Staff Editoral | The News Record

Published – Wednesday, May 13, 2009

While previous residents, students and faculty wait for the University of Cincinnati to issue a statement – saying anything at this point – about the mold and asbestos found in Morgens Hall, people are at great risk for serious and possibly fatal illnesses. The university’s lack of response makes it clear that it is not acting responsibly.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires immediate cleanup for health and safety reasons, but it is up to state legislatures to act on the mold removal regulations while OSHA will enforce them.

The situation at UC is in dire need of a more aggressive response, said Linda May, an International Health and Safety consultant with a specialty of toxins and their health effects.

Any response would be a step in the right direction at this point; but how many people will be affected by this mold before UC finally talks?

“There is a zero tolerance policy for this, and the university is mandated to notify students and parents,” May said.

May is also an OSHA institute accredited instructor and Environmental Protection Agency accredited site manager.

The U.S. Army Medical Reaserch Lab at Fort Deedrick, or Chapter 34 Trichothecene Mycotoxins on this type of mold and can be accessed online. The OSHA also decrees that the state must have regulations equal to or greater than the federal regulation, and visitors to any contaminated buildling must enter with a form of respitory protection, or a self-contained breathing apparatus.

Yes, mold removal is expensive, but lives are priceless. People can contaminate their homes. Think about the workers at Morgens Hall who are exposed to it and later bring it home to their families. It’s on their clothes, their skin and in their respiratory systems.

It only takes a minimum of 15 minutes or up to three eight-hour workdays to become infected, and it is almost always fatal, May said. The toxins in black mold, like trichothecene mycotoxins (T-2) have been used as a bio-weapon, called yellow rain, by other nations for years.

With this information, someone needs to  explain how the university has yet to perform immediate removal by OSHA and IAQ regulations, after notifying all students, parents, faculty and previous residents of the situation.

Antibiotics won’t help, May said. Inhalers won’t help. Both are like a second dose of cyanide in this situation. The people who have been infected by the mold need treatment from doctors who are medical mold experts. Unfortunately, there are only a few in the country.

Meanwhile, the toxins remain in the DNA. On a small Indian reservation in Pines Ridge, S.D., the number of stillbirths was nearing 100 percent in a two-year span. The problem: Black mold toxins were in the mothers’ DNA.

This is a very serious issue that has not been properly responded to. Clearly the university is willing to risk the health of its students and workers. The lack of response from the general population after the news first hit the public was very apathetic. The reason is that landlords, insurance companies, real estate agents and schools have been in denial and refuse to give credit to the consequences.

It’s expensive and some authorities fear it may make the school look bad, but our school leaders should not be acting out of fear. They should be stepping up and taking charge to protect us at any cost.

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