Posted by Sharon on 6/28/09

I have never heard of warnings to not retaliate against employees. Is that a standard aspect for a state DOL document?

Also, I am not aware of anyone ever finding T-2 Toxin in building materials. Are you? Tricothecenes, yes. T-2, no.

I am no scientist, nor have I read any documents from this school and can only go on what is in the newspaper. From what I am reading, I think it sounds like that ventilation system has got some serious problems. I heard there was a teacher who retired early due to illness and now the teacher that took over the room is also pretty sick. The kids in that room have had a
lot of problems, too. That is not an untypical situation.

But for 75% of the teachers and 50% of the kids to have complaints, that is pretty unusual. It seem like it has got to be the ventilation system to cause that, unless there is just a whole bunch of unmitigated leaks, or they left the moldy materials in after they fixed the leaks. With all the money they have already spent to figure out this problem, that doesn’t seem logical to me.

Also, Dr. Thrasher has written on sickbuildings, clarifying some of the quotes that were attributed to him.

“I have a few comments to correct some misinterpretation of my conversaton with Paul Clark.

1. The T-2 toxin test recommended by Linda May (I have a copy of her resume, pathetic, in case anyone wants a copy) is marketed by an entity not associated with Dr. Hooper. The T-2 toxin kit was developed and is sold for testing for mycotoxins in foods. It detects moncyclic (T-2 toxin)trichothecenes. It has not been approved by the FDA for use with human urine. It does not test for Mold DNA by PCR.

2. Dr. Hooper took the T-2 kit concept, developed his own patented method and can test for macrocyclic trichothecenes, aflatoxins and ochratoxins in human body fluids and in biopsy and autopsy specimens. His laboratory has undergone CLIA inspections and passed honorably. He is allowed to use the test for human diagnostic. The FDA does not approve or recommend any diagnostic test. For example, CBC, blood chemistry, skin allergy tests, IBT hypersensitivity pnemoniitis panel, etc. are not approved by the FDA. The testing laboratories must undergo CLIA inspections. If they pass the inpsection then they are allowed to perform the diagnostic tests.

3. Mr Kreis is not up on the literature regarding molds and where mycotoxins are found. All should be aware of the research by Dr. Brasel and Dr. Kraus as well as that of Dr. Gorny. Fine particulates (<2 microns) are shed from mold and bacterial colonies at frequencies of 1 to 20 hertz. These frequencies lie in normal human activity, e.g. talking, walking, TV, radio,
etc. The fine particulates are up to 320 times more concentrated than are mold spores and hyphae. Mycotoxins and other toxins are present in this fine particulate fraction. As a matter of fact, Drs. Brasel and Straus demonstrated the presence of trichothecenes in these fine particles and in the sera of individuals exposed to Stachybotrys in contaminated buildings. Finally, Dr. Lewis has demonstrated the presence of gliotoxin in the sera of patients with aspergillosis. Gliotoxin is produced by species of Candida and Aspergillus.

4. Dr. Hooper has developed and patented a very sensitivie PCR mold DNA test that is very accurate. Although the ERMI test my produce results that overstate the extent of the contamination, nevertheless, it is still useful for determining mold species in the indoor and outdoor environments. Dr. Hooper’s test is even more reliable for bulk samples and can also be used to
detect mold DNA in biopsy and autopsy materials.

5. The press, M.D.s, and others keep citing the Institute of Medicine Report as a reliable source. I must remind everyone that the IOM cut off for its literature review was in October, 2003. Therefore, the IOM report is outdated by almost 6 years. It also missed key papers, particularly those published after the cutoff date, e.g. Drs. Crago, Gray, Kilburn, Brasel,
Straus, Gorny to mention a few.

6. We must commend and thank Sharon Kramer for gettin the GAO report accomplished on mold. This report concluded that there is evidence that mold is a health problem and more research is needed in this area. I agree.

7. Note in the article on the Oak Ridge siluation that remediation was done. Testing of molds was done after remediation for the most part. The majority of sampling was for airborne spores, which only represents that specific time and day. Dr. Robinson of the Health Deparment stated that hidden mold is not important (Tsk, Tsk).

8. Again, emphasis is being placed only on molds. Bacteria (gram negative and positive) grow along with the mold. The potentially dangerous gram positive bacteria include Actinobacter (Streptomyces, Nocardia and Mycobacterium), which can be human pathogens and which do produce toxins of their own. For example, Streptomyces species is the source of toxic antiobtics as well as chemotherpeutics. Mycobacterium can cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis, can be infectious (mycetoma) and Mycobacteriu Avium Comples (MAC) is on the increase World Wide in both immune competent and immune incompetent individuals. As a matter of fact, so is Aspergillosis. The tram negative bacteria are potential pathogens and release endotoxins.

If you want to become educated on the indoor environment and its potential health effects, I suggest that you do a search of the literature via entrez pubmed as well as Google. I am through and will get off my high horse.

Jack D. Thrasher, Ph.D.
Toxicologist/Immunotoxicologist/Fetaltoxicologist
www.drthrasher.org
toxicologist1@msn.com…”

Will be interesting to see what the problem really is and how
they find it.

toxlaw.com