ATTN Military Moms!!! If so inclined, please send a brief (and polite) email to Congressman Giramendi’s office TODAY telling the Arms Services Readiness Committee how your family is being hurt by the military doctors being misinformed of the true illnesses caused by the moldy military housing. What is their recovery plan from this?
Betsy.Thompson@mail.house.gov (See below for the fax that they and the Navy Health Dept received this morning)
“If I have the time, I am going to blog this fax later on today so the military mothers and others may also see it. If I get it up on the Net, maybe some of the military mothers will contact you all to explain how they and their families are being harmed by the medico-legal fraud in the matter, as much as the mold exposure itself.”
Sharon Noonan Kramer
2031 Arborwood Place
Escondido, CA 92029
760-822-8206
April 3, 2019
Daniel Naske & Betsy Thompson
Legislative Assistants to
The Honorable John Giramendi
by Fax (202) 225-5914
RE: Please address the scientific fraud on the medico-legal side of the moldy military housing matter in the Department of Defense’s “Guide for Clinicians Caring for Patients with Mold-related Complaints”.
Dear Mr. Naske and Ms. Thompson,
I sent you an email yesterday and am following up with a fax today. I am gravely concerned for the safety of our military families and the readiness of our troops. Please ask Congressman Giramendi to take action to protect them from a deeply seated insurer fraud scam based on junk science that is written into policies and physician educational materials.
Our troops and their families are experiencing adverse symptoms from the water damaged building (WDB) exposures which go far beyond the respiratory tract. Some of them are experiencing symptoms that are indicative of toxicological exposures, including brain injuries/cognitive dysfunction.
It is extremely dangerous to have troops with brain injuries out in the field trying to defend our country. It is even more dangerous for the military physicians to be trained to not tell the troops what is causing their symptoms; and instead feed them useless anti-depressants, which can have severe side effects on their own.
Brain injury from WDB exposures was proven by jury verdict in the matter of Federico v. Lincoln Military Housing, Civil No. 2:12cv80 United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Norfolk Division. The husband, Joe Federico, was severely impacted with the cognitive dysfunction and “retired” from the military.
To quote from one article re: the Federico verdict,
“On April 4, 2016, NeuroQuant® and NeuroGage® were admitted as evidence by Judge Raymond A. Jackson in a Federal court case in Norfolk, VA (Federico, et al. v. Lincoln Military Housing, LLD, et al.) despite the objections of defense counsel. This was the first time these brain volume measurement tools were admitted in Federal court. David E. Ross, M.D., neuropsychiatrist, testified on the neuropsychiatric aspects of mold-related illness which had affected the Federicos, including the NeuroQuant® and NeuroGage® MRI brain volume measurements. The results showed a combined pattern of brain enlargement/atrophy similar to that found in two pioneering studies published by Ritchie Shoemaker, M.D. and colleagues. The jury found in favor of the plaintiffs. Dr. Shoemaker has hypothesized that the brain enlargement/atrophy is caused by chronic neuroinflammation. This idea is supported by his finding that clinical treatment leads to normalization of brain volume. In court, positive rulings are important because they set a positive precedent, which means that judges in future cases will be more likely to admit these types of results than if there had been previous negative rulings.”
Many other military families are reporting the same to their peers. By and large, they are afraid to speak of it for fear they will be retaliated against, instead of helped. The military physicians are being trained to believe that the brain injuries (and other symptoms beyond the respiratory tract) are not able to be caused by WDB exposures. This is greatly adding to the justified fears of retaliation that the military families experience.
THE ROOT OF THE DEEPLY SEATED PROBLEM:
There is one bogus toxicological risk assessment model that was concocted by the dishonest toxicologists at Veritox, Inc. in 2002, which is fraudulently used as alleged proof in court that the microbial toxins in WDBs cannot reach a level to cause brain injuries. (EXH 1 the “Veritox Theory” ) Veritox owners serve as expert defense witnesses in moldy military housing cases when assisting the PPV landlords and their insurers to avoid liability for causation of disabilities and deaths. (EXH 2, relevant pages of the “expert opinion” of Veritox president, Bruce J. Kelman, in Mitchell v. the United States, 2006).
