Why Toxic Mold is a Social Justice Issue

The more I learn about it, the more I see that toxic mold is a social justice issue. Every person should have the right to healthy indoor air, education about mycotoxins based on science, medical resources to prevent and manage illness, and financial resources to remediate their home and possessions, if needed. And, just to be clear, I am not speaking solely about people who have been diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) from toxic mold exposure. Every single person is impacted by the air they breathe in, and nobody (to my knowledge) can predict how long they have before their toxic load reaches the tipping point that triggers chronic illness.

Considering that toxic mold has the potential to impact anyone and we all deserve high quality indoor air, this post covers the intersection of toxic mold and money, gender, and accessibility from a social justice perspective.

If you’re new here and need some background on mold, start with the Mold Basics. You could also start here if you’re wondering how to check your home for potential toxic mold, or here if you’ve found mold and need guidance on what to do next.

Money

Getting out of mold

To start with, it’s expensive to get out of mold. It’s expensive to remediate or to move, and it’s expensive to replace your belongings. The average cost to remediate mold is about $2,450, but as you may know, the large majority of remediation attempts fail. Why? Because the remediation industry is unregulated and people marketing themselves are remediation companies are unqualified. This leads to people trying to remediate multiple times, or seeking out some of the best remediation companies in the country and being left with a bill for $30,000 to $100,000 with a job done correctly.

In terms of moving, the real estate market is absolutely insane right now, both in terms of rentals and buying a home. When you factor in the need for high quality indoor air, it’s even more difficult because people are waiving contingencies left and right to get the house that ends up going to $70,000 over asking price within 5 hours of being listed. The odds are certainly stacked against many people in a market like this.

As for replacing nearly everything you own, think about it for a minute. Think about all of the things you have in your home right now. Anything porous (upholstered furniture, paper-based products including MDF/particle board, mattresses, pillows, rugs, and the list goes on and on) has to be discarded because there currently is no way to adequately eliminate mold spores from porous objects. That’s pretty significant for many people when they take inventory of the belongings in their home.

When we consider that median amount of savings for American families is $5,300, that makes the process of getting out of mold even more unreasonable and insurmountable. Those numbers looks even more bleak when we consider that the median amount of savings stashed by Latino families is $1,950 and by Black families is $1,510. Unfortunately, that doesn’t even cover one round of poor quality remediation.

Socioeconomic status

While toxic mold impacts people of all socioeconomic statuses, it is increasingly more difficult to address with limited income. It’s not going to be possible to consider spending money on improving air quality in your home if you’re barely making ends meet, or even more stressful, having to prioritize which needs you fund this month. Living in survival mode will only be amplified by living in toxic mold, unfortunately, because mycotoxins can cause inflammation in the brain and the body, leaving the brain stuck in fight-or-flight mode.

Even when not financially responsible for addressing repairs, like when renting or living in public housing, there is still significant cause for concern. While there are laws outlining how landlords should handle mold, most renters don’t have the resources to pursue legal action against landlords who deny, dismiss, and refuse to address the problem.

Alas, even when a landlord does take the concern seriously, if the mold visible is smaller than 10 square feet, a formal inspection by a licensed mold inspection isn’t required and the mold can be removed by anyone. That’s a recipe for disaster because toxic mold produces mycotoxins when threatened, and mycotoxins wreck havoc when inhaled. That’s not something to mess with unless you really know what you’re doing.

Public housing has it’s own share of mold problems, as documented in New York City in 2019 and then again in 2020, in Washington, DC in 2019, and in this report documenting concerns across the nation from 2018. Of course, internationally, toxic mold appears to run rampant in public housing establishments in the United Kingdom based on the news reports. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, the show Maid is said to offer an honest portray of poverty, toxic mold included, for a single mother who works as a maid. Here’s a review of the show, in case you’re curious to learn more.

The bigger picture

We have no federal regulations for indoor air quality in relation to mold in the United States. I’ve said this before, but if you’re curious, Google “federal guidelines for indoor air quality mold” and you will see the EPA, CDC, OSHA, and WHO all decline responsibility for establishing and ensuring indoor air quality standards. There is no insurance coverage for mold in most states either, so just like if someone pays for medical or dental costs out of pocket without insurance, the costs are unbelievable high.

