THE SCANDAL OF MOULD IN SOCIAL HOUSING IN BRITAIN
Over Christmas 2023, I watched the ITV 4 part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. This is a dramatisation of the true story of the British Post Office Scandal. It is an account of lies, deceit and miscarriage of justice worthy of a Sherlock Holmes spectacular. It follows the fight of one brave and dogged individual to uncover the truth behind the lies and cover-up of a big powerful corporation. The fight still goes on for many of the wrongly accused. Sadly, the Post Office is not the only corporation that covers up its mistakes to the detriment of the ordinary man, woman and child. I am sure you can think of a few more. The one I want to highlight in this Newsletter is the Scandal of Mould in Social Housing in Britain.
In December, 2020, two year old Awaab Ishak died from exposure to mould in his rented home. The landlord of the property was Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH). RBH was strongly criticised at the time, with the inquest hearing that the boy’s father had repeatedly raised the issue of mould. Just like the Post Office Scandal, landlords have shamefully tried to blame the victims for causing hazardous mould.
The Government has tabled amendments to the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill to introduce ‘Awaab’s Law’ which will require landlords to fix reported health hazards within specified timeframes. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities released its long-awaited consultation on Awaab’s Law on 9 January, 2024. The consultation proposes that Awaab’s Law will define hazards as those that pose a significant risk to the health or safety of the actual resident of the dwelling. You can read this on the Gov.UK website. We will have to see whether this will bring significant improvement to the lives of many in Britain struggling with damp and mouldy rented accommodation.
In the meantime, what do I observe as a clinician? My blog posts on the topic of mould-related illness on the Good Health Clinic website continue to attract a high number of emails from despairing families in mouldy social accommodation. These include a growing number of major concerns about the deteriorating health of children exposed to indoor mould. These range from severe allergies, skin problems, anaphylaxis, asthma and respiratory diseases, chest infections to general unwellness, fatigue and lack of concentration. A common theme is that symptoms improve, sometimes dramatically, when sufferers spend time away from their home and return almost instantly when they come home again.
Worryingly, social housing landlords seem reluctant to acknowledge that indoor mould can cause significant deterioration in the health of some of its most vulnerable tenants. Nor do they seem willing or able to carry out the necessary remedial work to eradicate the mould. Wherever remedial work has been undertaken, this tends to be the short-term quick-fix variety like painting over the mould, as effective as sticking a piece of tape over the warning light of a car dashboard.
Like the Post Office Scandal, the strategy of choice by many landlords in dealing with the mould problem seems to be to shift the blame onto the tenant. One family told me that they had been labelled as ‘complaining tenants’ and that their landlord had tried to suppress a report about the extent of mould in their home. Shockingly, a year after the inquest into Awaab Ishak’s death, some residents in social housing in Rochdale were told that the mould was their fault “due to them breathing too much at night.”
However, even more shocking is a common response by some members of the medical profession to suggestions by parents that their children are suffering from mould exposure. One mother of a child suffering from increasing allergies after a mould problem escalated in her home, was accused of being ‘non-compliant’ by her GP and threatened with social services. A paediatric hospital consultant insisted that mould sensitivity ‘simply could not happen’ and told the parents that they were being foolish to look for the causes of their child’s symptoms. Just take the medications, don’t ask questions and do as I say. Or else! An attitude Adolf Hitler would have been justly proud of.
Even with the limitations of modern medical education (no nutritional content worth speaking of but spades full of pharmaceuticals and arrogance) it is high time that medical professionals in Britain became aware of the substantial amount of medical literature related to mould biotoxin illness or sensitivity.
There are four significant ways that mould exposure can make certain susceptible individuals sick:
Allergy to mould/mycotoxins
Infection by mould/colonisation in the body
Toxicity from bio toxins produced by mould
Activation of innate immune system, leading to immune suppression and activation of further infections like viruses and bacteria.
There are a number of different laboratory tests for mould illness, including urine and blood tests from Armin Labs, