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          Mould causing illnesses
          Mould causing illnesses
          By Bob Mitchell
          Can mould in walls cause problems for children?
          PEEL/HALTON BUREAU CHIEF
          She had dark circles under her eyes, hard white nodules on her eyelids 
          and she hacked and gasped for breath.
          Jane Laughlin didn't recognize her daughter Taylor.
            Her state of health was hideous. She had no energy,'' Laughlin says. 
            She was irritable. She looked like she needed to be put to bed for 
          six months.''
          Today, the Oakville 10-year-old is healthy, showing no signs of her 
          illness last winter, when she was taking classes in a portable at 
          Pilgrim Woods Public School.
          That portable was among 157 system because of stachybotrys stachybotrys 
          atra. The blackmould lurked beneath the portable's ceiling tiles and 
          behind walls adorned with drawings of flowers and stick people.
          Some medical officials, environmental engineers and building scientists 
          have linked mould exposure to everything from migraines, nosema, fatigue,
           rashes and diarrhea. A new U.S. study even says exposure may cause 
          learning difficulties in some children.
          But there is no definitive answer.
            There is no conclusive evidence to date suggesting a cause-and-effect 
          relationship between airborne exposure to stachybotrys atra and illness 
          in school-age children or adults,'' says Dr. Barbara Kawa, Peel's 
          medical officer of health.
          But engineers and scientists studying mould say enough evidence exists 
          to say enough evidence exists to suggest students in some of Ontario'
          s 10,000 portable classrooms are breathing the potentially harmful 
          toxins carried by mould spores.
          CAPTIONS:
          BETTER NOW: 
          Jane Laughlin says her 10-year-old daughter Taylor's health was 
           hideous' last year when she was taking classes in mouldy 
          portable. 
          PETER POWER/TORONTO STAR 
          Copyright (c) 1998 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved.
          Bob Mitchell, Mould causing illnesses. , The Toronto Star, 10-31-1998. 
          Copyright © 1998 Infonautics Corporation. All rights reserved. - Terms and Conditions
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