Farmers Tries To Cease Home Policies In Texas

According to reports on www.insure.com, Texas Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor has ordered Farmers Insurance Group to immediately cease its plans to stop renewing comprehensive home insurance policies that cover mold damage.

In the latest twist to the ongoing mold crisis in the Texas home insurance market, Farmers Insurance told its Texas agents last month, that they could no longer renew the most common home insurance policy, the HO-B, as of Dec. 30, 2001.

Also last month, Farmers Insurance saw a judge uphold a $32.5 million verdict against the company in the Melinda Ballard case.

“I think the Farmers pull out in Texas is a bit pre-mature and most probably a response to the upheld appeals verdict in the Ballard case,” said Larry Robertson, president of Mycotech Biological Inc. in Jewett, Texas. “I predict the pendulum of ‘excessive and elevated mold related claims’ will begin to swing back into a more rational and appropriate position as the insurance industry gains more education on the actual causes of fungal contamination.” Meanwhile, the Attorney General of Texas and Department of Insurance have already begun a preliminary investigation on the onslaught of “excessive and elevated mold related claims” in the south Texas region.

“Farmers Insurance chose to be in the risk industry. However, whenever they are faced with a situation where the stakes are raised they choose to take their ball and go home,” said Greg Long, president of TPV Group in Waco, Texas. “They are abandoning thousands of home owners, employees and agents throughout the state of Texas. What state will they abandon next? There are many reasons that there has been an increase in mold related claims. To my knowledge, there have not been any discussions between the insurance industry and the mitigation industry leaders to study the issues. The type of insurance policy issued in Texas does not need to change if the insurance and industry and the mitigation industry would make a few simple changes in their procedures. Many people believe this is just a scare tactic to put pressure on Jose Montemayer, the insurance commissioner, to exclude mold coverage in all Texas homeowners insurance policies.”

As of press time, Montemayer still has not issued his decision on the much maligned proposal by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) staff to limit mold coverage by insurance companies. The 25-page staff recommendation calls for placing a $5,000 cap on mold claims, but giving consumers the option of buying additional coverage in amounts equal to 25 percent, 50 percent or 100 percent of their policy limits.

The state’s five largest insurers all have showed a rise in the number and dollar amount of mold claims. Statewide, the average cost per policyholder per year for mold claims is $81.71. The average cost per mold claim is $38,138 in the state.

According to conference organizer John Tiffany, ASHRAE’s 13th annual IAQ Conference was the first to focus on one topic– this year, indoor air quality and moisture in buildings–and the event attracted more than 275 people, including a virtual who’s who of the IAQ research community. While most of the information was focused on new international research, there were plenty of case studies and Q&A time to focus on practitioner issues and concerns related to the studies. IAQ field professionals made up at least half of the audience in attendance.

Some of the conference session highlights were:

• Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills of the University of Virginia talked about the
  relationship of asthma and allergies and animals (esp. cats). He said that while asthma in the U.S. has risen steadily since the 1970s, researchers can’t really pinpoint one major event or lifestyle that has led to this increase. 

According to Platts-Mills, cats are a good and bad allergen. Many children are creating IgG4 antibodies so they don’t become allergic to cats (March 2001 study). Can identify an immune response in allergen tolerant children. Increasing cats in a tolerant environment won’t increase allergenic exposure. Major subject of research now is to study this dose response of cat allergens. Bulk of cat allergy (80 percent) live in a home that never had a cat. Why are cats so special? Cat high exposure increases tolerance, whereas dust mite allergen has opposite effect. Evidence that dust mite is an allergenic.

Some of suspected causes of the asthma increase are:

1.  Increased exposure to perennial allergens- housing changes, tighter,
   people stay indoor
2. Changed immune responsiveness-cleanliness issues
3. Loss of lung specific protective effect: 1960-2000- no playing outdoors, decline of physical exercise among children, obesity
   “Take all three of these factors and you get a dangerously high risk of asthma,” Platts-Mills told attendees.

• Lew Harriman of Mason Grant Consulting introduced the new ASHRAE Design Guide for Humidity Control in Commercial Buildings. The final draft of the document– consisting of 480 pages– was released in September. The key recommendations in the document are: install a separate ventilation system to dry or humidify the incoming ventilation air; calculate the moisture load separately; seal all ductwork, air handlers and duct connections tightly; don’t oversize cooling equipment; whenever possible, control the dew point rather than the relative humidity; and calibrate humidity sensors in-place (after installation and before commissioning.
• Feng Tsai of CAL-EPA presented preliminary analyses of the data on airborne fungi collected in 100 U.S. office buildings in EPA’s BASE (Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation) study. Tsai said that almost all fungi were found more often in samples of outdoor than indoor air, and more often in summer than winter in both locations. It was suggested that the one drawback of the BASE study was that buildings were only visited once; some in summer, some in winter, so there’s really not a lot to compare. The presentation data was only based on the prevalence, presence, and absence of the bioaerosols, not the concentration. It was found that both Anderson and Burkard samplers are informative.

