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October 2003 Volume II, Issue 4 Dear All, I hope you all have had a good fall. Ours has been productive and busy and we hope the rest of it will be even more so as we expand our offerings and roll out several new products. In this edition of Trapped Air we focus on safety with an emphasis on what you and your clients can do to keep mold at bay. We're proud of the pioneering work we've done and are confident that you're benefiting from the expertise and experience we've gained in developing reliable technology solutions to Indoor Air Quality Issues. Below you'll find the usual mix of news summaries, articles and company information. I'd like to call your attention in particular to an exciting profile of PATI's work that ran in the Environmental Laboratory Washington Report as well as commentary from Randall Fike, Ph.D., our CTO. Also worth catching: an interesting article in a recent issue of COLUMNS-Mold on the "strange behavior" exhibited by clients of mold remediation companies. As always I'm eager to hear your questions and ideas. We learn a lot by communicating with you all and hope you'll keep the comments coming. (One change you may note: we've responded to some feedback we've gotten and tried to shorten up the length of this email a bit by providing excerpts to articles that are published in full on our website.)
Best Regards, IAQ lab uses environmental chemistry to test for mold Reprinted with permission from Environmental Laboratory Washington Report. Prism Analytical Technologies Inc., a indoor air quality lab based in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., has developed an improved procedure for testing IAQ environments for active mold growth. PATI’s MoldScan™ technique relies on traditional environmental analysis of microbial volatile organic compounds to determine the existence and extent of indoor mold growth, which has been linked to a number of illnesses. Numerous studies have found that mold can lead to unsafe indoor air environments, producing severe allergic reactions and respiratory irritation, exacerbating asthma and other respiratory ailments and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and insurance claims every year. In the past, mold testing was conducted primarily by microbiological labs using culture plates and spore traps instead of traditional environmental chemistry equipment and procedures.
PATI’s approach differs substantially because it relies on the detection of MVOCs — gas compounds emitted from actively growing mold. By using thermal desorption methods on a gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer, the lab can detect MVOC concentrations as low as 90 parts per trillion... IIABA Tackles Mold Issue at INFOXCHANGE - Insurance Journal Reports on a recent gathering organized by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America at which various experts discussed the issue of mold and the mounting problem it's proving to be for those in the insurance industry. The intensive seminar reviewed recent developments in the field, tried to educate industry professionals about what should and shouldn't be taken seriously, and presented findings on what insurers are facing. One example, from one of the session leaders: "In just two years, one large adjusting firm has gone from no mold claims to six or seven a day. It has gone from having no microbiologists to a staff of nine!" More stats: "In a two-year period, mold claims in Texas increased from about 1,000 to almost 22,000, resulting in payments in excess of $1 billion. The average mold claim size in the mid-1990s was $4,000. Today, it exceeds $22,000." Read the full article. * * * * *
Ventilation complaints fly when the leaves start to fall - Boston Business Journal Makes note of the fact that come every autumn the complaints about indoor air quality in people's homes seem to pick up. The reason: the dust that's gathered in people's heating systems. Says one industry consultant: "Our phone rings off the hook in the fall. When heating systems that have not been used since the previous winter are turned on for the first time, sometimes dust on the heating coils and elements burns off and can cause an odor." But, the piece continues, there's rarely a health threat at issue. Rather, it says, it's in the spring that one should keep an eye out for such issues when mold, which has gone dormant over the winter, can spore. Read the full article. * * * * *
Effects of mold not fully known - The Herald-Sun Officials at N.C. Central University are expanding the scope of their mold cleanup efforts to more than a dozen campus buildings. One official says he's looking forward to a report from the Institute of Medicine that's due out soon and goes further than previous studies at trying to analyze and assess the threat various molds pose. The study was commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Environmental Health and should be released in the next two to four months. The article discusses how new construction materials are leading to great incidence of mold and how one research team is actually using paper-covered gypsum board as a growth agent in their lab. Read the full article. CTO'S COMMENT: What to Look for in MVOC's Look at the promise of MVOC's - they go through drywall, wood, concrete block, and most other barriers and, if they can't get through, they usually find a way around so there is no need to tear the building apart just to find mold. In the past you would have to destroy half the building just to make sure. Insurance companies wouldn't like that! With such promise, what went wrong? Some companies tried to make it work but have withdrawn their product from the market while others are still offering products that have been proven not to work. In the process, many IH professionals have soured on the whole concept. Why did this happen? Sometimes, companies take an unsuitable product to market or rush a product to market before it is ready. What frequently happens in these cases it that users with a real need to fill receive a non-performing product. Word spreads quickly in professional circles and the end result is that the whole concept receives a bad name. Nobody will trust it because it is deemed that the science behind the product rather than the product itself is flawed. Such seems to be the case with using MVOC's to detect the presence of actively growing mold. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that actively growing molds have an odor and that all one has to do is detect the chemicals causing the odor to detect the presence of molds. So why can't anybody make it work? Actually, the answer is rather simple - the right compounds, the right detection limits, and the ability to provide accurate analytical results. Once these three criteria have been met, the utility of the technology immediately skyrockets. PATI didn't rush its MVOC product to market - we took our time and did the job right. PATI embarked on a quest to identify the right compounds - compounds that are produced by actively growing mold, are not produced by bacteria, and have few secondary sources. Then, we spent a long time refining the analytical protocol and the calibration curves until we could reliably analyze samples down to the parts-per-trillion level. The result is the exclusive PATI List of compounds and Mold Scan™-the right compounds, the right sensitivity, and right numbers! Then, we tested MoldScan™™ against other MVOC analyses available. Our clients selected infected sites of their choosing and sampled side-by-side. In every case, MoldScan™™ effectively detected the presence and level of actively growing mold. In every case, the other MVOC analyses failed to even detect the presence of mold. All right, so MoldScan™™ can detect the compounds, now what? Other labs give you a list of compounds and associated analytical results, but what are you supposed to do with the data? At PATI we've run test after to test to help us provide you with reliable information on what levels of these compounds constitute what level of mold infestation. And with PATI you get specific instructions on how to interpret the data - we tell you the approximate level of actively growing mold present and the typical response you can expect from the building occupants. Who else does that? Nobody. Is MoldScan™™ ready for the market? You bet it is! Only with PATI, do you get the exclusive PATI list of compounds, the right sensitivity, the right analytical numbers, and the ability to interpret the results.
