you have some and it's not flaking and falling
apart, it's probably fine to just leave it in place. Another
myth is that it's important to test your indoor air for chemicals
- usually indoor air testing is not going to tell you much.
You can link
to Dr. Ginsberg's website
from ours: somethingyoushouldknow.net
- I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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