Each month we publish a newsletter titled IAQ Website of the Month. The excerpt below was originally published in the October 2010 newsletter.
I recently had a client ask, “Are these levels of mold that you found causing my symptoms?” It may seem like an innocuous question, but it proves to be quite tricky to answer. It puts you in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. Let me explain.
If you do provide an answer, either affirmative or negative, you are taking on the role of a licensed health care provider.
If you don’t provide any answer, you may be leaving that person stranded with a family doctor that has no clue how to interpret mold data.
May I suggest some middle ground? Provide general information on the health effects of mold. For this, you only want the most trusted resources available. There is too much information in the internet that tends to one of two extremes.
This month’s featured websites are the two most reliable resources to reference when dealing with health effects:
- WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Dampness and Mould (2009)
- IOM Damp Indoor Spaces and Health (2004)
The first document is from the World Health Organization and the second from the Institute of Medicine, which is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. You can read the documents online, but I recommend purchasing the bound books to add to your library.
These two documents are by no means perfect. They do, however, provide authoritative information on the whole “soup” of problems that happen with dampness.
To visit this month’s featured websites, click the two links below:
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