This would not be much of a mold website and blog if I did not dedicate at least one post to the infamous "Black Mold". One of the more common phone calls I get in my mold consulting business is related to people concerned that their house has been contaminated with black mold. Most of the time, they heard a horror story from a friend of a friend, of a friend, that got sick from hidden black mold in their home. Or sometimes, they have had a nagging respiratory illness and got on Google to search, "what is causing my respiratory illness", and one of the top results came back as black mold. So, I will succinctly try to break down what I know about this so-called black mold.
What exactly is the black mold?
Most of the time when people are referencing black mold, they are referring to a genus of mold called Stachybotrys. Best guess is there are about 50-100 different species of Stachybotrys and they are happiest and found mostly in soil and decaying plant matter or in other words, outside. It gets the name black mold from the simple fact that it frequently appears black in color when it is happy and growing.
Why am I always hearing about black mold, Stachybotrys?
The origin of the fear around Stachybotrys and calling it the black toxic mold goes back to the 1990's when several articles were published regarding a cluster of infants with serious pulmonary issues in a housing complex in Cleveland, Ohio. The pulmonary issues eventually led to the death of one of the ill infants. When the investigators from the CDC came and tried to determine the cause of the illness, they identified several causal factors including the presence of one particular species of Stachybotrys...and overnight the mold industry was born...well not really but I am sure everyone in the business when this hit the news had a surge in phone calls and as mentioned above I am still getting calls because of this nearly 30 years later.
The controversy...which was not as widely disseminated in the news
The short version is, the CDC issued a statement which basically said there were shortcomings in their investigation and reporting and in fact there was not enough evidence to prove causation between the presence of Stachybotrys and the serious respiratory illness in the cluster of infants. This statement was based upon their own internal review in addition to a review by experts outside of the CDC.
So, is Stachybotrys not Bad then?
There is still a lot we do not know about mold and the various toxins they produce, like Mycotoxins. My approach to mold inspections is pretty simple, you do not want mold growing in your home, regardless of the type....unless it is on your blue cheese, I like blue cheese. This is frequently why I tell my clients, I do not want to test their mold. If there is a plausible cause for the mold growth and it looks like mold, I am going to advise you to remove it and fix the problem which is allowing the mold to grow. So, is Stachybotrys bad? Yes. Is it the only bad mold you need to be concerned about? No. A lot of other molds are capable of producing mold volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) and Mycotoxins, and guess what, some of them can look black too.
Closing Thoughts on Black Mold
In practice, I honestly do not come across Stachybotrys very often unless it is a home or space that has had chronic water intrusion issue. Stachybotrys is not one of these molds that is just always floating around in the air like Cladosporium, Penicllium, and Aspergillus. While all molds need moisture to survive and grow, Stachybotrys needs a lot of water, the kind of water that comes with floods or water intrusion issues. So that fact alone makes unlikely to be found in most homes. Turns out, Stachybotrys is also a very slow grower and does not compete well against other molds. So, what does all of that mean? It means you are not likely to have Stachybotrys lurking in your home.
Your mold friend, Jeffrey
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