There are four active papers in the “fleet of deceit” which sail the Veritox Theory across the United States with the University of California flag proudly waving. They are:
1. 2002 nonprofit American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) “Adverse Human Health Effects Associated with Molds in the Indoor Environment” by Bruce J. Kelman & Bryan Hardin of Veritox, Inc. and Andrew Saxon of UCLA. Published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM)
2. 2003 nonprofit U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) & nonprofit Manhattan Institute Center for Legal Policy (CLP) “A Scientific View of the Health Effects of Mold”. Stated authorship: Bruce J. Kelman, Bryan Hardin, Coreen Robbins of Veritox, Inc. and Andrew Saxon of UCLA.
3. 2006 nonprofit American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) [26] “The Medical Effects of Mold Exposure”. Stated authorship: Andrew Saxon of UCLA, Robert Bush of University of Wisconsin, Abba I. Terr of Stanford University, Robert Wood of Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Jay Portnoy of Children’s Mercy Hospital of Kansas City Published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) [Dr. Portnoy has claimed under oath that he did not contribute to this paper after Dr. Saxon rewrote his work]
4. 2006 nonprofit American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) “Institute of Medicine Report on Damp Indoor Spaces and Health” by Daniel Sudakin of Veritox, Inc. and Thomas Kurt (This paper is a dishonest critique of the 2004 IOM Damp Indoor Spaces & Health Report’s toxicity section. It is a rehash of the above three papers. Drs. Sudakin & Kurt are expert defense witnesses in mold litigations as are other ACMT members. CDC ATSDR funds ACMT to disseminate information for “nonprofit” medical associations)
5. 2005, the disabled ship: California Department of Health and Industrial Relations Board policies “Mold in the Indoor Work Places”. This paper was endorsed into California public health policies by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in October of 2005.
On its fourth page it used to state, “Physicians can refer to the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) Adverse Human Health Effects Associated with Molds in the Indoor Environment”. Sometime after January 1, 2016, that sentence was quietly removed from the California Department of Health advisories to physicians without dating the change – making it falsely appear that the State of California never endorsed the junk science into physician [advisories] aiding with flawed insurer claims handling practices, including but not limited to, workers’ compensation claims.
(See EXH 3 ) Wall Street Journal, Jan 2007, “Amid Suits Over Mold Experts Wear Two Hats, Authors of Science Papers Also Serve For Defense in Mold Litigations” This article explains much of how the bogus Veritox Theory made its way into physician educational materials for the purpose of cheating disabled people in mold litigations.
On March 14, 2019 the Navy and Marine Corps Health Department put out a Clinician Guideline of how to (mis)treat the military families. (EXH 4 ). They cited to the litigation defense argument, AAAAI Mold Statement, for reference. The Clinician Guideline is horrible. It strongly appears to have been written by NGO contractors who are the expert defense witnesses in mold litigations. One email sent of March 28, 2019 explaining (some of) the problem, and the Navy graciously withdrew their misguided Clinician Guideline on March 29, 2019 (EXH 5 ).
As the former California Insurance Commissioner (2003 through 2007) when the “fleet of deceit” was being created (Oct 2002-2007), I am aware that Congressman Giramandi has much experience with the mold issue. I know that he understands how bogus science is sometimes concocted and legitimized by medical journal and other publications to support dishonest expert witnessing that is used by insurers (and others) to avoid liability for their insureds’ negligent acts causing harm.
PLEASE HELP! It is an urgent matter at this juncture in time. You all can write all the laws you want on the Hill with the intent of causing the DOD to provide better oversight of the PPV landlords. It will not make one bit of difference if the DOD is also putting out greatly flawed clinician guidelines which assist the landlords and insurers to avoid liability for causation of disabilities and deaths — based on falsely stated “current accepted science”.
Tomorrow, you all have the representatives of the DOD, Navy, Army, and Air Force available for direct questioning and comment. Please address the need for the DOD to develop accurate clinician guidelines re: the illnesses caused by the moldy military housing based on true current accepted science (not based on litigation defense arguments).
Should it really be this hard to get the United States government to admit they messed up by promoting the false concept that its proven thousands of people are lying about being disabled by WDBs – by promoting the false findings of dishonest expert defense witnesses who added math to data they took from one rat study?
Thank you,
Sharon Kramer
(advocate for integrity in health marketing)
Katy's Exposure 