Randall S. Fike, PhD, CTO
Stachybotrys Exposure and Psychotic Disorders:
Is Exposure to Mold Making Us Crazy? by Michael A. Pinto, Ph.D., CSP, and Cherie Fennema Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2003 COLUMNS-Mold. This article, which can be accessed in full on our website, discusses the impact mold may be having on customers' behavior. Among the symptoms that have been reported: personality changes, depression, paranoia, and loss of mental acuity, in addition to an array of physical issues. The article provides details on reported cases, how industry professionals are dealing with such individuals and concludes: "Equipped with this information about the likely connection between mold exposure and unusual, even psychotic, behavior, mold investigators, remediation contractors and attorneys may have to develop a more holistic perspective of their customers’ situations. By incorporating psychological factors as well as physical evidence and symptoms into their investigations and subsequent remediation and legal plans, the industry may take another step toward appropriately meeting the customers’ needs."
Read the full article.
ABOUT PATI
Prism Analytical Technologies, Inc., (PATI) is the leading analytical laboratory in the United States that is devoted to the chemical identification and analysis of contaminants in the air. PATI's expertise includes:
Over the last 11 years PATI has pioneered the development of several technologies for the analysis of air. These technologies include, for example, custom thermal desorption tubes and glass encapsulation to keep them free from contamination during storage. They also include the concept of TDT Air Scan® which utilizes a thermal desorption tube and then couples Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) during the analysis to quickly and inexpensively identify and quantify hundreds of VOC's using only one sample. PATI is also the only laboratory that has been successful in developing a technology, called Mold Scan™, to determine mold metabolites on the parts per trillion level.
Our team of Analytical Chemists includes only degreed and highly trained analysts, the majority with advanced degrees. We have an industry-leading management and scientific team headed by Lester H. Keepper, President, and Randall Fike, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer. Additionally Martin L. Spartz, Ph.D., is a company Director and, in addition to developing our FT-IR capabilities, has been responsible for the design and development of mobile, open path FT-IR methods for the EPA.
PATI supports many CIH, IHIT, CEHS, CPE, and CSP professionals and multidisciplinary consultants who are seeking to solve air quality problems. PATI's clients include mold investigation and remediation professionals, safety specialists, medical doctors, manufacturing engineers, hospital administrators, public health departments, building owners and inspectors, commercial property managers, engineering and construction firms, insurance investigators, emergency response teams, real estate brokers, and legal professionals. Contact PATI to discover the positive impact we can have on your air quality projects.
For more information on our products and services please email us at prism@pati-air.com - we'll respond as quickly as possible.
PATI is pleased to announce a new tool we've developed with Environmental Health & Safety LLC called IAQ Protocol. The offering, which provides guidance for complaint or assignable cause, is a direct response to requests from our clients to formalize a protocol that provides consistent results.
Traditionally, unrelated and loosely tied together professions with non-unified multidisciplinary tools have served the general area which has come to be known as the IAQ Market. Now, the IAQ Protocol provides reliable guidance with an easy-to-use presentation that guides the user through different IAQ scenarios to aid the air quality professional in developing the most appropriate investigative procedure to follow
More about the IAQ Protocol: the logic sequence was developed as a strategy for addressing indoor air quality issues. The Protocol, presented in MS Power Point format, is intended to give guidance in conducting indoor air quality investigations pertaining to IAQ Complaints, Fire, Water Events, and Renovations. Each category is a stand-alone flowchart that takes the user through a sequence of decisions with suggestions for testing methodology and criteria supplied throughout the sequence. Consideration of air quality issues relating to mold is also included in the Protocol. Supporting documents and directions for testing methodologies are imbedded in the program to make for quick and easy reference. Beta tests have produced solid results - we're making Version 1.0 available and look forward to getting your suggestions and ideas.
The software is distributed as freeware. The Protocol would be useful to IH professionals, safety professionals, and facility professionals who deal with indoor air quality issues. These include employee complaints, water events, fire events, and office renovation projects, to name a few. The chemical event protocol project is under evaluation.
To request IAQ Protocol, please email us at: IAQ_protocol@pati-air.com
Interested in learning more about our specific products listed below?
Send us an email and you'll recieve a prompt reply.
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