A Growing Problem

Fresno Woman Believes mold in her apartment is the cause of illness in her and her family

By Joshua D Scoggin

Leandra Preston’s ceiling was sagging.

It was the first sign something might be wrong at 5569 North Tenth in apartment 105—just across the street from Bulldog Stadium.

There was a leak in the roof. It arrived with a storm in December, 2001. The leak ate its way through the building materials and began to seep through the ceiling. It was squishy. There was mold growing.

Preston didn’t notice the seriousness of the leak until eight months later, when she noticed the bed-sized discoloration above her posturepedic.

Who looks at their ceiling?

Preston did when her cold and flu symptoms persisted for an unusually long period of time. Then Preston’s allergy to mold and antibiotics set off an alarm.

“ I’m sick. I don’t know why I’m sick,” Preston said. “I’m constantly sick. It’s not going away. I’ve been sick for three months, and then that’s when I started realizing ‘wait, I have mold growing on my ceiling.’”

Preston said she believes the mold is toxic and that it instigated her illness.

Although mold has always been in our atmosphere, concerns over toxic mold and its health effects have recently received a lot more attention. Toxic mold litigation is increasing. Schools and offices are being shut down at the first sight of mold.

Experts are divided as to just how dangerous the mold can be. Opinions on the health effects of mold range from mild allergic reaction to death.

But no one is taking any chances. The consensus is mold should be removed with care and precision.

Preston first became concerned about the removal of her mold problem in July 2002. She said she was sick from July through October, when she said the ceiling’s moldy drywall was removed and replaced by the Arbor Place apartments maintenance staff.

Tom Domeno, property owner of Arbor Place, would neither confirm nor deny whether the work was done in Preston’s apartment. He said there may have been a leak but there is no way for him to verify if the leak was addressed or if drywall was removed.

“ We don’t have any record of leaks in her apartment,” Domeno said.

Lisa Kao, the Fresno State campus environmental quality manager with the office of environmental health and safety, said when mold-damaged drywall is removed, it is important to make sure the mold spores do not spread to the rest of the building. Kao said that could be done by closing off all ventilation outlets and filtering the air in the room.

Kao also stressed the importance of leaving mold remediation to a professional company specializing in removing mold.

Preston said those precautions were not taken when the drywall was replaced in her apartment.

Domeno said when drywall is removed by the Arbor Place staff, the work is done up to industry standards.

“ We perform according to the California Apartment Association,” Domeno said.

There are no federal, state or local regulations governing the specific processes of mold removal by property owners.

But Preston said when the drywall was removed, it allowed for mold spores to become airborne, creating a hot box of mold particles in her apartment and allowing it to grow in other places besides the ceiling.

“ When they took out that piece, that was when everything else started happening,” Preston said.

During October and November 2002, Preston said she began to experience respiratory problems such as congestion, coughing and sinus infections. And for the first time since moving into the apartment complex, her children began to show signs of sickness.

Six-year-old Keanu battles nosebleeds—on a daily basis, according to Preston. A rash can be found on the rosy cheeks and thighs of 2-year-old Olivia. And 5-year-old Aiden developed a silver dollar-sized bald spot on the back of his head, less than a month after the drywall was removed.

In February, Preston complained of disorientation and memory loss and decided to withhold her rent.

But the debate still remains as to whether mold can trigger little more than an allergic reaction to those hypersensitive to its toxins or if it can in fact instigate the long-term health effects Preston has alleged.

“ You’ll find people that make convincing arguments on both sides,” Kao said.

The debate centers on the potency of chemicals called mycotoxins, which are produced by different types of mold, and their ability to incite long-term health problems.

Christopher J. Tennant, Ph.D., a professor in the health science department, has appeared as a witness in mold litigation cases and said there is a lot of misinformation being circulated about “toxic mold,” adding to the recent scare.

“ In the past if you had a problem with say mold or maybe something else, you went to the library, you got the books and the journals and you did some research,” Tennant said. “So people got good information.”

Now it’s a little different.

“ They can’t be bothered going to those resources,” Tennant said. “And so where do they go? They go on the Internet. So, it’s become an age of misinformation because there is no quality assurance in what people are reading.”

And it was on the Internet where Preston did most of her research. It is on the Internet where there are sites that claim mold causes birth defects, hair loss and even death.

Tennant said he has reviewed hundreds of papers concerning mold and human health, and he has come to a conclusion.

“ The research basically states that respiratory problems, such as allergy and asthma, can be aggravated with high levels of mold, and we’ve known that for a long, long time,” Tennant said.

“ There is no relation between mycotoxin exposure in buildings and human disease. I’ve looked, and there isn’t one.”

Tennant said those who experience allergies can take their Claritin and should be fine.

But Martha Martinez, another Arbor Place resident with mold in her apartment, said her 8-year-old son “lives on Claritin.”

Martinez, a Fresno State student earning her teaching credential, said her son is congested every night, and said she believes it’s due to the mold in her apartment.

Tennant said he doesn’t believe an 8-year-old should be forced to continually take allergy medication when the allergy is caused by the indoor environment.

Mold removal efforts should be complete, according to Tennant, who said the removal process is close to that of asbestos removal.

It seems, even though there is no concrete scientific evidence pointing toward a relationship between mold and long-term health risks—there are no regulations even regarding liability for that matter—mold worries still cause concern around the valley.

Buchanan High in Clovis was closed for 13 days in September 2000 before mold found there was determined to pose no health hazard to students and faculty.

A staff lounge in Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia was closed in February 2001, until a hazardous waste removal company could eliminate the mold found there.

And courtrooms in the Tulare County Courthouse in Visalia were closed in April 2002 for the same reason. Litigation is still pending in the case.

“ If there isn’t scientific evidence, you can’t prove your case in court,” Tennant said.

Though it seems mold is treated like a serious issue, Preston said she has gotten little help from any source with her problem.

“ Every door that I go to, to try and get help gets slammed in my face,” Preston said.

One of those doors belongs to the City of Fresno Code Enforcement Division.

Randy Calvert, Code Enforcement inspector, sent a notice of violation to Domeno, but when Preston refused to allow the Arbor Place maintenance staff back into her apartment, instead wishing for a qualified professional remediation company, the City of Fresno’s authority in the situation ceased to exist.

“ There are no standards,” Calvert said. “We’re not qualified to determine what is harmful. That’s not what we do.”

So Preston is on her own for now.

“ The case is closed,” Calvert said.

Soon, Preston said she hopes to make the exact same statement. She settled the dispute over the rent with the Arbor Place apartments. She moved her family into a house in New Jersey and out of apartment 105, but she worries about the other tenants that won’t be moving out, some of which she said were afraid to publicly express problems they believe might be caused by mold for fear of being evicted with no place to go.

“ I’m not so concerned with myself and my family because we are getting ready to move,” Preston said. “And now I’m finding out that other people are sick too.”