Boston City Councillor Maura Hennigan
Comments made to staff of Senator Edward Kennedy's Health Committee
on Health Effects of Mold Exposure
September 28, 2005
First I want to thank Senator Kennedy for his commitment
to addressing the considerable dilemma of health problems associated
with poor indoor air quality, particularly exposure to indoor
mold. I am especially grateful to Sharon Kramer who has taken
the bull by the horns with her personal commitment to continue
to bring this health issue to the forefront. I must voice my outrage
at the personal legal attacks Sharon is suffering by exposing
the relationship between big business funneling money to influence
medical papers that harm the health of our fellow Americans: medical
papers that are relied upon by less knowledgeable physicians who
are attempting to treat our citizens who have been harmed by mold
exposure. The Boston Globe did a piece recently on the unreliability
of some peered reviewed medical papers, so it should be no shock
that Sharon is facing this battle.
Our country is facing an enormous challenge dealing
with the recent horrific flooding and loss of life and property
in the Gulf region because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At
this point in our understanding of mold growth and its devastating
effects on the health of our people, I am alarmed about the mixed
messages being sent about how dangerous mold exposure is to those
who return to their homes, schools and other buildings in the
south. If no one comes to the plate on this, we are relegating
untold numbers of our southern citizens to a lifetime of health
problems on top of everything else they have suffered.
Someone needs to do something about this now, and
I am grateful to Senator Kennedy for his continued support and
leadership with this issue. I know that last September, during
Mold Awareness Week in Washington, Senator Kennedy arranged for
meetings with doctors from both his HELP (Health Education Labor
and Pension) and Health Committees to sit down with national advocates
to bring his office up to speed on that mold exposure is doing
to harm the health of so many in this country and I am grateful
that this meeting was arranged today. Someone needs to do something
now to help people who are suffering from a myriad of health problems
due to mold exposure. So many people are sick and are receiving
no treatment. I am encouraged by the University of Connecticut's
"Guidance for Clinicians on the Recognition and Management
of Health Effects Related to Mold Exposure and Moisture Indoors"
released September 30th of last year. It is a tremendous start
and I urge Senator Kennedy to do everything in his power to make
our doctors aware of this important step forward in helping people
who are ill due to mold exposure. I also urge him to look at some
of the medical issues reported by countless people across this
country referred to in this document that need further research
and attention. Medical research needs to catch up with illnesses
reported by our citizens.
The City of Boston is personally faced with the
challenges of lack of meaningful approach to poor indoor air quality
in our schools and other public buildings. I authored the Indoor
Air Quality Ordinance of 1996, which offered a rational approach
to inspecting our schools and other buildings to flag properties
that needed repair. Unfortunately, the required testing of our
schools did not take place as the law dictated until recently.
I am neither a doctor nor a scientist, but I am gravely alarmed
by the results of the testing done in our schools and the possible
correlation between the recently released Pediatric Asthma in
Massachusetts conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Health
and the Boston Globe's reporting today of some of our Boston schools
on a federal watch list due to failure to reach goals. There may
in fact be many reasons for that, but exposing our children to
poor indoor air quality in schools should not be a possible contributing
factor.
I know that some of our children are being exposed
to poor indoor air quality in some of our Boston Housing Authority
properties. In addition, it recently came to my attention that
an employee at the BHA's offices on Chauncy Street in Boston is
suffering from hypersensitivity pneumonitis, alleged to be caused
from exposure to poor indoor air quality in the building and an
investigation is currently being conducted.
Massachusetts has seen its share of poor indoor
air quality in its public buildings as well. Courthouses, police
stations, schools, hospitals, libraries, nursing homes, municipal
and state buildings, including our own Boston City Hall, have
been the subject of environmental problems. Homes have been gutted
and leveled because of indoor mold proliferation. People are crying
out for help and they are met with deaf ears because of a lack
of focus on credible research already done on the health risks,
proper diagnosis and treatment, and in some cases, the interference
of progress by big business afraid to face their culpability.
This problem is bigger than any city or town in
this country can handle, and indeed, it is a problem. Last December,
I co-chaired a Boston City Council hearing, lasting over five
hours, where people testified from across the country on how exposure
to mold destroyed their health. The stories were heart wrenching
and just about all who testified voiced their sense of frustration
and helplessness in dealing with the problem. They desperately
need help from their elected officials.
I urge Senator Kennedy to continue his work on this
very serious health issue, especially in light of the problems
we will face as a nation in the Gulf. Mold exposure harms our
health and we need to work together to put a stop to it.