EPA Fails EEF on Its Performance under Contract

Remediators in Louisiana Vulnerable to Pesticide Law

Following Unification, IAQA Announces Programs

Ode to Joy: Encountering Desperation, Exaltation

Effects of Biological Sampling on Real Estate Value

Antimicrobials in the Healthcare Industry

VOICES

“This is software that was developed by EPA well before the contract with EEF, and is provided free to the public. The language used seems to imply that EEF developed the software and that EPA endorses it. This is not correct.”

— David Mudarri, Ph.D., of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, speaking out about the Environmental Education Foundation’s promotion of the I-BEAM software so it was perceived as merely “endorsed” by the EPA

Word on the Street 

Tsunami Rebuilding Effort Slow for Shelters
As the first anniversary of the tsunami in Southeast Asia passed in December, various media accounts from around the world commented on the drawn-out pace of the rebuilding efforts in that region. About 216,000 people in the affected areas of Sri Lanka, Indonesia and other countries are dead or missing as a result of the disaster of Dec. 26, 2004, according to various estimates cited in reports last month. On top of that figure, over 1.5 million more were reported either homeless or living in temporary shelters or packed into overcrowded buildings, some media outlets reported. A study published last month by the U.K.-based aid organization Oxfam International says jobs and livelihoods were being restored first and that other needs, including shelter, would be fulfilled only afterward. “By 2007 1.4 million people will have been lifted out of the poverty that they were forced into by the tsunami,” Oxfam said in a Dec. 20 press release highlighting some of the study’s conclusions.

A Convergence of Educators
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to hold its 6th Annual Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools National Symposium Jan. 12–14 in Washington, D.C. The symposium is poised to “highlight efforts schools can take to implement [the EPA’s Tools for Schools program] and maintain a healthy school environment.” Sessions slated to take place over the three days address the design, construction, commissioning and maintenance of healthy school buildings, and various aspects of IAQ program implementation in schools. Other sessions are to focus on mold and moisture, IAQ litigation, sustainability, and communicating IAQ issues to the local community, as well as other topics.

Piggybacking on the event, as it has since 2003, will be the annual meeting of the Coalition for Healthier Schools, which is coordinated by the Healthy Schools Network. This year’s two-day event, to be held Jan. 10–11, will be hosted by the American Federation of Teachers, a Washington-based union. Claire Barnett, executive director of the Healthy Schools Network, said the nation’s capital is a great place to hold the Coalition’s meetings, adding that last year’s event included congressional staffers. “Having staff people from the Senate and House of Representatives in the same room at the same time, talking about this issue, was very unusual,” said Barnett. “Some of the comments I’ve gotten back reflected on how they never get together like this and hear so much information about healthy schools.” She said this year’s event will focus on many issues, most prominently green cleaning and healthy, high-performance school design.

Cantu’s Last Stand
Chicago Business reported last month on the disappearance of Albert Cantu, who was president of the American Residential Services branch of ServiceMaster Co. An article dated Dec. 13 highlighted the differences between Cantu’s account of his departure and comments from the company. Cantu, who provided his comments in writing, acknowledged he would no longer be with the company but said he “did not retire from ServiceMaster.” He did characterize his leave as disappointing and said “this is a process that I did not initiate,” which Chicago Business emphasizes is not a declaration that he was fired. ServiceMaster had originally said Cantu was “leaving the company to pursue other interests” but did not immediately respond to calls placed by Chicago Business. The article also said Cantu is the son of the late Carlos Cantu, who served as ServiceMaster’s CEO in the 1990s.

Cry Foul Air to OSHA
Some employees of the U.S. Department of Interior filed a formal occupational complaint about “acrid fumes, choking dust and nauseating odors” at department headquarters in Washington – only to have the complaint rejected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a nonprofit revealed last month. The cause of the workers’ complaint apparently stems from a modernization taking place at the federal building, conducted by the General Services Administration. “Civil servants and contract employees working in Interior Headquarters cite a rise in asthma attacks, crippling headaches, unexplained skin rashes and other maladies from a poorly contained reconstruction operation in the midst of a building housing an estimated 2,000 employees,” the alliance known as the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said in a press release issued Dec. 22.

The modernization project at the Department of Interior building “is in direct violation of recently issued NIOSH ‘Guidelines for Maintaining Acceptable Indoor Environmental Quality During Construction and Renovation Projects,’” the nonprofit alleged. It also noted that even if the project is in violation of those guidelines from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, there is no penalty to be enforced. “Material Safety Data Sheets for the compounds being used in the modernization show multiple hazardous effects from direct human exposure,” said the alliance. “Agency documents released earlier this month by PEER show that workers have been exposed to those chemicals for many months due to porous worksite containment and a venting system that pumps noxious fumes directly into the building’s air intake.”

Doesn’t Take Much to Get the Job Done
Chlorine solutions much weaker than previously believed can still be used to kill more than 99 percent of noroviruses, the chief cause of outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness around the world, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study concludes. Researchers presented their findings last month at the 2005 International Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, held in Washington, D.C. They discovered for the first time that dilute solutions of hypochlorous acid, or free chlorine, as low as 200 – or even 20 – milligrams per liter will completely inactivate noroviruses on surfaces such as stainless steel and ceramic tile. Dr. Mark D. Sobsey, professor of environmental sciences and engineering at the UNC School of Public Health, and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Geunwoo Park conducted the research. They also found that the dilute chemical worked quickly – in five minutes or less. “This is good news since noroviruses are the leading cause of viral gastroenteritis,” said Sobsey, director of the school’s Environmental Health Microbiology Laboratories. “They have caused countless outbreaks of gastroenteritis in health-care facilities, schools, food establishments, hotels and resorts and on cruise ships.”

EPA Fails EEF on Its Performance under Contract
Agency Rebukes Environmental Education Foundation over Marketing Statements It Considered ‘Misleading’
By Steve Sauer

Work done in 2004 and 2005 by the Environmental Education Foundation to fulfill the terms of its contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was officially rated as “unsatisfactory,” the EPA Indoor Environments Division staff member who was responsible for awarding the contract told IE Connections last month in an exclusive interview.

The EPA’s David Mudarri, Ph.D., said the agency had awarded a one-year contract to the Arizona-based nonprofit on March 29, 2004, and granted the organization’s request to extend the completion date. Even given five additional months, EEF’s work for the contract ended up being rated as “unsatisfactory,” prompting the agency to make only partial payment to EEF.

For the duration of the contract, EEF authored numerous press releases and marketing materials pumping up the organization’s contract with the EPA. Mentions of an advisory group that was convened under the contract appeared to be EEF’s primary marketing tool within the indoor air quality arena during this time.

“They seemed to be using the contract with EPA as a means to enhance their status rather than implement and deliver the training and other activities called for under the contract,” said Mudarri.

“EPA considered many of their statements misleading.”

Having a contract with the EPA gave EEF instant credibility unlike it ever had before, and establishing a multidisciplinary advisory board gave EEF a vehicle for promotion. This fanfare surrounding the advisory group outlasted the EPA contract, which officially ended Aug. 31, 2005. The advisory group added the American Industrial Hygiene Association to its ranks three months later, perhaps the most prestigious grab in terms of industry recognition. AIHA announced on Nov. 29 that it would “participate as a member of the advisory group convened by EEF to continue work started under a contract from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) headquarters.”

EEF’s continued marketing of the EPA contract in the months after it had ended is a cause of concern for the agency, Mudarri said. The organization in August was promoting an upcoming training “class under this contract” to take place in September, a circumstance Mudarri said “does not accurately reflect the contract requirements.”

“EPA has asked EEF to remove all references to the contract in their public solicitations, and not imply EPA endorsement of their program in any way,” said Mudarri.

Mudarri also indicated that EEF had from time to time characterized its work under the EPA contract incorrectly in its solicitations to the public.

“This was a continuing problem throughout this contract,” said Mudarri. “EPA repeatedly admonished EEF for going beyond the statement of work in their outreach activities.”

