TTLG, I thought I might share this with you for consideration. I came across this gentlemen a few years back after doing a bit of a dive on mold. It is very thought provoking, if nothing else...

Caoimhín P. Connell

Forensic Industrial Hygienist

"Over the years, one of the most frequent questions we have been asked is: “What does toxic mould look like?” There is no such thing as “toxic mould” any more than there is “toxic milk” or “toxic walnuts.”

While it is true that some moulds may elicit an allergic reaction, the same may be said about cheese, or peanuts, or pine pollen, or cat dander. The term “toxic mould” was a creation of drama seeking newspaper and television journalists attempting to sensationalize what is otherwise a very boring and mundane occurrence....

All houses have mould; all houses contain billions of mould spores. Any time drywall is installed in an home, thousands of mould spores are installed on every panel, since the very fiber matrix of the drywall contains mould. All houses have the types of moulds identified by the sensationalist media as “toxic moulds.” Every cubic foot of air in a normal, healthy dry home contains hundreds of mould spores. So, you now know that your property has mould, and you now know that your property has “toxic mould.” Since it is there, we also know that if a “Certified Mould Inspector” or other type of poorly trained mould consultant performs a “mould test,” we already know that it will be “positive.”

It is important to note that mould “tests” are most commonly used only by poorly trained mould consultants who otherwise lack legitimate training in mould and fungi, and use the lab report primarily to bamboozle and impress their clients; the laboratory results are otherwise usually completely uninterpretable. We have provided a discussion on the reason why such mould “tests” are invalid; just click here."

forensic-applications.c…