Dear Subscribers,

India was a mold nightmare, but worse than the endless comments about how "normal" it is to have mold in properties, awareness of the danger was almost non-existent. In short, the impression we had was that people were not even trying to remove the mold. We failed to find anyone who knew of any mold abatement companies and even after explaining the risks, most people did next to nothing to reduce their exposure. However, when engaged in thoughtful discussion, many people explained that the mold was at least in part due to construction methods, and they tended to attribute the mold to plastering. Since mold does not grow in concrete, this suggested that the mix used contained organic matter. I have been interested in these issues because I lived in an adobe house for a while in New Mexico but there was so little humidity that mold was not a problem. Likewise, straw bale construction was realistic for the high desert and many buildings were hundreds of years old and still in tact despite the simple building methods. Alas, this would not be the case in most of India much less the Pacific Northwest where I now live.

So, the first rule in mold reduction is to eliminate as much moisture as possible. If there is a known source of water intrusion, it should be addressed. Sometimes, there is something relatively simple like a drippy faucet or leaking pipe. Often, the problem is condensation, especially in the rooms where there is water, like the bathroom and kitchen, but condensation can form on mirrors, windows, and pipes and then the water may drip onto organic matter. Sometimes, the drainage around the house slopes towards the house instead of away. Sometimes gutters or downspouts are overflowing, but one major neglected area is the crawl space. Even if there is a vapor barrier on the ground, it is seldom taped in such a way as to prevent the mold growing under the vapor from off-gassing into the air space. If someone has a problem of this nature, the crawl space needs to be cleaned, completely decontaminated, and then sealed. Depending on the climate and budget, the sealing could be as simple as multiple pieces of polyvinyl sheeting with taped seams and adhesive bonding to foundation walls to pouring something into the crawl space such as special cements, foams, or such. I am a few years behind on the latest technology but there were a number of such products available ten years ago when I sealed my crawl space.

Once all the moisture problems have been addressed, we need to think about inhibition. Many of you who read what I posted years ago on moldmisery.com make recommendations, but I tried just about everything, including most of the things people are recommending to me. I stand by my conclusion that the essential oils were not merely the best in terms of their long-term benefit but also the most people and pet friendly. Lots of people have been hyping ozone and I bought ozonators and used them as well as air filters and UV filters. There are reasons that ozone might not be as effective as some people imagine, one being that mold spores have a very hard shell, like an oyster, and they do not shred in the same manner as bacteria. I know my inbox will be full tomorrow, but I am just telling you that my woes did not subside until I began using oils because they actually inhibit the growth of mold for at least two years, perhaps longer when used indoors. The original studies were done on exterior siding in the Bayou and in lumberyards where there is exposure to rain, sometimes driving rain. I have a lot of interior condensation now because my house has been cold since the furnace went out on me. I am using a couple of space heaters so there is a huge temperature variation from one area to another, but there is no mold.

The experiments with inhibition in sealed jars have been 100% successful, absolutely no mold growth in years in the jars with my Diffuser Blend but all the other products tried did have mold so the doubting Thomases out there just need to experiment until convinced.

My personal opinion is that the diffuser is healthy when the direct exposure to the mist is limited to three minutes at a time. People should be at least six feet away from the diffuser and either turn off the diffuser after three minutes or leave the room. These short exposures can be repeated two or three times a day. I always run the diffuser for longer periods of time when stripping the bed. That way the mattress and pillows are also exposed to some mist but by the time the door to the bedroom is opened and closed a few times, the scent dissipates enough to enjoy very restful sleep.

For those who forget as well as new subscribers, remember that pillows that were tested had aspergillus after a year or so of use. I presume that this is partly because of our breath, wet hair, as well as some perspiration during the night. Mold is opportunistic so it activates when given the ideal conditions for it to thrive. Of course, it thrives inside the body as well. The temperature, moisture, and darkness are absolutely ideal and mold is not self-limiting so people need to take it very seriously. In my opinion, it is much more dangerous than cancer, AIDS, malaria, or anything else one could think about except something that is practically instantly fatal. So that this statement is absolutely clear, what I mean to say here is that if one is diagnosed with a dreaded disease but ignores the mold infection, the odds of succumbing to the mold are very high so the priority ought to be on overcoming the mold infection and residual toxicity due to mycotoxins. Many secondary problems might even go into remission if the mold were tackled.

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Even if the mold exposure was a long time ago, the mold could still be viable and the mycotoxins could be an accident waiting to happen so both situations need to be addressed. If you need proof, you can run labs but even the best labs miss some things because they are usually testing for specifics, not checking everything in the sample. You might be able to prove something all by yourself by capturing some urine and capping the jar and putting it under the sink (dark area) to see what happens. I suspect some people are going to be shocked.

When I was in Austria, they were using a Hildegard of Bingen bloodletting technique in which blood was taken around the time of the full moon. It was often black and they stopped when it turned red. They put this blood in jars and most became fungal within a very, very short time. I will never forget my horror when they put my birthday cake in the room with the fungal blood. I did not eat a bite of that cake.

Of course, we see the mold in the blood when looking in the microscope so we know it's there and we have to keep working on the protocols until we no longer see any mold. We also see yeast and while I personally do not think it is quite as dangerous as the toxic molds, it is also an accident waiting to happen. Anyone with slow transit time through the gastrointestinal tract will be at risk of yeast infections. You can test this. Eat some sesame seeds and wait to see when the undigested ones appear. If it takes more than 24 hours, a yeast infection is probable.

Many of you are fascinated by what I see in the microscope. Well, it is fascinating, but what we learn is that the process of conquering mold is quite tricky because there is the issue of mold viability and destructive emissions, complex hyphal structures that constitute the feeding system, and long-term toxicity that is truly obstinate. I am not sure that as organic creatures we can eliminate mold; however, we can minimize our risks through inhibition. It was fascinating to me that when the study on mold toxins was first reported to me that it involved classic Indian rasayana herbs. These herbs are all regarded as longevity promoting herbs and all are antioxidants. Aside from these common denominators, they are different, but to live a long time, we must reduce our risks of illness.

Many blessings,

Ingrid
http://www.moldherbs.com/

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