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Mold and Fungus

Mold (mould) and Fungus: Update March 6, 2005

Fungus: Wood and wood ash are known to be sources that bring mold and fungus into the home. Combustion does not kill mold spores, it spreads them. Dead wood is a wonderful growing medium for mold. Fruiting spores from the mold 'infect' other areas in the home. Surfaces such as books, carpeting, plants and walls provide the food needed for the new colonies of mold to flourish with a dose of humidity. Pets, and the human body provide their own humidity!!

For example one such test found mold growing from the wood ash: " The following Antigens (Greer Laboratories, Lenoir, NC) were selected based on isolates from the ash cultures: Thermoactinomyces vulgaris (0.1%), Aspergillus fumigatus (0.1%,Micropolyspora faeni (1/50 wt/vol), Cladosporium herbarium (1/20 wt/vol), Alternaria tenius (1/10 wt/vol), and Penicillium sp. mixture (1/10 wt/vol)." "Interstitial Lung Disease and Domestic Wood Burning": Ramage, Roggli, bell and Piantadosi, AM REV RESPIR DIS 1988; 137:1229-1232

Injury to the lung occurs from the sharp, asbestos sized wood smoke particle. More information from medical papers on how molds and fungus affect the body and your immune system are below. There are 185 know types of Aspergillus mold known. Good sites to study are below. Ed

Opportunistic mold (mould) and fungus organisms cause damage to many parts of the body.

The following information from government sources misses mentioning wood smoke, wood burning, wood ash, or wood fuel as sources of mold (mould) and fungus contamination in the home. However the general information supplied there about the health threat is relevant. General information about mold contamination by US EPA. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/molds/moldresources.html#Introduction%20to%20Molds


Center for Disease Control: 


A letter from MoldAcrossAmerica

"January 2005: Hello, I found your wonderfully informative website this evening while looking for links on indoor air pollution, and wondered if it might be possible for you to tell me who to contact about getting permission to put your link up on our OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES page, which includes links to information such as Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Radon and Fluoride. We also were wondering if you would consider putting a link up to our site, as one of the things we hear concerns about is people burning moldy wood indoors, and not realizing that many molds are not affected by even the high heat of a fire.

Thank you for your time, Lisa Papi, Executive Director
MoldAcrossAmerica, Inc.
lisa@moldacrossamerica.org
www.moldacrossamerica.org
www.moldpets.org
(877) 280 MOLD (6653)"

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