Some the future work on the BASE study data will include summary statistics and comparisons. The BASE study is still ongoing, and EPA is planning to release more data at Indoor Air 2002 next July.

EPA’s Laureen Burton, one of the study’s authors, told attendees that the
BASE data was expected to be released in December if funding came through.

• Cedric Cheong of Murdoch University in Australia presented new research that found exposure to airborne indoor fungi in residential environments can be reduced through use of portable high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters and regular maintenance of filter material and carpets.

“Our study showed a 70 percent reduction in airborne indoor fungal levels and a 38 percent reduction in particulate matter in homes fitted with portable HEPA filtration units,” Cheong said. “These results show that the operation of portable HEPA filtration units achieve effective outcomes in reducing levels of airborne indoor fungi. Outdoor sources remain the main contributor to indoor sources of fungi.”

In addition to the 70 percent reduction in fungal levels and 38 percent of particulate matter, a 53 percent decrease was reported in airborne outdoor fungal levels, Cheong said. He added that the ongoing study results are being documented by a physician, not self-reported. In one of the 15 homes being studied, a HEPA air filter has decreased asthma symptoms and medication of an asthmatic child.

• Katy Boone of Clean Air Group in Minneapolis discussed the details of a five-year duct liner study on a commercial building in St. Paul, Minn. The study showed how fibrous glass liners have fungal levels thousands of times higher than galvanized metal or closed cell foam insulation when exposed to the same environmental conditions. It was recommended that closed cell foam and galvanized metal should be used in ductwork. After the presentation, Dr. John Spengler of Harvard School of Public Health questioned why there was a difference in the materials based on the study data.

“You have a longitude study with many starting points. You can’t make any long-term conclusions based on this,” he said to Boone. Boone responded, “You’re right. But we work in the real world and clients aren’t interested in long-term solutions; they want the problem solved.”

• Jeffrey Siegel, a graduate student researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, shared his study on biological aerosol fouling of HVAC heat exchangers. According to Siegel, fouling is really an energy usage problem, not an indoor air quality problem. Among the solutions: cleaning has been standard technique, but filtration is a better solution. There’s a significant energy (and maintenance) penalty, filter bypass. The results from his model suggests that cooling coils are an important sink for biological aerosols and consequently a potential source of IAQ problems. Future research needed, according to Siegel, is drain pan and air contamination, presence of deposited dust or other material, and measuring filter bypass (methodology).
• Elliot Horner of Air Quality Sciences in Atlanta, Ga., presented information to answer the question, “How quickly must gypsum board and ceiling tile be dried to preclude mold growth?” The paper validated the assertion (ie., conventional wisdom) that building components need to be dried within 48 hours.

After simulating a water loss event, Horner and his research team evaluation the area with tiered, visual, 20x with stereoscope, tape lifts with compound microscope (looked for branches of hyphae, branched hyphae, and fruited structures). Slides of baby mold (after 48 hours), youngster mold (hyphae have branching points); teen mold-72 hrs (extensive mycelial development); Family mold >72 hours= well developed colony already after 72 hours. Mycelial development and sporulation occurred within 48 hours at 40-46% (35%) RH (static).

The next steps in the research is to confirm these observations in a dynamic chamber; establish RH% drop needed to arrest growth; assess utility of biocides in buying a day in drying time; and answer the question: is it really appropriate to throw away materials after 48 hours?

More than 40 papers were presented at the IAQ 2001 Conference. To get a copy of the conference proceedings, you can call Michael Vaughn at ASHRAE at (404) 636-8400 ext. 514.

ISIAQ Assessing Need For U.S. Chapter

More than 40 members of the International Society for Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ) met in San Francisco last month to discuss the potential formation of a U.S. chapter of the organization.

The discussions were led by ISIAQ board member John Tiffany and member Dr. Richard Shaughnessy, and then the meeting was opened to comments and suggestions from attendees. According to Tiffany, ISIAQ has about 1,000 members, mostly from academia. The goal in forming a U.S. chapter would be to attract more IAQ practitioners to give the organization a better mix of professionals.

The group already offers members the only peer-reviewed journal on IAQ research and many task forces and committees to produce industry guidance documents.

ISIAQ currently has five chapters running in other countries. Shaughnessy, who went to Finland over the summer, told attendees about what he learned from the Finnish chapter which is by far, ISIAQ’s most successful. The Finnish chapter works with industry to provide funding and information. One of their main projects is to take current research and translate it into easy-to-digest information for practitioners. While the funding for a U.S. chapter was a main issue of discussion at the meeting, many members also brought up the idea for ISIAQ to create a clearinghouse of information and to be a neutral meeting ground for professionals involved in IAQ issues.

In June, Tiffany and ISIAQ President Lidia Morawaska met with representatives from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) to assess interest in a potential partnership between the two organizations so that AIHA could start the U.S. chapter. AIHA remains as the major sponsor for the Indoor Air 2002 Conference in Monterey, Calif., next July, but the partnership plans for a U.S. chapter have yet to take shape.

Another meeting among U.S. members is expected to be held in Monterey at Indoor Air 2002.