Why Nobody Wants to Call it Toxic Mold

Ten years ago, if you’d asked me the devastation factor of mold, I would’ve thought of some “harmless” mold growing on bread. Now, I know how mold can be deadly to humans and animals, and how it can destroy homes and lives, because I’m living with the ramifications of getting sick from toxic mold. As if that isn’t challenging and devastating enough, most people dismiss the impact of mold. It would be okay if people just weren’t familiar with it in general, but I’m talking about professionals- western medicine doctors, construction workers, insurance companies, realtors, even the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Nobody wants to acknowledge this is a problem; nobody wants to call it toxic mold. But before we explore why, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about some foundational information.

Defining Toxic Mold

In The Meaningful Bits of Life realm, toxic mold is defined as any fungi that releases mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are released by some species of mold as part of their defense system. When disturbed or threatened, toxic mold will release mycotoxins to protect itself. Not all molds release mycotoxins.

The mainstream conversation around mold and mycotoxins is mostly centered around our food supply. There are some attempts to regulate how much mycotoxins are allowed in food, but basically, there’s a level of acceptance that most people consume mycotoxins in their food. Our concerns for mold go far beyond just what we consume in our food to what we breathe in from the environments where we spend the most amounts of time.

Here are some of the most concerning species of mold:

Stachybotrys Chartarum (“black mold”)
Aspergillus Penicilloides
Aspergillus Versicolor
Chaetomium Globosum
Wallemia Sebi
Fusarium (This nasty toxic mold came up in my toxin panel unexpectedly, although we don’t currently have an accessible way to test for it in homes. I have no idea where I’ve been exposed, but it is just as harmful as the others listed.)

Visit this post for more background information on mold.

Toxic Mold Basics: What You Need to Know

What’s In A Name?

If you’re already confused just based on those definitions, great. You’re in the right place. Because it is confusing. Nobody wants to call it toxic mold. Nobody wants to call it what it is, and in some cases, there’s good reason for that.

Toxic Mold Names

Toxic mold as a category has three basic names that people use to refer to it: black mold, toxic mold, and toxigenic mold. Black mold is generally how the public refers to the types of mold that we’re talking about here. Example: News reporters call it black mold. Calling it “black mold” is inaccurate, unfortunately, because it’s a misnomer. Under a microscope, this mold is actually green, and while this type of mold can be deadly, it’s not the only one to cause concern. Generally, people mean Stachybotrus Chartarum when referring to “black mold.”

People who have a little bit of education in the mold world (for better or worse) often call it toxic mold, or mold found in water damaged buildings. I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to educate people and elevate their understanding from black mold to toxic mold.

Technically, the most accurate term for the molds we’re talking about is toxigenic mold. Some scientists will argue that “toxic mold” doesn’t exist because the terminology is incorrect. If you’re looking for scientific research, it’s true that you won’t find much on toxic mold, but updating the search to toxigenic mold yields many results (try it on Google Scholar to find out for yourself). So, not only do we have a system where nobody wants to call it toxic mold, but we can’t even agree on what to call it!

On top of the name being an issue that nobody can agree on, it’s also confusing that it’s actually not the mold itself that’s toxic; it’s the mycotoxins that the mold releases into the air that impacts people and animals negatively.

It’s important to note that part of how the concerns for toxic mold get dismissed is that there is no agreement on what to call it, what to call the illness for it, how to identify it, and how to remediate. The story of toxic mold is so convoluted. My go-to resource for clarity in the toxic mold world is the Exposing Mold team including Erik Johnson, Kealy Severson, and Alicia Swarmy. Erik Johnson has been in the mold world for quite awhile and can trace the history of how we got here with toxic mold. I highly recommend visiting Erik’s website and listening to the Exposing Mold podcast.

Toxic Mold Symptoms

Here’s another reason why nobody wants to call it toxic mold: the symptoms are broad and common. Many people feel fatigue, mood swings, and headaches regularly, but when you put those three symptoms together along with some other of common symptoms, you might be surprised to find that mold illness might be the cause. Most of the time, the symptoms aren’t looked at as a whole and environmental health isn’t hardly on the radar for western medicine. This post covers the symptoms of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) if you’re curious to learn more.

31 Symptoms of Toxic Mold Exposure

Just like toxic mold has many names, so does the illness from mold exposure: mold illness, Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), biotoxin illness, mold toxicity, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). To learn more about these names for mold illness, check out this post:

The Many Names of Mold Illness

Signs of a Mold Issue in a Home

If you’re reading this post and realizing you may have symptoms of mold illness, you might want to check your home for mold. I have some resources on how to do that, and I also want you to know that the body can hang on to mold for long periods of time, so it’s possible you aren’t living in mold currently but your toxic load has still reached its capacity and you’ve gotten sick. In my case, I’ve spent the large majority of my life living in toxic mold without knowing it. The home I lived in as a baby had a mold issue in the crawlspace, and my childhood home had a basement that regularly flooded. Moldy homes are the norm, unfortunately.

