Talk:Mold health issues

message: There is a great deal of confusion arising from a shorthand notion that spores are the vectors of mycotoxins. Spores are not the only carriers of mycotoxins. But a lot of people refer to spores since it is easier to do so; easier to explain. 
Furthermore, some people do develop allergic reactions to spores. Perhaps this should be pointed out. Note that the mycotoxins are the real killers, so it is important to differentiate between these and spores.
So the statement:"The numerous spores released by mold do not themselves cause significant harm in humans" is correct. Some people can develop first level sneezing and allergic reactions.
A previous statement, now edited out, said: "Some molds are particularly serious in this respect, because their spores are important causes of allergies (they are allergens); also, the spores of some fungi like Stachybotrys release potent toxins into the lungs when inhaled; Stachybotrys spores can cause very severe symptoms and lung lesions in children." It is the mycotoxins, not the spores.
There are thousands of species of molds, most of them harmless. Only about 14 species, many cultured unwittingly in poorly ventilated buildings after the 1970s when energy efficiency concerns led to airtight residential construction. This construction upgrade did not generally make provision for mechanical ventilation such as air to air heat exchanger ventilation which prevents too much loss of heat while bringing in fresh air and exhausting stale air. Air conditioning helps the situation by lowering the humidity levels in a home, but does not actively exchange and clear out the air in the home. Mold loves still, humid air. Daily living generates a lot of moisture from cooking, showering, laundry and dish-washing. Over time mold species that thrive in indoor conditions free from the usual outdoor stresses of UV, rain, wind, etc. began to have enough extra energy to evolve toxic coatings for their spores, to provide protection for them from being consumed by microbes, insects etc. at the near-microscopic level. Mold spores are about one micron in diameter. Only HEPA filters are fine enough to screen them out. Most mold remediation focuses on repairing water damaged construction materials after a leak or flood has occurred. This is only the beginning, however, if one needs to remove toxic mold spores from a living space. Toxic spores build up over time and accumulate in a building, or a car. They are tiny and hard. They ride on dust motes. Most forms of cleaning, even HEPA vacuuming will not remove them all.
They especially accumulate in textured materials such as paper and textiles. Books, rugs and upholstery are the worst offenders. Clothing, bedding, and towels can be machine washed and dried, so they can be kept free of spores. There is an effective method to remove spores from a living space using fans. The spores cannot resist wind. Even a home which has never had a leak or any living mold growing in it can be full of tracked-in toxic mold spores because most homes and many businesses are full of them. The best way to remediate toxic mold spores in a home is to remove anything with texture from one room at a time and place an outdoor air intake fan from a clean dry outdoor area, and an outflow air fan, while placing agitating fans around the room to stir up the air and blow dust off all surfaces so it can be blown outdoors. After 4 days and nights of this blowing the room with be clear of dust and spores. Be sure not to bring contaminated rugs, books, or upholstery back into the room. It is the mycotoxins coating the spores, not the spores themselves, and not the mold plant you can see. These mycotoxins are neurotoxic and in some people stimulate a whole body inflammation response resulting in chronic fatigue. 2602:306:80A3:A180:95F8:3FD3:B7:5441 (talk) 06:09, 29 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contradiction about allergies? 

message: Could be more about this. Are carcinogenic, perhaps very carcinogenic. According to an article written by a medical professor in the respectable online magazine Spiked - do not have exact reference to hand - food items with moldy parts will also have mold toxins in its apparantly healthy part, so cutting the moldy bit off does not work, the whole thing should be discarded. Dangerous carcinogenic peanut molds are well known, but there are may others as well. On the other hand, some molds may be safe, such as I presume those used in blue cheese. 
And the article is very US-centric. So many Americans cannot belive that there is a world beyond the US. 78.147.28.51 (talk) 11:22, 6 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mold toxins in food 

message: Changed the sentence "Certain molds excrete toxic compounds called mycotoxins, usually only under specific environmental conditions.” to “Molds excrete toxic compounds called mycotoxins, secondary metabolites produced by fungi under certain environmental conditions. These environmental conditions affect the production of mycotoxins at the transcription level. Temperature, water activity and pH, strongly influence mycotoxin biosynthesis by increasing the level of transcription within the fungal spore. It has also been found that low levels of fungicides can boost mycotoxin synthesis.”This is an important issue because mycotoxins can be harmful to human health if they are present in large enough quantities. The sentence that was changed was vague and did not explain which factors were important for the biosynthesis of mycotoxins.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mgrant3418 (talk • contribs) 02:20, 30 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Changes made

