April 1, 2007, Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Fear, ignorance and lack of education has been driving the "gold in mold" frenzy rushing everyone and anyone into mold remediation, sales of products and services in what is turning out to a multi billion dollar industry. This new industry has a mix of products and services that include pure scams to the most effective technologies in remedies for mold being present that must be carefully examined and understood before paying for such products and services.

Medical Mycologist, Pathologist in diadnoistic medcical mycology (DMM), research scientist of human indoor environments and certified clinical industrial hygienist (CCIH*), J Dumanov says that  "not all mold fungi are toxic and often the the clean-up and repairs may cost next to nothing but the people that are doing the so-called mold inspections over simplify every mold presence and report by saying that they are all dangerous and that is simply not the case for the majority of the fungi and mold identified. "  Home owners relying on such reports are often upset with the findings that are incorrectly overstating the threat and resulting expense.

The   research scientist recently completed a study of the result of second opinions of 10 mold inspections where the clients  and often their attorneys felt the where claims of toxic molds being present and in 8 of the cases where a follow-up investigation was performed either the mold itself was not toxic or the presence was of such a limited nature that  a common cleaning eliminated its' presence.   The investigations disclosed that in every case the reports stated major remediation efforts were required and prices from $3,000.00 to $15,000.00 dollars were quoted.

DUmanov says "I do not believe these people are committing outright fraud but are just not qualified to state with certainty the full nature and scope of the problem. Furthermore I have been following the mold remediation industry for about 10 years and the emphasis is on selling products and services and not on fully qualified training.  I am still dismayed by the internet diploma mills and do it your self courses. That educational approach does not work. This is professional practice in  the area of life sciences and given that so much is at stake education in this field od work can not be taken lightly and requires years of study training and experience. In my opinion even current offerings are falling short failing to fully address the real nature of the problem. All I see is different groups of experts fighting amongst themselves in the foray positioning themselves to capitalize on the fears of an misinformed public. I hope in time someone gets it right. In the meantime we in the medical community are focusing our own efforts to get the message out to academia, the medical research community and industrial hygienists. Our efforts have been quietly successful now having hundreds of professionals working together in that direction.  "  

Is Mold in Your Home out to Get YOU?

**No association with their American Board of Industrial Hygiene and their registered trademark CIH.