This was not the first time an EPA official concluded that EEF, led by Executive Director Troy E. Johnson, misrepresented the work it had been contracted to do. “We’ve had some difficulty with this fellow [Troy Johnson] before … about saying he’s going beyond what we’ve actually agreed that he would be doing,” said John Girman, director of the Center for Analysis and Studies within the EPA’s Indoor Environments Division, in a recorded message left for an IE Connections reporter on Aug. 30, 2004.

Mudarri also told IE Connections in May 2005 that he would “endeavor to [ensure] that the communications they have with the public about this contract are accurate.”

Thomas Clay, who represented the National Indoor Air Quality Institute in work for the contract’s advisory group, told IE Connections last month that he was aware “some portions of that contract did go unfulfilled.” He said he believed the unsatisfactory performance rating was attributable to the size of EEF’s staff coordinating aspects of the contract. Speaking about the advisory group, Clay said, “It was an undertaking that probably should have been handled by four or five people, but I don’t think they really had the staff to support it.”

IE Connections reached Johnson last month by phone, but he refused to answer questions and deferred them to his attorney, Terry J. Fong of Wilson-Goodman & Fong, P.C. Calls placed to the attorney’s office and an e-mail seeking comment on various aspects of this article were not returned by deadline.

The Mirage of EEF
Aside from Mudarri’s new disclosures concerning EEF’s failure “to satisfactorily meet the performance requirements of the contract,” other questionable circumstances have surfaced regarding the organization. EEF is believed to have no elected board of directors, which is unusual for an organization with a non-profit 501(c)(3) status. Repeated requests from this newspaper and a participant in the Yahoo! IE Quality Group for EEF to provide copies of its bylaws and financial statements including tax returns have been refused. Based on a satellite image of the organization’s mailing address, EEF appears to operate out of a home in a residential area in Gilbert, Ariz.

EEF has long touted its own array of “professional registrations,” something anyone who has visited EEF’s Web site or received one of its promotional e-mails might have noticed. E-mail recipients in 2005 were coaxed to benefit from limited-time offers such as reduced membership dues and waived exam fees for eight different “professional designations” including RIAQM (Registered Indoor Air Quality Manager), RCMM (Registered Contractor Mold Manager), RMI (Registered Mold Inspector), and five other designations.

EEF’s Web site details the set prices for each. “One registration is included with your $195.00 donation; each additional registration requires an additional $45.00 processing fee,” it says.
Two separate sources have reported to IE Connections that EEF conferred the RIAQM designation on them without requesting the designation or paying for it.

Rick Regan, a consultant and inspector based out of upstate New York, said he received a solicitation from EEF that offered him what he described as “a courtesy certification based upon who you are and what we know you’ve accomplished.” However, the organization soliciting him was EEF, and Regan had never had any contact with that group.

All he had to do, Regan said he was told, was attend the Surgeon General’s Workshop on Healthy Indoor Environment, held Jan. 12–13, 2005, in Bethesda, Md., and represent EEF while he was there. In return, he said the organization not only reimbursed him for his travel expenses but also submitted his name to the workshop planners with the RIAQM designation after it.

Regan accepted the offer. Days later, he attended the workshop, driving himself through snow and ice from upstate New York and spending two nights at a hotel in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There was no registration fee to attend the two-day workshop.
Since then, Regan said he has “tried to call them [EEF] many, many, many times and never received anything other than an answering machine.”

The other source, Jason Dobranic of EMSL Analytical Inc., said he also agreed to attend the workshop on behalf of EEF but was dismayed to find out when he got there that after his name, in addition to his Ph.D., were the initials “R.I.A.Q.M.”

A list of participants that appeared in printed materials distributed at that workshop shows 16 people, including Regan and Dobranic, were registered to attend under EEF’s name. Fifteen of them, also including Regan and Dobranic, were listed with EEF’s mailing address, e-mail address and phone number supplied in lieu of each attendee’s own personal contact information.

“That was frustrating for me,” Dobranic told IE Connections last month. “I didn’t do anything to earn that designation, and they didn’t even submit any information as to how other folks at the workshop could reach me.”

Of the 16 people registered for EEF, 14 names bear RIAQM credentials. Another bears EEF’s credential, Registered Environmental Expert Witness, or REEW. The other name bears “Esq.,” the mark of an attorney.

IE Connections could not reach the 14 other individuals who appear to have attended last January’s Surgeon General’s Workshop on behalf of EEF.

EEF as ‘Umbrella Organization’
EEF has strived to paint its image as an organization representing 6,500 members and tackling environmental issues other than just indoor air quality. But the association is represented publicly by only a handful of people, chief among them being Johnson. Requests by IE Connections for lists of EEF board members were refused. EEF does not publish its member list. The 6,500 members EEF says it has includes member rosters from groups like the Texas Association for Indoor Air Quality and the International Association of Mold Remediation Specialists that had essentially been dissolved prior to their so-called mergers with EEF. The true number of EEF members is unknown.

At the beginning of December, the Environmental Education Foundation issued a press release casting itself as “the umbrella organization in which all other organizations will merge.”

The press release, issued Dec. 4, announced that the organization had just merged with two others: the National Indoor Air Quality Institute and the International Association of Mold Management. It also included references to the Texas Association for Indoor Air Quality and the International Association of Mold Remediation Specialists, organizations with which EEF had previously announced it was merging; the TAIAQ merger was first announced in April 2005, and the IAMRS merger was first reported in February 2004.

In the release, EEF invoked the terms “consolidation” and “unification,” a thinly veiled effort to mimic to the undertakings that resulted in the Indoor Air Quality Association’s combined membership of more than 5,500 members as of this month, when its own consolidation and unification with two other industry groups officially takes effect.

The second sentence of EEF’s press release said, “The move is a milestone for the industry because it will result in the creation of the largest, oldest and most powerful, membership organization of its type, with more than 6,500 constituents, representing the entire IAQ and environmental field.”

This declaration closely echoed a statement by IAQA President Bob Baker in a membership newsletter last year, when referring to IAQA’s unification and consolidation with the American Indoor Air Quality Council and Indoor Environmental Standards Organization:

“The move is a milestone for the industry because it will result in the creation of a powerful membership organization with more than 5,500 constituents, an independent certification board for IAQ professionals and tradespersons, and a separate standard-setting organization to create long-needed standards for indoor environments.”

Asked to comment on the similarities last month, Baker said, “I was speechless when I saw the EEF ‘announcement’ – or, more likely, fantasy. I guess I could quote the old saying, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.’ However, there are limits as to where we want to see flattery originate from.”

Expansion Widens EEF’s Circle of Dubious Credibility
The International Association of Mold Management, one of the two groups with which EEF reportedly merged according to its December announcement, is tied to a site advocating the “deactivation” of mold. A company owned by IAMM’s executive director flaws traditional remediation as both “outdated” and “expensive” – preferring instead a process that “inactivates mold spores.”

The National Indoor Air Quality Institute promotes and sells, through an array of Web sites including the dubiously named www.toxic-mold.com, a line of “indoor oxygen therapy systems,” each of which ranges from $595 to $1,895. Nearly as expensive as these technologies are the certification programs NIAQI also offers online for purchase. These professional credentials range from $495 to $1,195.

Analysis of the International Association of Mold Management’s Web site in December revealed that the organization’s membership appears to be strongest in California, where the only known IAMM membership meetings in the organization’s existence allegedly took place in 2002. The three initial membership meetings listed on IAMM’s Web site as having taken place at the facility office in Oceanside, Calif., were scheduled for July 10, Sept. 11 and Nov. 13 of that year.
The only event of 2003 listed on the site’s “Calendar of Events” was a presentation called “The Use of Heat Treating in the Remediation of Mold.” Its setting, the calendar states, was to be a restaurant in Irvine, Calif., on March 12, 2003.

The breadth of IAMM’s events calendar extended into 2004 only for a half-dozen one-day mold certification seminars held in six Florida cities in July and August of that year. No IAMM events were listed during 2005, and none have been listed for 2006.

In addition, the organization’s membership, if it is indeed larger than it would seem, is not well represented on IAMM’s Web site. A consumer-oriented feature on the site that allows users to search for professionals resulted in zero hits for four of nine states tested last month by IE Connections. The states in which no results were returned were Mississippi, Louisiana, New Jersey and Washington. Modest search results – six or less for each state – were obtained for New York, Ohio and Texas.

