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Overview

OVERVIEW OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY ISSUES

 
Part 3 – What We Don’t Know
but Should Know

about the Air We Breathe –

D. What Are We Breathing?
6. Mold



 






6.  Mold.

Welcome to our colony, Alien Earthling!

Moldy tile look familiar?
Mold plays a major role in the Divine design to keep all of the ecosystems in balance, being the primary means by which organic material is recycled. Because death can occur to any organism at anytime or any place, mold must be everywhere present and ready to do its intended job of "digesting" dead material (mostly cellulose, once the moisture is extracted). Consequently, mold spores - mold's versions of seeds that are so tiny (less than 4 microns) that as many as 200,000 or so can fit on the head of a pin - are designed to circulate in some quantity anywhere the wind blows, including our homes and businesses.

Mold spores can also easily attach to our shoes and clothing, the fur and coats of animals, and may even be carried about on the bodies or body parts of insects. In short, anything entering our indoor living space is probably accompanied by mold spores.

Mold species are created to be extremely opportunistic, hardy, prolific, and territorial. Consequently, mold is in a position to begin its work on organic material anywhere at any time that conditions favor colonization -- regardless of the age or expense of the site.

Mold as yourimmune system sees it.
Hardly visible to the unaided eye unless in major concentrations, this is more like how our immune systems view mold and mold spores.
Since the oil shortages of the early to mid 1970's, in an effort to conserve energy, we stopped building our structures in ways that allow for the free circulation and exchange of fresh air into our living spaces, utilizing instead building methods that do not allow our structures to breathe or release moisture buildup. As a consequence, we now live in conditions which increasingly favor mold growth better indoors than are found outdoors. Annual estimates of structural damages attributed to mold range in the multiple billions, and costs are climbing each year with insurance companies assuming less and less of the risk.

Of the 100,000 mold species which have been cataloged (with perhaps another 200 - 300k we have yet to discover) - there are probably less than 100 (or perhaps no more than around fifty) that pose any kind of health hazard to humans. The bad news is that the top four or five of those mold species which do pose a health risk are the very ones which take up residence indoors.

There is presently no way of predicting ahead of time who will or will not be most affected by mold or at what level. Each individual is different, and what one can tolerate may well be harmful or even fatal to another. The assumption is that the weaker and more infirm will suffer the most, but mold has been known to take down healthy adults in their primes.
Conjunctivitis. Possibly from mold?
What baffles many patients and their doctors is that there are hosts of mold-related maladies and
illnesses for which patients are being treated, whether as inflammations, allergies, or infections, where the root connection to the mold infestation is not made. Allergic reactions (often referred to as hay fever) are most common following mold exposure. Typical symptoms that mold-exposed people report (alone or in combination) include, among others, a plethora of chronic and debilitating problems, ranging from mild irritations to long-term life-threatening or ending conditions such as -

Maladies Currently Attributed to Mold
Wanted poster - The Mold Spore Gang

And the lifelong pain, suffering, and expense of a mold-exposed patient who becomes immune compromised is incalculable.

One of the consequences is that lawsuits over indoor air quality issues are being viewed in the legal community as the next national tidal wave of litigation, a trend so huge that all other previous trends (such as asbestos and tobacco) will pale by comparison both in the scope and number of the trials and in the amounts of the settlements.



A proper IAQ strategy must treat the ever presence of mold spores

and the environment into which they come
with technology so effective
that mold outbreaks are virtually guaranteed never to occur.

Wherever possible, mold must be stopped before it gets started.




There's More!




What You Need to Know
(A brief Overview of Indoor Air Quality Issues)
IAQ Overview - Table of Contents
IAQ Overview - Part 1 - Is There a Problem?
IAQ Overview - Part 2 - What Don't We Know?
* IAQ Overview - Part 3 - What Do We Need to Know? *
IAQ Overview - Part 4 - Which Technology Works the Best?
IAQ Overview - Part 5 - What are the Major Differences in the Technologies?
IAQ Overview - Part 6 - What IAQ Issues Need to be Considered and Addressed?
IAQ Overview - Full Article


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Overview Topics



Is There a Problem?

A. Is There a Problem?

An introduction to indoor air quality issues.
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What Don't We Know

B. What Don't We Know?
 -- KWIK FACTS. 

The problem is worse than we
realize.

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Need to Know

C. What Do We Need to Know?

Sorting out the info and charting a course to follow.


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What Are We Breathing?

D. What are We Breathing?

Unwelcome guests we receive every time we breathe.

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Particulates

1. Particulates.

Airborne pieces of a lot of stuff we should not be breathing.

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Fields of Potential Allergens

2. Allergens.

The body’s “hit list” of alien invaders.

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Pathogens

3. Pathogens. 


The bacteria, viruses, and germs which reproduce in the human body and try to stage a takeover.

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One of kazillions of Odor Sources in a home or building

4. Odors.


Things have odors for a reason,
but why?
Can the problem be corrected rather than merely masked or covered up?

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VOC's on Demand

5. Chemicals/Smoke/VOC's.
 
Are we possibly drowning in a toxic soup?

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Mold

6. Mold.

Is what we see dangerous?
And is what we don't see
perhaps more dangerous than what we do see?  


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Which Technology?

E. Which Technology Works the Best?

Are the technologies pretty much equal, or is their a large disparity among them?

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Passive Technology

1. Passive Technology.

The pollution finds the solution.
(Or so we hope!)


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Active Technology

2. Active Technology.

The solution finds the pollution -
even where it is hiding!


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ions

a. Stage One --
Dual Ionization (Particulate Removal)


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Quad Oxidizing Plasma Generator
b. Stage Two -- Quad Oxidizing Plasmas

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Radical Hydroxyls

c. Stage Three -- Advanced Oxidation

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RCI Technology
d. Combo Effect -- The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of its Parts.

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Apples and Oranges

3. Major Differences.

Things that are not the same
are not equal.


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Out of this world

a. Literally out of this world.

The technology which produces
"the purest air on the planet"
actually comes from
out of this world.

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Overall air purity

b. Overall Air Purity.

By what standard do you certify the actual purity of air?

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Lab tech

c. Too Clean to Test for Purity?


"Without dirt in the air,
we cannot tell you
how pure the air is."
Does that strike anybody as odd?

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Where's the dirt?
d. Where's the Dirt?

(Where is Clara Peller
when you need her?)

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What to do?

e. What to do? 


Anybody can see that it’s clean except the career bureaucrats.


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Where are the germs?

f. Where are the Germs?

Hint: One place they are not is
"Blowin' in the Wind".


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Who gets to clean the conventional filter?

g. Filtration rates vs. Kill rates.

In the war against pathogens,
would you like your germs
captured and contained
or killed "graveyard dead"?

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Odor abatement/removal

h. Odor Abatement/Removal.

The same thing that RCITM
does to particulates and germs it does also to smoke, dust, and sources of odors.


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What must be considered?

F. What IAQ issues must be considered and addressed?

Head to head comparison of the technologies - very revealing.

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Medical considerations

G. Are there medical considerations?

Obligatory disclaimers and the practical realities of what happens when a sick body can actually catch its breath.

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Legal considerations

H. Are there legal and other considerations?

What happens if we just ignore the problem or fail to investigate it fully?

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When is timing an issue?

I. When is Timing an Issue?

If the mold or other air quality problem doesn't seem to be spreading or getting any worse, so we really have to pay it any attention?


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