Worst of all, the reason I’ve heard over and over for a lack of regulation at the top is money. If construction and insurance companies had to make changes and take responsibility for mold, they would perhaps go bankrupt. The medical industry would be impacted, too, as treating biotoxin illness would potentially address some of the chronic illnesses that the system is challenged to manage. This is especially true giving that our medical system places a heavy emphasis on medication. As Dr. Russell Jaffe says in Exposing Mold: The Politics Behind Sick Building Syndrome, follow the money to see why mold remains unregulated.

If you’d like to read more about the economics of toxic mold, visit this post.

Gender

More women report symptoms of exposure

Observationally, more women report experiencing symptoms of toxic mold exposure, and more women are diagnosed with autoimmune conditions, which can be linked to mold exposure. I would love to see research on biotoxic illness and CIRS broken down by gender to see if women are diagnosed more and exposure to toxic mold more. I’ve turned up empty-handed in finding research that shows this so far, so please let me know if you have insight in this realm.

More women utilize housing assistance programs

There is data to back up the fact that women head 75% of the households supported by HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) housing programs. Data also shows that women make up 2/3 of the workforce in the United States for the 40 jobs that are lowest paying, and women of color in particular. Most of these jobs pay less than $12 an hour. Holding in mind the concerns that come with rentals and public housing, it seems likely that this could be part of the reason more women appear to experience symptoms of biotoxic illness from toxic mold exposure.

The male dominated industries

The third place where gender and toxic mold intersect is my personal favorite to dissect. Many landlords, construction workers, and home inspectors are men. And in my experience, many that I have encountered appear to have a very limited knowledge base of mold and what to do about it. In fact, I’ve noticed many are even afraid to say the word ‘mold’ and certainly won’t identify it by name even when clearly visible in a home, especially new construction. It’s almost like mold is the Voldemort of the construction industry, and I would guess the same holds true for the real estate industry.

Mold inspection and remediation is also a male-dominant field, unsurprisingly. While I can speak only from my experience, I have interacted with several men in these industries who have dismissed my concerns for high quality indoor air, the science I’ve shared with them about toxic mold, formal test results, and building practices and materials that reduce moisture. Of course, as a business, they can chose to decline education, and I, thankfully, can choose to decline their services. The problem is, however, that there are so few people willing to listen. It almost feels like the large majority of people in these industries have taken an unspoken vow to stick to antiquated, invalidated practices, and to defend each other in this endeavor. It sort of feels like a “good old boys” club, where they all agree to work together and keep changes from impacting their system.

Accessibility

Medical treatment

Unfortunately, allopathic doctors and nurses are not trained to diagnose or treat biotoxin illness or CIRS. If you want to be diagnosed and treated, you are going to have to find a functional medicine practitioner and pay out of pocket for care. If we remind ourselves of the average savings an American family has, or hold in mind that 10.2 million Americans receive rental assistance from federal programs, the reality is that seeking care with out-of-pocket costs is not going to be an option. Of course, recovering from CIRS isn’t a quick and easy trek, either, and mold avoidance is of necessity- all of these require the luxuries of expendable income.

Education and research

I see people asking similar questions over and over again in the toxic mold support groups:

“Is this mold?” (picture included)
“I found mold. What do I do now?” or “Will bleach/vinegar kill this?” (By the way, please don’t use bleach. Read about why here.)
“I feel these symptoms. Could this be from mold exposure?”
“My husband says mold can’t make me sick. Is that true?”

Here’s my question: How can so many people be navigating mold exposure without us having increased the basic level of knowledge needed? And, goodness, think about all of the people who are exposed and haven’t found the support groups yet! Much like I didn’t three years ago when I cleaned what I believe was stachybotrus from a rental house and then got very sick, I had no idea that cleaning that mold with a bleach spray was going to change the course of my life.

Most mold professionals haven’t kept up with the research and implemented procedures to adequately address mold- because they don’t have to since it’s an unregulated field. Most builders haven’t made it standard practice to reduce moisture while building- because they don’t have to and many homeowners and renters don’t have the education to push for high quality indoor air.

Unfortunately, the research on toxic mold and how it impacts the human body is quite difficult to read and comprehend without a high level background in science, which puts people at another disadvantage from knowing what’s going on and what to do about it.

I believe that knowledge is power, and it’s hard to feel empowered when there are so many forces working to keep knowledge from being accessible.