The other two states tested, California and Florida, provided the most results: 164 in California and 61 in Florida.

In California, 61 professionals were listed under the search category “surveying.” Sixty more were found under “Sampling,” one under “Remediation,” and 30 under “Consulting.” One search category, “Medical Professional,” resulted in one hit, although that lone result was for a company with “Real Estate Inspection Services” in its name, not for a medical professional.

David A. Gilbert, who served as executive director for IAMM and was “outgoing” according to EEF’s press release, is the owner of Orange Coast Inspection, a southern California company listed on its Web site as providing “property inspections and toxic mold investigations.”

The company’s Web site lists Gilbert as holding certifications in “Remediation Oversight Specialist,” “Microbial Remediation Specialist,” “Microbial Remediation Technician” and “Microbial Surveyor/Sampling Technician.” Gilbert does not, however, bear the Council-certified Microbial Remediation Specialist designation available from the American Indoor Air Quality Council or the Approved Mold Remediation Technician designation available from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, the organizations’ records showed last month.

Quoted in the Dec. 2 press release on the mergers with IAMM and the three other organizations, Gilbert reflected on EEF’s “global recognition as the leader in Indoor Air Quality and Mold related fields.”

Calls placed to Gilbert last month by IE Connections last month at the phone numbers for Orange Coast Inspection and the office of IAMM were not returned by deadline.

Thomas Clay, who is the founder and CEO of the National Indoor Air Quality Institute, and five of the people listed as its advisers also make up the “Executive Team” behind the Healthy Building Institute of America. Each organization, based out of the same address in Ohio, offers three different yet strikingly similar certification programs that can be purchased online.

Priced at $495, NIAQI’s cheapest is the Certified IAQ Inspectors Program, which corresponds with the Certified IAQ Inspectors Training Program offered by HBIA, also for $495. The $895 Certified IAQ Specialists Program from NIAQI corresponds with HBIA’s Certified IAQ Specialists Training Program, which also costs $895. The last, NIAQI’s Certified IAQ Coordinators Program, corresponds with HBIA’s Healthy Building Management Program, both priced at $1,195.

Like NIAQI, the Healthy Building Institute of America exists online with at least four different Web addresses, each of which prominently mentions EEF on its front page. HBIA can be found online at www.healthygreenbuilders.com, www.sick-home.net, www.flood-damage.net, www.property-damage.net and at least four others. NIAQI can be found online at www.niaqi.org, www.niaqi.com, www.toxic-mold.com and www.texas-mold-training.com. Another NIAQI Web address, www.moldrepair.net, is no longer active.

When reached for comment last month, Clay said the two bodies are “very related.” He said, “We were working on the merger [with EEF] for a couple of years before it came together, and one of the things we wanted to do was concentrate on providing prevention and solutions for mold. So, we started putting together whole-house and whole-building strategy solutions. That’s why we formed the Healthy Building Institute [of America]; we have some very interesting technologies that we use that are different than anybody else offering.”

NIAQI’s Web site heralds that its training programs are approved by EEF. However, it appeared last month that there were no course dates scheduled after August 2005. In December, the only dates for “upcoming” courses listed on NIAQI’s Web site ranged from June 6, 2005, to Aug. 19, 2005.

NIAQI, which has an office Houston as well as one in Venice, Fla., is approved by the state of Texas to teach mold courses for the state licensing program. When contacted to provide dates for its upcoming courses in the last few months, the NIAQI contacts in Houston were unable to provide any.

Clay, whose involvement in indoor air quality dates back to 1998 when he began to research why he was becoming sick at home, ultimately discovered a range of pollutants in his home over the course of three years. Armed with information he had learned in those three years of research, Clay started NIAQI in November 2001.

When reached by IE Connections last month, Clay said the indoor oxygen therapy systems NIAQI sells release certain molecular structures of oxygen – O5, O6 and O7, for instance – are used “to kill the mold and bacteria before somebody goes in and does a remediation job.” He warned, however, that they are not to be used when human occupants are present due to the reputation of the oxygen release as a possible health hazard.

However, Clay did point out that his research with government agencies has never turned up a single death attributable to ozone, which is another form of oxygen. He also said he was not aware of any occupational injuries reportedly resulting from ozone.

Remediators in Louisiana Vulnerable to Pesticide Law
By Steve Sauer

Mold remediators working in Louisiana need a separate state certification in commercial pesticide application if they want to treat mold with substances on the job. This development resulted in part from enforcement action made last month to threaten a remediator allegedly in violation of the Louisiana Pesticide Law.

The state has recently taken steps to enforce a law specifying that anybody who uses pesticides to kill mold or inhibit its spread must either be a state-certified pesticide applicator or work under the supervision of one.

Early last month, staffers at the Indoor Air Quality Association learned the plight of one certified mold remediator who had twice been warned by state officials that he lacked the pesticide applicator’s license necessary to use substances to treat mold. The association reacted on Dec. 8 by issuing an official warning to all its members in which it summarized the situation in Louisiana.

An emergency declaration in September by the commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry had sought to clarify Louisiana’s murky legal definition of “pesticide.” Under the law, the term refers to “any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest and any substance or combination of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, desiccant, or any substance the commissioner determines to be a pesticide.”

In his emergency declaration, Commissioner Bob Odom clarified that mold is to be classified as a “pest,” another term whose legal definition under Louisiana Pesticide Law can include anything “the commissioner declares to be a pest.” The classification of mold as a pest allows pest-control operators to act on mold, assumedly without having to meet the state’s other requirements for mold-remediation contractors, which include insurance coverage.

The same law also spells out that only state-certified pesticide applicators are permitted to use pesticides in homes. With the emergency declaration, the law clearly implicates mold remediators, thereby making these individuals vulnerable to a rule that had never before been enforced.

That is something state-licensed mold remediator David Boudreaux found out the hard way.
Boudreaux, who works with Tiger Custom Homes in Covington, La., was surprised to receive a phone call from a spokesperson of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry in November. The caller explained that Boudreaux, who was not licensed as a pesticide applicator, is not allowed to use pesticides in his line of work.

Boudreaux said another call from the department in December reinforced the same idea to him and that the caller threatened he could be served with a cease-and-desist order.

“When I got the [second] call,” said Boudreaux, “I let him finish his spiel, and then I said, ‘So what you’re telling me is that I’m not allowed to do my job, but some pest-control guy is?’ They tried to tell me that I was breaking the law, but I told them that they’re the ones breaking the law.”
A state law took effect in July 2004 requiring mold-remediation contractors to be licensed by the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors. Requirements for this license include training specific to business law and mold assessment and remediation, with a high-school diploma or equivalent. Other stipulations pertain to insurance and licensing fees.

Boudreaux said he made himself very familiar with all applicable state laws and was confident he would have a defense if ever prosecuted under the Louisiana Pesticide Law.

He said a message on the side of his company van may have made him a desirable target for pesticide applicators hoping to get a mold remediator in trouble. “The pest-control see my van parked outside a job with the words ‘ten-year warrantee’ on it, and they probably got jealous and reported me,” said Boudreaux. He said he uses products from Anabec Inc. that carry 10-year warranties that he in turn passes along to customers.

Pest-control companies, on the other hand, are likely to offer 20-year warranties for their work, Boudreaux said.

Pest-control operators from about 80 companies in Gulf states were to meet along Lake Pontchartrain in October to be trained in “making flood damaged homes habitable,” said a press release distributed that month by the manufacturer of a pesticide manufacturer.

Odom’s emergency declaration, signed Sept. 16, is set to expire after 120 days of implementation, which means it would expire in the middle of this month. Odom retains the authority either to renew the declaration for another temporary period or to administer a permanent rule.

The Indoor Air Quality Association started 2006 with high expectations from the industry and pressure to produce. Former members of the Indoor Environmental Standards Organization and American Indoor Air Quality Council, who are now IAQA members instead, expect to receive all the benefits they enjoyed previously, on top of new IAQA benefits. IAQA members are eager to jump into programs inherited from IESO and AmIAQ, particularly the chapter program, with its 38 domestic affiliates.

