Checking Those Tiles Closer

Ever since the Ballard case hit the front page two years ago, I’ve been checking those shower tiles at home a little closer. I’m convinced that little brown spot in the corner by the shampoo is the dreaded m— everyone is talking about.

Paranoid? Looking for a quick payday? Maybe wanting to get some attention like Melinda Ballard or Ed McMahon? I guess I’m guilty of all three.

We in the media have this fixation to jump on a subject and run with it, especially something as controversial as the dreaded Stachybotrys.

In this issue of Insurance Journal, Kirk Hansen, director of Claims for the Alliance of American Insurers (AAI) gives readers an update on how insurers are trying to send mold packing.

As we talk to insurance commissioners, association spokespersons and the independent agents that are out there on the home front selling homeowners policies, we generally hear that the media to a degree is to blame for the mold hysteria in the industry. While many insurance professionals view mold as a problem, they also generally say the media has not shied away from reporting on the Ballards and McMahons of the world.

Sure, it makes for juicy news when a potential $32 million dollar award is up for grabs or one of television’s most famous faces and voices is suing, saying mold damage led to the death of his dog.

The flip side, however, is that if the media didn’t report on these types of problems, such as the recent attention given to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), a disease that has killed more than 200 people, we would be declared derelict in our duty to put the news out there for people and let them make up their own minds on how to best deal with it.

While mold is ugly, costly and has the potential to cause some health-related problems, no one to the best of my knowledge has come out and labeled it a full-blown killer.

As AAI’s Hansen notes in his piece, the Texas Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs released a report indicating claims of adverse health effects from inhalation of mold spores occurring in water-damaged buildings do not draw support from medical literature.

If you talk to most in the industry, they will tell you that scientific studies are the way to go in the mold investigation, not panic.

I’m not saying mold can’t be a health hazard, but I agree with much of the industry, let’s have the scientific facts before we rush to judgment.

At the same time, if we didn’t talk about it, you’d likely wonder what we did all day in front of our computers.

Share your thoughts with us by e-mailing me at: dthomas@insurancejournal.com.