message: :Arthur Conan Doyle believed that harmful molds existed because of the foods or were deliberately placed by the ancient Pharaohs to protect their tombs from robbers as an explanation to the Curse of the pharaohs stories after the mysterious deaths following the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun back in 1922, which was recently proved to be true.
This section makes no sense the way it is written, nor is it sourced in any way. Is it trying to say molds were created by ancient pharaohs? Molds were deliberately allowed to form in tombs?173.26.33.153 (talk)
:Doyle said all kinds of crazy things about the pharaohs.  There's some coverage in Curse of the pharaohs but I don't think it belongs here.  Removed.  Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 03:20, 2 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Arthur Conan Doyle 

message: This unsourced, unqualified statement, with no dosage information attached, has no place in a medically related article.
The symptoms of penicillin over-dose include "confusion, behavior changes, a severe skin rash, urinating less than usual, or seizure (black-out or convulsions)". 219.89.34.238 (talk) 21:11, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  "some are even beneficial eg penicillin" 

message: http://www.ei-resource.org/expert-columns/dr.-lisa-nagys-column/neurological-and-immunological-problems-associated-with-mold-and-mycotoxin-exposure/  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ocdnctx (talk • contribs) 23:39, 29 September 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Rather than scientific journal or anything, it appears to be a site just for spreading / increasing people's consciousness of environmental illness.  This doesn't seem to be peer reviewed or grounded in the rest of scientific literature.  Is there a source that is?  98.119.149.245 (talk) 15:34, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text:  Does not meet the expectations of a reputable source for an article on a biomedical topic. Medmyco (talk) 16:52, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

text: This is a problematic statement. The WHO's 2009 statement and subsequent studies on immune activation in susceptible individuals suggest such exposures DO occur in normal exposure scenarios. However, if we're strictly talking about a toxicity response in non-susceptible individuals, this might be true. But please note the references are an old 2003 review and the CDC, whose current stance is at odds with much of the past 15 years of studies. DizzilyDizzily (talk) 11:26, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  neurotoxic effects 

message: Weinhold B.
A spreading concern: inhalational health effects of mold.
Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Jun;115(6):A300-5.
Free PMC Article  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ocdnctx (talk • contribs) 18:21, 1 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  review of inhalational health effects of mold    Free PMC Article {{PMC|1892134}} 

message: In section Food, last para, the sentence: This suggests that since mycotoxins are difficult to digest by human microbes due to better degradation by rumen microbes as compared to mono-gastric animals like humans seems to lack a certain something or other so I moved the sentence to this talk point.  I cannot find an action following from the conditional "since".  It appears that the editor had a thought but failed to think it through.  It also looks like the editor wanted to be concise: splitting the statement over two sentences would be syntactically and grammatically better.  But the para works quite well without this sentence, so we may as well keep it out.  124.148.126.68 (talk) 14:18, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Poor use of "since" 

message: Prior content in this  duplicated one or more previously published sources.  Copied or closely paraphrased material has been rewritten or removed and must not be restored, unless it is duly released under a compatible license. (For more information, please see "using copyrighted works from others" if you are not the copyright holder of this material, or "donating copyrighted materials" if you are.)
For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or published material; such additions will be deleted. Contributors may use copyrighted publications as a source of information, and, if allowed under fair use, may copy sentences and phrases, provided they are included in quotation marks and referenced properly. The material may also be rewritten, providing it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Therefore, such paraphrased portions must provide their source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with these policies. Thank you.  Diannaa (talk) 17:00, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copyright problem removed 

message: This article currently claims that mold increases the risk of sickle cell anemia in children. That is obviously wrong; sickle-cell is a recessive genetic disease, and therefore it is obviously not caused by mold! 63.231.141.132 (talk) 06:06, 28 December 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Good catch. The source discusses adverse outcomes for chronic conditions, and does not imply that sickle-cell disease is caused by mold. (If it did imply that, it almost certainly wouldn't be a WP:RS). It was confusingly explained in the article, and I don't think it's particularly helpful to list all of the conditions mentioned by the study, especially since the study doesn't really focus on mold in particular. I have removed that line completely. Grayfell (talk) 06:12, 29 December 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sickle cell disease 

message: This Daily Beast article claims that much of the popular concern surrounding “toxic mold” is actually overblown, that mold toxicity is very rare, and that certain people (such as a Dr. Richie Shoemaker) have been amplifying claims about toxic mold and its effects in order to turn a profit on “cures”. I think the article should include this contrary perspective too. 63.231.141.132 (talk) 06:14, 28 December 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mold concern overblown? 

message: This article is quite misleading and credulous of the pseudoscientific concerns about "toxic mold" in buildings. For example, it has a lengthy litigation section that uses legal sources, not scientific ones. However, there are legitimate concerns about asthma and allergies caused by mold, as well as food contamination by Aflatoxins. I support making this article entirely science-based and moving info about the pseudoscience to its own page. ScienceFlyer (talk) 20:13, 18 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article improvements needed 

message: — Assignment last updated by UCIHGrad18 (talk) 19:55, 24 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Industrial Hygiene and Ergonomics- Graduate Student Projects