Craig Whittaker founded Environmental Solutions Group in 2002 to provide impartial evaluation of properties relative to environmental health. A doctoral member of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, he is frequently asked to speak about toxins in the home and has conducted hundreds of assessments in a wide variety of building types.
Our environmental investigators are in hundreds of residences and commercial buildings every year. Years ago, the most common question we were asked was, “Do I have black mold?” Over time, the issue of black mold has calmed down some, however, a new question has entered the minds of our clients: “Can mold cause cancer?”
The short answer is yes. Researchers have known for decades that the aflatoxin present in some species of mold can cause liver cancer when ingested on food. As a result, many crops are sprayed with fungicides to help reduce fungal growth. In this country, the FDA regulates the level of mold in grains such as corn.
This is not necessarily the answer our client is looking for. They want to know if having mold in their home or office could make someone they care about develop cancer. As most people are not going to eat a helping of moldy food, what they are really concerned about is being exposed through the air.
While research is ongoing about the role of mycotoxins from mold and their relation to human illness, the medical community has established that exposure to damp buildings and/or mold causes systemic inflammation in some people due to repeated activation of immune cells. Dr. Claudia Miller, M.D., and professor at the University of Texas School of Medicine, has even introduced a term to describe what occurs: TILT, for “toxicant induced loss of tolerance”. The phrase ‘loss of tolerance’ is intended to avoid confusion with ‘sensitivity’ or ‘sensitization’, terms used by allergists to describe well-defined immune responses. Loss of tolerance is described as a loss of natural tolerance to low levels of environmental chemicals from contaminants including mold.
To make the inflammation and cancer connection, one only needs to consult the medical literature. One example is found in Dr. Harold Dvorak’s article, “Tumors: Wounds That Do Not Heal”, published in 1986 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dvorak, a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, was one of the first modern physicians to present compelling evidence linking chronic inflammation to the manufacture of cancerous growths. Twenty years after Dvorak’s article was published, the National Cancer Institute reported that cancer cells need to produce inflammation in order to create the blood supply vital to their growth. If inflammation already exists, the cancer cells will use the chemicals produced by the inflammation to spread and reproduce.
The feeling of helplessness that often grips the occupants of a moldy property can provide additional assistance to cancer cells. In his bestselling book, Anticancer, a New Way of Life, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber addresses helplessness and its effect on cancerous tumor when he states, “It is now known that feelings of helplessness can cause the release of hormones that activate the body’s emergency systems – such as the inflammatory response – which can facilitate the growth and spread of tumors.”
It makes sense to follow the EPA’s suggestion and eliminate mold growth from inside a building, especially if you have a concern about cancer.
ESG IAQ 