Toxic Intruder
Black Mold Panic Has Families Fleeing Their Homes
ABCNEWS.com
December 30, 2002
Nov. 29 — Believe it or not, families around the
country are fleeing their homes — or having them destroyed — because of an
insidious intruder they say is making them sick.
The invader? Black mold. Its technical name is Stachybotrys chartarum — stachy
for short — and it's got a lot of people panicked.
In Oregon, the O'Hara family asked their local fire department to burn their
$450,000 home to the ground after black mold was found inside. "It's basically
just a house that poisoned my family," Mark O'Hara said.
In Hawaii, a $95 million Hilton Hotel tower has been closed since July because
black mold was found in some of the rooms.
In a July 2001 story Time magazine said toxic mold is spreading "like some sort
of biblical plague." The New York Daily News called it "killer mold."
Whatever you call it, across the country, black mold is causing people to
abandon buildings, close schools and leave beautiful homes sitting vacant.
In Seabrook, Texas, the Hammond family lived in tents in their backyard for
almost nine months, waiting for their insurance company to settle their claim
and clean up black mold they say they discovered in their home.
Beverly and Mike Hammond say a bathroom leak caused the black mold to grow. The
Hammonds lived for months with a "potty tent" that served as an outhouse. "As
soon as I saw the mold, then we, you know, hightailed it for the tent," Beverly
Hammond said.
They say the mold made them sick, causing fatigue and joint pain, and will only
go in their house with a respirator.
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