Here are some resources if you’re wondering if mold is as issue in your home:

Why Nobody Wants to Call it Toxic Mold

Realtors and Toxic Mold

When I was house hunting, I toured over 100 homes, and 96% of them had visible signs of toxic mold. At first I thought I was picking poor homes to tour as I was still learning to identify signs of mold visually, but then I started going to every open house near me to put my learning into application. That’s when I discovered that toxic mold in homes is a disturbingly common problem, and none of the formal statistics you find even come close to what the reality is right now.

As I came to realize this, I grew more frustrated with the housing industry. I would point out the musty smell to realtors at open houses, who would brush it off as “That’s just first floor living! An air freshener will make it so you don’t even notice that anymore.” That’s not a solution, however. That layers on more toxicity from the fragrance and pthalates in air freshener, and does not address the real issue. If you smell something musty, there is mold. There is no healthy level of mold to breathe in– while the CDC and I don’t agree on much, we definitely agree on that.

Over time, I grew more brazen during open houses and would ask for the history of water damage in homes where I could see visible signs of an issue. Realtors would always report no issues, of course, and try to redirect me to the cosmetic and aesthetically pleasing features of a home instead. Nobody wants to call it toxic mold in the land of realty- that would deter buyers.

Toxic Mold in New Construction Homes

Looking at new construction homes was even more challenging. In general, I’ve found that home builders for new construction homes are either ignorant or pretend to be so they don’t have to worry about mold. I interviewed several builders when searching for a home to heal in. One standard question I asked was about the vapor barrier below the foundation. One builder looked at me puzzled, and asked if that was standard practice. That’s a cue to run!

When considering spec homes, I would point out mold directly to builders, who would brush it off as dirt, refer to it as a “black substance,” or just flat out deny that it was a problem. And they absolutely did not want to see any ERMI test results because they would then have to report a mold problem for the house to other interested parties. Nobody wants to call it toxic mold in construction- that doesn’t sell homes.

Insurance Companies

My personal experience is limited with insurance companies, other than inquiring about what they cover in terms of water damage and toxic mold (spoiler alert: most insurance companies don’t cover hardly anything unless it’s a hurricane or catastrophic natural event).

I’ve heard both positive stories of insurance companies covering remediation and water damage, as well as horrific stories where they deny the possibility of mold even though the signs are obvious. Unfortunately, water damage itself is expensive to repair, and toxic mold adds an additional layer of expense because it’s microbial. The areas of water damage must be removed and replaced. We must use pressurization systems and air scrubbers when removing the mold, and use testing to formally verify the mold has been removed. Toxic mold is a hazardous material, on top of that, so proper precautions must be taken. When talking with a remediation company to learn more about the process, they shared that their average project ran at about $100,000 just to remove as much of the contaminants as possible- not including the cost of repairs to the home to replace whatever wood or drywall was removed.

In terms of personal property insurance, there are no clauses I know of that cover toxic mold exposure. Mycotoxins cannot be seen by the naked eye, and mycotoxins travel. If mycotoxins get picked up in the HVAC system, you’ve gone from having a mold problem in one part of your home to having toxic mold spread to every porous surface in your home (clothing, upholstry, carpeting, unsealed wood, books, papers, baskets, etc.). Porous surfaces cannot be cleaned after mycotoxin exposure; items must be discarded. For the most part, nobody wants to call it toxic mold in the insurance industry- it is exorbitantly expensive.

Western Medicine Doctors

Western medicine doctors are trained to treat symptoms and to prescribe medication, which can be helpful on some level, but without looking further to understand the root cause of symptoms to begin with, we’ll miss the forest for the trees. Just treating symptoms assumes the body is random and unintelligent, that the body needs to be controlled and comply with our wishes. On the contrary, the body is intelligent beyond belief and symptoms are not nuisances to be silenced but instead signs that our body is doing its job. You feel tired when sick because you need the rest, you feel signs of inflammation when the body is trying to heal, and you feel mucus in your throat after drinking pasteurized milk because your body isn’t able to process it well.

Western medicine uses wide margins for identifying disease. Preventative medicine is built more on tracking data than preventing disease in western medicine. One example of this is with thyroid issues. The range for “normal” thyroid health in western medicine encompasses the early stages of illness when things could be reversed or addressed. The point of becoming “unwell” is where the condition must be managed with medication. I went to the doctor annually for years and although I never felt great, I was always told that I was in great health. When I saw a naturopath doctor for the first time, she immediately flagged my thyroid levels, noting that they weren’t in optimal range, and digging deeper around that led to getting diagnosed with CIRS from mold toxicity. But in western medicine, nobody wants to call it toxic mold illness- that just isn’t real or possible. If it hadn’t happened to me, if I wasn’t living it, I would be skeptical of mold illness, too.

Nobody wants to say it or take responsibility for it or admit it’s impact, no matter the industry. It would cost unreasonable amounts of money to address this and make changes. So in the meantime, those of us who are sensitive work to heal and fight for change.