Backed by a 2006 budget exceeding $1.5 million and the volunteerism and resources of the 5,566 members it would call its own on Jan. 1, the IAQA Board of Directors met in December to put the finishing touches on a massive restructuring of member benefits programs. The resulting plan includes strong programs in conventions, education, research, government affairs, publishing and insurance. Meanwhile, the board completed other legal requirements in December, such as bylaws revisions.

IAQA has adopted bylaws revisions and made changes to its membership categories and fees. The association will continue to offer a $125 individual membership and a $250 corporate membership, but now there are additional categories including one for government employees priced at just $60 per year. Special member programs have been adopted to allow companies with multiple locations to receive benefits, and discounted memberships are available to franchisees whose franchisors belong.

“Having the years of experience of three organizations each with a somewhat different kind of membership system was an advantage to us,” said Michael Casanova, chair of IAQA’s Membership Committee. “With our staff’s assistance, we analyzed what had worked best before and what additional needs had to be met in the future. Then we devised a plan that representatives from IAQA, IESO and AmIAQ all felt was effective,” Casanova told IE Connections.

Casanova, like more than 600 of the former AmIAQ members who now find themselves with a new IAQA membership, is a government employee. “Having the lower priced membership for government people makes sure we keep them within our organization, and they are a vital part of our group,” Casanova said.

Education Programs
Under the unification agreement, IAQA relinquished ownership and management of its certification testing programs to AmIAQ. AmIAQ likewise relinquished its education and training programs to IAQA. “The goal to have a clear separation between training and certification is accomplished,” said Joe Hughes, chairman of IAQA’s Education Committee. As the educational arm of the unification, IAQA is prepared to offer a variety of quality instruction courses.

IAQA education programs exist for IAQ consultants, mold investigators, mold remediators and home inspectors doing mold screenings. Courses for technicians to courses for management are on the 2006 schedule. Many of these programs were developed around the core skills and knowledge base that AmIAQ has adopted for its certification designations.

“Attending an IAQA education course isn’t required to obtain AmIAQ certification, but IAQA education providers are required to ensure their curriculums cover corresponding skill areas and industry knowledge that an AmIAQ Council-certified individual has to prove he or she knows,” said Hughes.

Support for Standards-making Work
The unification agreement calls for IAQA to partially fund IESO, the standards-making arm of the consolidated organizations. With no members, training or certification, IESO is reliant on publication sales and contributions from groups like IAQA for its funding.

“IAQA wanted to send a clear message to IESO’s Board and to its former membership that IAQA is fully behind the IESO program,” said Robert G. Baker, IAQA president. IAQA has approved a $100,000 contribution to IESO in 2006 and is prepared to make an additional $35,000 available if necessary.

“IESO is going for ANSI accreditation and that takes a lot of work, time and money. Meanwhile, it has existing standards to maintain. IAQA’s financial support and liaison have been everything we expected from the unification,” said David Fetveit, IESO President. In addition to the funding, IAQA was granted permission to name two ex-officio members to the IESO Board of Directors. IAQA’s board appointed Carl Grimes and Tom Yacobellis to represent the association and support IESO’s work.

Marketing and Industry Outreach
IAQA will double the number of tradeshows where it exhibits and/or delivers presentations in 2006. In addition to the AHR Expo, NADCA convention, and NFM&T show that IAQA has done in the past, in the next year IAQA will have a presence at tradeshows held by BOMA, NAR, ASHI and several more.

“Our budget for tradeshows has grown, and we view these shows as an important outreach vehicle for IAQA,” said Carl Grimes, IAQA’s Marketing Committee chairman. “Conventions like these are used to recruit new member, promote education classes and chapter workshops. But they are also used to showcase the talents and resources of our members to the facilities management industry at shows like NFM&T and BOMA.”

Since the unification became official at the October 2005 IAQA and IESO membership meetings, the organizations have stressed that their goal is to continue unifying some or all of their work with groups sharing common interests.

“In the last three months, I, along with several members of the IESO, AmIAQ and IAQA leadership, have met with top elected officials and chief staffers of AIHA, AARST, IEI, IICRC, ISSA, NADCA, MIAQC, BSCAI and MSCA,” said IAQA Executive Director Glenn Fellman. “In some cases, it was just to begin introductions; in others, it was to begin exploring real cooperative work like co-produced educational events or united government affairs efforts. The unification of the IAQ industry started when IAQA, IESO and AmIAQ consolidated. We still have a long way to go.”

Research
The IAQA Research Committee, chaired by George Benda, introduced proposals for the IAQA board to approve co-funding the first project approved by the committee. The project, a multi-year study by the University of Tulsa, will research student performance relative to a variety of IAQ factors. IAQA has committed to fund $38,000 over the 2005 through 2007 school years, which is a minority of the overall funding required for the project.

“The Tulsa project has tremendous merit,” said George Benda, IAQA Research Committee Chairman. “Beyond the important of the results it could provide, it’s also just the kind of research work IAQA was hoping to get involved with; something where we can be a small but meaningful contributor and learn about managing research work as we consider expanding the scope of IAQA research programs in the future,” added Benda.

Another newly approved program for the IAQA Research Committee is an agreement to provide an “in-kind” donation in form of staff time and other resources to a study recently funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and awarded to the St. Louis School of Public Health on standards and procedures for mold remediation. “Our work will mostly consist of convening focus groups, which we hope do to through chapter workshops and other pre-planned events. We may also assemble lists of people with expertise in certain areas to assist the University in determining interview subjects,” said Kristy M. Lee, IAQA technical director.

Government Affairs
“We’ve been too focused on mold and we haven’t spent enough time on federal issues,” Mark DeLisle, chairman of IAQA’s Government Affairs Committee, told IE Connections. His committee received approval on a $90,000 budget for 2006 that gives it the ability to dramatically increase its scope of activity.

“Until this year nearly all of our government affairs dollars and time has been spent chasing around newly proposed IAQ and mold regulatory laws in the states. That’s important work and we’re going to keep it going,” said DeLisle. He added that IAQA will also begin monitoring federal legislation on asbestos, lead, meth labs and a host of other IAQ issues. “Our legislative matrix online is impressive now because you can see what’s going on in every state – when we add the federal picture to that later in 2006 our members will have the entire legislative picture for their industry a mouse click away,” said DeLisle.

Chapters
The 41 active, vibrant chapters created by AmIAQ came under IAQA’s management in 2006. Most are planning two to four workshops this year, and the calendar of events is constantly being updated at www.iaqa.org.

“These chapters are something IAQA has been sorely missing,” said IAQA’s Baker. “Now our members can have get-togethers within driving distance from their homes in most cases a few times each year. I live in Florida, where several chapters are located, and I can’t tell you what a remarkable benefit this is – and it’s included when you join IAQA national and doesn’t cost a thing,” he remarked.

“We’ve already had at least a dozen requests to start new chapters in areas where no chapter exists,” said Ben Auman, IAQA’s staff member in charge of chapter liaison. “We expect to see many of these come about in 2006,” Auman added.

Insurance
One benefit of the unification has been IAQA’s ability to cooperate with AmIAQ in capturing attention from the insurance industry. In partnership with Legends Environmental Insurance Agency and American Risk Management Resources, IAQA and AmIAQ were able to negotiate insurance programs for IAQA members with AmIAQ-certified staff.

Insurance programs for both general liability and errors and omissions are available to IAQ consultants and investigators, remediators and restorers and home inspectors who perform mold screenings. “A few dozen people have been underwritten in the program already and they are seeing savings as much as 10 to 15 percent,” said Fellman. “Even better, some are getting broader coverage to include coverage for pollution issues that was excluded from their previous insurance.”

Publications
IAQA members will be getting more publications for the dues than ever before. All members will receive IE Connections newspaper as part of their membership, which is new for previous AmIAQ members.

IAQA members will also now be receiving a 24-page, advertising-free, bi-monthly newsletter produced by IAQA that has a heavily technical content focus. “It will be much more like what AmIAQ members received in the past from the Council,” said Fellman. “We may beef up the content with some more news about association committee progress and new member benefit programs, but the overall amount of technical content won’t change.”

