| Nearly
7 million Americans, including more than 2
million school age children, suffer from food allergies.
Severe food allergy reactions account for an estimated 30,000
emergency room visits, 2,000 hospitalizations and 200
deaths each year, according to Food Allergy and
Anaphylaxis Network, or FAAN."
The Harvard Medical School - InteliHealth,
Parents Learn To Cope With Serious Food Allergies May 23, 2002 |
| I
once read of a girl who died from eating chili in a restaurant.
It
was later discovered that the girl had a severe allergy to peanuts and
the
restaurant used peanut butter, their "secret ingredient," as a
thickening
agent in their recipe. |
Who would have
thought that peanut butter could be a hidden
killer.
And like peanut butter mold may be harmless to the overwhelming vast
majority
of people but a few strains of mold are now being considered as
possibly
being "toxic". It was explained to me by Gary Jones
(Director/Indoor
Air Lead Branch Division of Community Environmental Protection, State
of
Alabama Department of Public Health) that a few strains are being
viewed
as the culprits and in combination with a person's individual reaction
to
a particular mold a health problem may occur. A lot of what ifs
and
unproved allegations and great material for all sorts of litigation.
But,
I prefaced this discussion with peanut butter just to point out that
what
seems entirely harmless to some may in fact be of great concern to
others.
Just how great a concern - the jury is still out!
|
|
Toxic Mold in the NEWS
Erin
Brockovich Crusades Against Mold
San Francisco Chronicle Mar 8, 2001
Ed
McMahon sues over toxic mold in L.A. home
CNN.com April 10, 2002
|
Sites
with meaningful information on toxic mold
|