What's a corporate news provider to do now that the hurricanes have passed? Find a new villain... and maybe pump that villain up a little bit. Or a lot. Hey, you work what's handed to you, right?
Hence moldmania. Take a look at a Google news search and be amazed at how much this story is being overreported and, indeed, overstated to the point of hysteria (I'm not saying the mold isn't bad. Heaven forbid!). Now go to Columbia Journalism Review and take your medicine; it's good for you:
"There's a real industry being created around the mold problem -- lawyers who've written about it call it 'black gold.' They see it as the next great asbestos," Dr. Dorsett Smith, a professor of medicine at Seattle's University of Washington, told the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview. "It is the fear factor. You mention the word 'mold' and people are afraid."UPDATE: Or, actually, a non-update. I meant to post more this weekend, but I just love how this picture looks at the top 'o' the blog, so I'll resume this (Monday) afternoon.
5 comments:
I agree that mold is no reason to panic in the mode of the damsel in your photo. But I lived in a house with a big mold and wood rot problem and was sick for three years without knowing why. It wasn't until the (rental) house needed an inspection that the mold problem was discovered. I moved out of that house 3 months ago and finally feel normal. I wasn't afraid when the word 'mold' was mentioned, but it was a relief to figure out why I had been sick all that time.
No offense, but boy could I see that comment coming.
Not offended at all. I had never heard about the apparently looming mold epidemic until I mentioned the mold problems at our house to my mom. She told me to move out right away, but go back to my doctor first. I thought it was essentially hokum until the doc said "Sure, a mold allergy could cause you to feel extremely lethargic and cause frequent headaches." Moving to a new house and having some Allegra on hand seems to have done the trick.
Still, do I think mold is the next Yersinia pestis? No.
Mold sucks. I hate it when it gets my food. I had an basement apartment that was starting to have a mold problem because it was so damp all the time. DC is the current humidity and one time murder capital of the world. I told my landlord and he freaked out and bought a $300 dehumidifier in about 6 hours. He had just bought the house and I was his first tenant.
oh mold mold mold is old old old news here in TX: The insurence companies pretty much did all they could to stop covering it and raised our homeowners' rates a few years ago...i guess it's taken a while to, err, grow to the North
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