Contact
For more information about IAQA membership and benefits, visit www.iaqa.org or contact the association at (301) 231-8388.

Christa had all those traits, plus more. She was a chronic interrupter of the speakers, asking them to repeat what they had just said and even requesting the spellings of words so her notes would be accurate. Her protective facemask, foreign features and distinct accent did not elicit empathy from me. I only wanted her to go back to wherever she had come from, which I suspected to be eastern Europe or some other Communist regime.

Why was I at the meeting? It wasn’t because I was practicing investigative reporting techniques so I could someday write opinion columns for IE Connections. I was there because I was one of the “sickies,” just like Christa and the 30 other people in the room.

As the years passed, my attitude gradually softened toward Christa. I’m still not sure if it was because my health improved, her differences became more familiar to me or I learned some of her history.

It was true that Christa was from eastern Europe, and the rumors were correct about her having faced death – more than once. But I was yet to learn and appreciate her cycles of collapse and recovery and why death could not defeat her.

Eight years ago, I arrived at her house to visit. Her husband, Lew, greeted me at the door but was visibly upset. He said he had just arrived home from a meeting and Christa had started screaming at him because his clothes smelled of cigarette smoke. He explained that the exposure had triggered an asthma attack; she had collapsed and would be bedridden for days.

Lew dearly loved and protected Christa and would never intentionally harm her. I’ll never forget the pain on his face and in his heart when he turned to me. “I swear I couldn’t smell any smoke,” he said. “I just want to make her pain stop, but I can’t.”

When Lew died two summers ago, he was holding Christa in his arms. He was headed for the garden to plant vegetables when Christa intercepted him. Although she had a passion for gardening, that was not an activity shared by Lew. However, he had a passion for gardening with Christa.

She gently scolded, “Lew, you don’t like gardening. Let me do that.”
Christa always uses the person’s name that she’s talking to. I love when she talks to me and says “Carl” in nearly every sentence. Her accent does something to the sound of the “r”s. Not a trill or a roll, but more of an accentuation, no longer an irritation.

She continued to scold her husband. “Lew, you hate gardening. Go back inside.”

“I love you, Christa, and I want to do this for you,” Lew responded.
He put his arms around her, kissed her and suddenly lurched in pain. His aorta had burst, and he was dead before he hit the ground. Christa frantically called 911, and then she too collapsed. When the police arrived they saw two bodies and assumed it was a crime scene.

A previous collapse occurred in June 1983. Christa was found lying in a roadside ditch by her car. She had apparently lost control after having been exposed to diesel fumes on the highway. Her doctors, who knew her history, quickly determined that she needed massive doses of steroids or she would die.

Her experiences with collapse and death began in Yugoslavia. Christa was born in 1928 in Mramorak, a multiethnic village in the Danube Valley, to fourth-generation landowners. That meant Christa’s family was very well off, educated and considered high society. Her father had influence with the government and was accustomed to being in a leadership position.

Christa was bright, precocious and had entered college at the age of 15. But by her 17th birthday, it was 1945 and her world abruptly changed. Soldiers arrived in the middle of the night, taking her father and several other neighbors away, never to be seen again. Rumor was that they were marched to a nearby forest, given shovels and forced to dig their own graves. The soldiers reportedly had only one bullet per man, so if the single shot to the head didn’t kill them, they were buried alive.

Christa, her mother and her best friend were later incarcerated in a forced-labor concentration camp. They were issued a pickaxe and a shovel to repair railroad tracks six days a week from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. Individual quotas were to install six railroad ties each day.

“What happened if you didn’t meet your quota?” I asked.

In a calm, matter-of-fact voice that almost belied her words, Christa simply replied, “We didn’t get our daily ration of rotten cornmeal. Carl, the elderly and babies quickly died of malnutrition. The weaker among us began to die within three weeks. Carl, the ones of us who could work had to first bury the dead every morning before being marched to the railroad tracks.”

The final events of one of those mornings was told to her years later by the son of her best friend. As their group was marching to the worksite, one of the girls was caught stealing food from a farm they were traversing. The guard smashed the girl’s head with the butt of his rifle, instantly killing her. Christa and others were ordered to dig the grave. When they finished digging and had rolled their friend into the hole, they were ordered to fill it. Christa, always the precocious leader, said, “I think we should first say a prayer for her.” The butt of the soldier’s rifle smashed against Christa’s head, knocking her to the ground.

Christa was presumed dead and was rolled into the grave on top of the dead girl. But because they were now late, the guard said they would wait until their return at the end of the day to cover the grave. On the way back from work, Christa’s friends discovered that she was still alive. She had crawled out of the grave and was found lying on the ground beside it.

Christa and her mother eventually escaped from the forced-labor camp, only to be captured and tortured. They were later sent to a death camp near the Hungarian border. In 1948, they successfully escaped to Austria.

The authorities drenched them with DDT for delousing purposes and informed them that they had no room for displaced people. Christa and her mother had to find a country that would accept them, or they would be returned to Yugoslavia and certain execution.

England was advertising for cotton mill workers. The posters showed women in clean, white coats sitting at modern equipment being taught the craft of spinning and weaving. Wages were advertised at seven pounds and five shillings.

Christa and her mother made it to a cotton mill in Lancashire, England, but because they had no money and could not speak the language, they were instead assigned to heavy labor. The pay was only two pounds and seven shillings – the exact cost of their bed and breakfast, leaving no money for lunch, dinner or even toothpaste.

While Christa’s mother carried heavy baskets of narrow stairs, Christa’s job required her to lie on her back on the floor for eight hours a day scraping cotton fluff off the bottom of the machines that separated the fibers from the dust and other impurities. Despite the close proximity of her face to the dust, she was given no respiratory protection. Doctors would later surmise that this was the exposure that triggered the increased trauma of her lungs, eventually diagnosed as bronchiectasis.

Ten years later, after earning a degree in nursing in England, having married and then widowed, she and her 5-year-old daughter immigrated to Texas to be with her mother and brother. But her medical condition worsened in the humid climate, and she soon was unable to work. In 1959, medical doctors began treating her with the “miracle drug” ACTH. And it was truly a miracle for Christa!

Now virtually symptom-free, Christa entered college and earned her degree in library science in two years. On the advice of her doctor, she and her daughter moved to the drier climate of Colorado, where she worked full-time in the public school system for 24 years. She earned a master’s degree, was promoted to an administrative position in the curriculum department, and was pursuing a Ph.D. in curriculum development and public school administration.

She met and married Lew.

For 24 full years, Christa was healthy and was functioning successfully at a high level earning numerous awards and other notable distinctions.

But it was all a cruel illusion that was exposed in the June 1983, car accident. Twenty-four years of medically prescribed steroid use had not healed her. It had simply masked her symptoms by disabling the warning system of her body.

She was now intolerably reactive to even slight exposures of normal environmental substances such as diesel fumes, cigarette smoke, perfume, cleaning chemicals and a swamp cooler in her office. She began experiencing recurrent viral infections and was diagnosed with hypoxia of the brain, COPD, multiple chemical sensitivities, immunodeficiency syndrome, ocular herpes, Epstein-Barr syndrome, chronic systemic candidiasis, hypoglycemia, iatrogenic Cushing’s disease, peptic ulcers secondary to medication, malabsorption syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, steroid myopathy and steroid psychosis. She was forced into early retirement at age 55. Another chapter in her incredible life had come to an end. But this time, there was no immediate starting over. First, she had to heal.

She was treated by six medical specialists prescribing 21 different medications for six years of isolated, insulated “existence.” All she remembers is being pain-ridden, confused and intensely lonely despite Lew’s constant attention.
I asked Christa if she were ever accused of being a hypochondriac. The labor camp experience ended decades before, and surely she’d been told she should have recovered.

“Oh, of course, Carl. Most doctors quickly grew tired of me. But let me tell you a story about the power of the mind. When I was 13 years old, my great aunt was standing over me along with another aunt and my mother. I was ugly, Carl. I mean, I was scrawny with big buck teeth and flat chest. I had no breasts.

“And this great aunt said, ‘Christina’ – because Christa is just a nickname, you know. My real name was Christina, and that’s what they called me – ‘Christina, you are so ugly that nobody will ever marry you.’

“And my mother and her sister are standing there nodding their heads in agreement. I was so embarrassed and so ashamed. I knew I was ugly, but here they were telling it to my face! Then my great aunt said, ‘Instead of receiving a dowry, we will have to pay someone to marry Christina. You will cost us one cow.’

“She then stopped, considered for a moment looking straight at me, and added, ‘No, you will cost us two cows. Christina will cost us two cows.’”
“For weeks and weeks, I prayed to God and used my will power to make my teeth go in and my breasts go out! But nothing worked! So maybe the mind is powerful, Carl, but it can’t do everything.”

Christa’s slow recovery began when one of her doctors introduced her to alternative medicine in a specialist clinic for deep viral infections and chronic fatigue syndrome. The recovery was short-lived as tragedy struck again in 1997 when she suffered three mini-strokes and her life came to another standstill. Steroids were again prescribed.

But this time, the side effects from even short-term courses of steroid treatments became horrific. Excruciatingly painful intracranial pressure ensued. Uncontrollable mood swings rendered her unfit for human interaction – yet Lew stayed with her.

The search for another doctor began and Christa was soon off all inhalers and pills. She could now mingle in public places without triggering the previously “inevitable” asthma attack. Short-term memory improved.

“And what joy I had,” she exclaimed, “that I was able to resume my daily exercise program and early morning walks in the park!”

As we finished our conversation, Christa asked me to help her download a memorial to Lew that had been printed in a newspaper in her daughter’s town. As I logged onto the Web site, Christa started laughing in excitement. As the screen popped up with the article, Christa was dancing.

“Oh, Carl! Look, there it is! There’s the story of my Lew! Carl, how can I save this?”

“Well, we can print it. Or I can e-mail it back to you.”

“You can? You can e-mail it? How? Never mind! Just do it! Oh, this is so exciting!”
“What is your e-mail address?”

“Odetojoy@…” Christa stopped suddenly, mid-word. She was looking strangely at me and then asked, “What’s the matter, Carl? Are you okay?”

I was stunned and shaken with tears in my eyes. I couldn’t believe I had heard her correctly. After I regained my composure I said, “Christa, after experiencing the midnight murder of your father, labor camps, torture, death camps and horrendous, life destroying illnesses, why did you choose an e-mail address of ‘Ode to Joy’? It should be ‘Life Sucks!’ or ‘Why me?’ or ‘God is dead.’ I don’t understand.”

“Carl, ‘Ode to Joy’ is from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It was always my favorite music. It is what I sang to myself – inside my head, of course – at the labor camp when I was forced to dig the graves to bury my friends. It is what kept me from going insane. It is what sustains me now.”

We talked some more about Lew and about what she would do now that she was alone. In her inimitable and precocious way, she exclaimed with joyful eyes, “I get to start over, Carl. I’m working with my doctor to provide nutritional counseling for his patients. I get to learn something new every day and to help people. Every day!”
Ode to Joy!

Carl Grimes is president of Healthy Habitats LLC, an indoor environmental consulting firm in Denver, Colo. He is the author of the book “Starting Points for a Healthy Habitat” and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of IE Connections and as vice president of the Indoor Air Quality Association. Grimes can be reached by e-mail at grimes@habitats.com or by phone at (303) 671-9653.

Editor’s Note: A reader responding to this article in the print edition wanted to know why Christa was kept in a concentration camp in 1948, when World War II was over in 1945. Carl Grimes replied with a passage of his conversation with Christa, shown exclusively here for the first time:

“Christa, I’m confused about the concentration camp. You escaped in 1948. That was three years after the war ended. How did the Nazis continue with a prisoner-of-war camp for so long?”

“I wasn’t in a prisoner-of-war camp, Carl. Neither was I in a Nazis camp. I was in a Yugoslavian labor camp. The camp was created by my own government, Carl, with Russian support.

“You see. Carl, Hitler conquered Yugoslavia and Tito had no army to get him out. Russia had just suffered massive causalities and a prolonged siege. So Tito made a deal with Stalin. Tito was given a Russian army to expel Hitler and in return Stalin got agricultural products to feed his forces. Tito knew the land owners would rise against him for having their property nationalized, so he killed them.

“This was Tito’s version of Homeland Security. To successfully end the war and protect his country, he ordered our fathers – the fourth generation landowners – to be murdered and their wives and children enslaved until death. As best I can remember, Carl, there were nearly 27,000 people in all the Yugoslavian camps. Less than 800 of us survived.”

Mine is not an ordinary life. Being part mycologist and part real estate professional is not exactly something that is typical. However, it might provide a unique insight on how IAQ investigations impact real estate and are viewed by the real estate profession.

I am sure that at least some of you are involved with home or building inspections. Those who are can certainly appreciate the rather tenuous tight rope you sometimes walk when performing home or building inspections. For those who are not, try to picture the scene. When the home or building inspector is walking the grounds of the subject property, there is frequently an entourage of interested parties following along. This can include: the property seller(s), buyer(s), real estate agents representing both parties and sometimes other individuals as well. These parties are typically emotionally keyed way up due to buyer’s remorse, closing pressure, and commissions. A good home or building inspector is skilled in the psychology of dealing with these individuals. However, no matter how adept the inspector is in the art of human relations, a tangible stress is always present due to the consequences of one miscalculated comment. Most inspectors have at one time or another had an awkward experience with concerned parties due to reporting defects in buildings. Although the inspector is just doing their job, reported defects can result in a broken real estate contract, fights over the costs of curing defects, and stigmatization of the property due to the agent’s disclose obligations. All inspectors I know seem to be acutely aware of the consequences of their observations when performing inspections. The impact on the inspector can include: loss of clients (and resulting income loss), loss of reputation (real estate agents do talk), and legal liability which can result from parties who think that the inspector found too many defects or other parties that think the inspector did not uncover enough.

Given this level of concern when performing building inspections, it seems odd that many of these same individuals do not have an equivalent respect for the consequences IAQ reports. While an IAQ report can evaluate many different issues, biological sampling is the one that, in my experience, can really create a firestorm. The consequences of sampling should be a concern for all parties who perform IAQ investigations, not just home or building inspectors. One of the real big, yet underreported, consequence of sampling is the effects on the market value of real estate. To illustrate what can go wrong, I would like to share an incident that I became involved with as a case reviewer.

A friend of mine was the seller of a house which had been successfully executed into sales contract for $329,000. The buyer hired a home inspector who observed a few cracked roof tiles during the inspection. Warning of potential water intrusion and the mold growth that could follow, the inspector informed the buyer that he could perform mold testing. A single swab was used to sample multiple surfaces around the house (this was only revealed at a later time). Air sampling was performed as well. The results from the laboratory were forwarded to the client with no interpretation of the data, no justification for the sampling protocols employed (the protocols were not reported at all in the report), nor was any advise rendered on how the lab results corresponded to visual observations inside the property. Quite naturally, populations of fungal spores were revealed in the lab results from both types of sampling. The lack of support from the investigator resulted in a buyer with many questions and no answers. In the spirit of “playing it safe” the buyer exercised a release from contractual obligations. The deal was broken, but that was not the end of the ordeal. My friend’s real estate agent, believing that the results of the mold testing constituted a defect in the property, felt ethically obligated to disclose the existence of the mold to all subsequent prospects. One by one, prospects passed on this property. Eventually, a buyer was procured for this house at $299,000 after much more time on the market. By request of my friend, I reviewed the incident. My conclusions after examining the lab results, and after the inspector was contacted to explain the protocols employed, was that the house did not have any defects and that the inspector implemented flawed protocols. Unfortunately by that time, the damage was done.

In summary, a $30,000 loss of value of this house was caused by an individual who implemented flawed protocols, did not support data from biological sampling in any site specific context, lost time for the seller who had a subsequent purchase of a commercial property contingent upon successful sale of his house, and stigmatized the property unfairly which resulted in loss of demand. All unjustly.

While legal action was not brought against the inspector, the account of this incident was forwarded to the seller’s local state congressman, who by coincidence is the author of mold licensing legislation. As many of you are aware, the regulation of mold professionals in the State of Florida was a hot issue in 2005 and will probably continue in the 2006 session. Incidents like the one described provide a driving force for such legislation to protect the public. Additionally, while this is an isolated incident, my conversations with real estate agents reveal a large amount of dissatisfaction with the mold inspection industry and many experienced real estate agents seem to have stories similar to my friend’s. One of the most common complaints I hear from real estate agents, is that they are confused about “mold certifications” since there is a belief that a certification is a license from a regulatory board with prerequisite education and experience.

Real estate values can be affected by biological sampling in situations other than just sales transactions. When someone applies for refinancing for their home, the amount of money that can loaned on a property is predicated by what is known as the loan-to-value ratio. What this means is that the property must have a given amount of equity, which is the cash left over after liens are paid off if the house is sold. An appraisal is often requested so the lender will know how much money can be loaned on the property. The appraiser is required under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice to disclose all defects visible in the subject property. When the defect is mold, a recommendation may be made by the appraiser for analysis by a mold professional. This may trigger biological sampling. When defects are reported in appraisals, the lender will typically request a “cost to cure” addendum. The cost required to cure the defects may be applied on the appraisal as reduction in the market value of the subject property. The results from mold sampling can result in a recommendation for remediation. The estimate for remediation can be viewed as the “cost to cure” and be subtracted from the “normal” value of the property. If the loss due to mold is not covered by insurance, then it may come out of the owner’s pocket, again amounting to a net loss in market value of the subject property. Obviously, if the owner of the property decides to sell the property, then the results of the sampling could be viewed as a defect that the owner is legally obligated to disclose.

As bad as the effects on market value can be for residential property, commercial property may be much more detrimentally affected by the results of biological sampling. The value of commercial real estate is estimated somewhat different than residential real estate since it is determined primarily by the income the property generates. Appraised values of commercial property are based upon the “net operating income” that the property generates. Biological sampling in commercial properties can be precipitated as result of health complaints from employees of tenants in the buildings. When test results indicate the presence of elevated mold levels, word can spread rapidly amongst employees which can result in pressure on employers to relocate to another location. This can create a loss of income due to vacancy. The investigator should not underestimate the consequences of a few carelessly made comments to parties other than their client.

The responsibility to disclose of defects to potential tenants is similar to the responsibility to report defects to purchasers.

Therefore stigmatization of a commercial property can result in lost income. Given the fact that valuation of commercial property is based upon income, the loss of income resulting from sampling can have a dramatic effect upon market value. The estimation of “net operating income” used in commercial property valuation takes into account the potential income generated by a building less expenses or losses due to vacancy, cost of operation, taxes, etc. The loss of rent due to vacancy, reduced demand, remediation, and other consequences of biological sampling can affect commercial property values substantially. If remediation is triggered in commercial buildings, the costs can be very significant. This is due to the large typical size of commercial buildings and the loss of rent during remediation that will be absorbed by the owner.

Another instance where sampling reports can snowball into something really big is the case of multifamily properties such as condominiums, cooperatives, or apartment buildings. In these cases, you may be hired to evaluate a single unit. The sampling results from a single unit can generate concern throughout the building or complex. In condominium buildings, the results of mold testing can create a conflict between the unit owner and the condominium association. These conflicts can become somewhat public knowledge within the complex. Once again, when a real estate agent is informed of the defect in one unit, this can result in a sense of responsibility on the part of that person to disclose this perceived defect to prospects for other units. This is precipitated by the belief that the whole building is affected. This can affect marketability, and resultant property values, for all units in the building.

In my area, there is a luxury condominium building which is only a few years old that has obtained the stigma of being a “mold building.” The building did have some moisture issues and the engineering firm involved with investigating the problem brought me in as a biological consultant. An abbreviated air sampling investigation had been previously performed by another environmental firm. One unit did have fairly elevated levels of spores from the Aspergillus/Penicillium group. A few other units had detectable levels of fungal spores that were slightly elevated with respect to controls (exterior air samples). The results were reported in a manner clearly stated to avoid claiming expertise in medical assessment or mycology. Specifically, a reference was made to the Aspergillus/Penicillium group as “species of concern.” While not specifically concluding that there was a health hazard, the use of the terminology “species of concern” was interpreted by building occupants as a realistic health hazard (actually, no species were ever identified in the lab report, only genus level or broader as is typical with most lab reports). Of course, anyone who has studied mycology knows that the combined species in these two genera comprise hundreds of species, and these two genera are not really biochemically or genetically related (as is the case between most genera of the Deuteromycetes). They are grouped together because of the small size of their spores (2–3 µm), which makes them difficult to distinguish from each other at the 600× typically used by microscopists at the labs. Additionally, this condominium building is an EIFS structure. EIFS structures have been implicated in many moisture intrusion cases. This has lead to further speculation in this building and reinforced the fear generated by the sampling results.

As for stigma and reputation, this building has clearly been affected. As an appraiser, I have received appraisal assignments in this building. Real estate agents I have contacted for access have nearly always disclosed the previous mold conditions and substantial remediation efforts that have occurred. Additionally, when I have given presentations or taught classes about mold for real estate agents, this building always gets mentioned by attendees as a local “mold case.” The mold testing performed by the environmental firm clearly stated that the sampling they performed was abbreviated and not comprehensive.

The abbreviated nature of their investigation was due to budgetary constraints. The sampling protocols employed, which amounted to just a few samples for a building with hundreds of units, was in no way appropriate to make building wide conclusions.

Nonetheless, the entire building has a negative reputation as a result. The effects of the sampling were so damaging that one occupant, a cancer patient, was convinced that the cancer was a result of significant mold exposure even though little if any medical research data exists to support this claim.

If there is one thing that I would like to stress from the examples given above, is the concept of responsibility. IAQ reports do not disappear after they are forwarded to the client. The IAQ investigator should understand all the downstream effects that can result from biological sampling in buildings. The impact on real estate values should be of great concern to IAQ professionals since the effects have significant impact and are readily apparent and quantifiable. As we all know, fungal spores are ubiquitous and a normal and necessary component of the ecosystem. A single large portabella mushroom can liberate millions of spores into one’s kitchen! The only place where they will not show up in sampling reports are cleanrooms and other facilities where systems are employed to deliberately filter them out. This means that lab reports will nearly always reveal their presence. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the IAQ investigator to report conclusions from the lab data that are objective and unbiased and do not generate unnecessary fear. In real estate, failure to observe these principals may do significant economic harm to the building owners and, like a boomerang, may come back to result in legal action and economic harm to the investigator. This is especially true if a plaintiff’s attorney hires and expert which determines that conclusions reported from the lab results are inaccurate, flawed, or otherwise created unnecessary economic loss.

Jeff Deuitch is a microbiologist and mycologist with significant background in affiliated scientific disciplines as well as real estate and construction services. He is owner of Int’l Microbiology & Mold Group, an IAQ company performing biological assessment, building inspections and thermal IR imaging. He is also owner of Manatee Appraisal & Valuation Services, which provides construction cost estimating and real estate valuation services. Both companies are located in Palmetto, Fla. Deuitch can be reached by e-mail at moldgroup@aol.com or by phone at (800) 261-8132.
  

Jan Stensland, who spoke on IAQ in healthcare facilities, is in planning and design for national facilities at Kaiser Permanente, where her responsibilities include “greening” national building materials contracts and standards and researching new sustainable materials and technologies. She made the comment that antimicrobial use in their facilities was limited, so as to not create “super bugs,” resistant to the most aggressive antimicrobial therapies. I was intrigued.

Having taken good notes during the Greenbuild session, I was equipped with some good starting point resources such as the Green Guide for Healthcare, Healthcare Without Harm, and the Healthy Building Network.

There is a vast amount of research out there on the mutation and, thus, resistance of antimicrobial agents, (antibacterials, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics), which is an extremely important topic in the healthcare field. Just do a Google search on “antimicrobial use in healthcare facilities,” and you’ll see what I mean – 364,000 references! While the majority of the references focus on misuse and overuse of antibiotics; antimicrobials used for disinfecting, sterilization, etc., get plenty of attention as well.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 2 million patients in the United States acquire an infection in the hospital every year. Therefore, it is extremely important for healthcare facilities to use the correct products for the correct application.

The most commonly used antimicrobial products are sterilants, disinfectants, and sanitizers. According to the CDC’s “Guidelines for the Prevention of Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis B Virus to Healthcare and Public-Safety Workers”: High-level disinfection can be expected to destroy all microorganisms, with the exception of high numbers of bacterial spores. Intermediate-level disinfection inactivates Mycobacterium tuberculosis, vegetative bacteria, most viruses and most fungi, but it does not necessarily kill bacterial spores. Low-level disinfection can kill most bacteria, some viruses, and some fungi, but it cannot be relied on to kill resistant microorganisms such as tubercle bacilli or bacterial spores.
Many of the “disinfectants” used in the healthcare setting are known themselves to cause adverse health effects.

Gluteraldehyde, for example, was used heavily as a disinfectant in hospitals. Many hospitals and healthcare facilities in this country are now “aldehyde-free,” and much of the research on negative health effects from its heavy use has occurred with nurses, who worked closely with the disinfectants.

Infection control can be very cost-effective; thus, prevention is a necessity in healthcare facilities. It is estimated that approximately one-third of nosocomial infections are preventable.

According to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, the effectiveness of any “disinfectant” used, depends on many factors such as:

• What is the type of contaminating microorganism? Every disinfectant has unique antimicrobial attributes, and special attention should always be paid to both the product label and manufacturer safety data sheet, or MSDS.

• What is the degree of contamination? This helps to determine both the quality of disinfectant required, and the appropriate amount of time for exposure.

• What is the chemical nature of the disinfectant?

• What is the surface the disinfectant will be applied to? High-protein-based materials may absorb and neutralize some chemical disinfectants.

• What is the correct concentration and quantity of the disinfectant? It is important to choose the right product that is best suited for each unique situation.

• What is the correct amount of contact time and the proper application temperature? The sufficient time and appropriate temperature must be taken into effect for action of the disinfectant. The degree of contamination and organic matter load should also be considered.

• Do you need to consider residual activity and effects on fabric and metal in specific situations?

• Is there a known toxicity to the environment and has the relative safety to people that may be exposed been properly questioned and addressed?

• Is it cost-effective?
Once those questions have been answered, we delve into some of the better known and popular types of disinfectants used not only in healthcare settings but in our homes and commercial buildings as well.

The main low-level disinfectants used in the healthcare industry are phenolic disinfectants and quaternary ammonium compounds.

Phenol is a common ingredient in scrub soaps, mouthwash, common household cleaners and “surface” disinfectants. Phenolic disinfectants are said to be effective against bacteria (especially gram-positive bacteria) and enveloped viruses. They are not effective against nonenveloped viruses and spores, and caution should be taken into account when using these products around children and infants for potential toxicity issues.

Quaternary ammonium compounds are widely used as disinfectants. The quaternaries in certain instances may be good cleaning agents, but high water hardness and materials such as cotton and gauze pads may make them less microbiocidal because these materials absorb the active ingredients. Gram-negative bacteria have also been found to survive or grow in these preparations. They are also not always effective against non-enveloped viruses, fungi and bacterial spores.

“Intermediate-level disinfectants” include alcohols, hypochlorites, and iodine and iodophor disinfectants.
Alcohols are most commonly used topical antiseptics and to disinfect the surface of medical equipment. They require time to work and may not penetrate organic material. Alcohol is a known irritant and is very drying to skin. Alcohols are not effective against bacterial spores and have limited effectiveness against nonenveloped viruses.

Hypochlorites are probably the most widely used of the chlorine disinfectants and are available in either a liquid (e.g., sodium hypochlorite) or solid (e.g., calcium hypochlorite, sodium dichloroisocyanurate) form. The most common chlorine products in are aqueous solutions of 4 to 6 percent sodium hypochlorite, which are readily available and known as “household bleach.”

Sodium hypochlorite is known to lose its strength over time due to evaporation of chlorine and therefore should be stored at a temperature below 120 degrees Fahrenheit and used in a relatively short amount of time. Sodium hypochlorite is also known to corrode metals and damage the skin. It can also release toxic chlorine gas when mixed with ammonia or acid. In order to obtain maximum effectiveness with chlorine based disinfectants, they must remain in contact with surfaces for several minutes.

Iodine and iodophors are well-known and established chemical disinfectants. These compounds have been incorporated in time-release formulations and in soaps (surgical scrubs). Simple iodine tinctures (dissolved in alcohol) have limited cleaning ability. These compounds are bactericidal, sporicidal, virucidal and fungicidal but require a prolonged contact time. The disinfective ability of iodine, like chlorine, is neutralized in the presence of organic material and hence frequent applications are needed for thorough disinfection. Iodine tinctures can be very irritating to tissues, can stain fabric and be corrosive.
“High-level disinfectants” would include: hydrogen peroxide, some of the “alderhydes,” and peracetic acid.

Peroxides such as hydrogen peroxide are often used as antiseptics to clean wounds. The activity of peroxides is greatest against anaerobic bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide may be damaging to tissues at high concentrations is in some cases. Stabilized hydrogen peroxides may be used to disinfect environmental surfaces. There is a wealth of information on the properties, germicidal effectiveness, and potential uses for stabilized hydrogen peroxide in the hospital setting. Stabilized hydrogen peroxides are effective against a broad range of pathogens including both enveloped and nonenveloped viruses, vegetative bacteria, fungi and bacterial spores. It has been shown to sterilize in 30 minutes and provide high-level disinfection in 5 minutes.

The “aldehydes” (gluteraldehyde, formaldehyde, Ortho-phthalaldehyde) are used less often now than in the past, mainly due to the current research on their adverse health effects and risks and the fact that formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. These specific disinfectants will very soon be a thing of the past, in my opinion, with the healthcare industry embracing the concept of “healthy environments.”

Peracetic, or peroxyacetic, acid is characterized by a very rapid action against all microorganisms. It leaves no residue, remains effective in the presence of organic matter, and is shown to be sporicidal even at low temperatures. Peracetic acid can corrode copper, brass, bronze, plain steel and galvanized iron in certain situations. Its main use is in automated machines to chemically sterilize medical, surgical, and dental instruments (e.g., endoscopes, arthroscopes).

In doing the research for this article, I came upon the importance of hand-washing and good hygiene in almost every reference. There is a definite debate among the professionals as to whether an antimicrobial soap is sufficient or if good, old soap and water does the trick. It is proven that organisms mutate and develop resistance to certain antibiotics, and one highly debated yet unproven theory suggests that disinfectants and other antimicrobials cause organisms to mutate. These products often times have no way of differentiating between the “good” and the “bad” bacteria, which is a vital point when contemplating our health and well-being.

In applying this knowledge to the IAQ/IEQ arena, I would ask that you consider the questions stated above when considering the use of antimicrobials in your protocols. It is imperative that all projects be viewed as “unique,” keeping in mind all of the application questions, as well as the question of who the occupants are, and what are the main risks involved in introducing the particular product into their environment. Ask yourself if it is truly necessary. Do the pros outweigh the cons? Just as we know better now to not use some of the nasty aldehydes, will we be seeing negative health effects from some of the products being introduced into homes and buildings 10 or 20 years from now? Probably.

Any time you introduce any chemical into a living or work space it should be thought about very seriously. Of course there will always be certain situations where the application of such products is indeed not only necessary, but critical. Make sure that as IAQ/IEQ professionals you are asking the right questions, to find the right product, to find the right solution, one that is healthy for everyone involved.

Stacey Champion is the owner of Champion Indoor Environmental Services, located in Northern Arizona. The company performs IAQ/IEQ assessments, consults with individuals, businesses and builders on creating healthier indoor environments, and conducts educational speaking engagements and seminars on IAQ/IEQ issues. Champion can be reached by e-mail at sc@championindoors.com or by phone at (928) 649-1847.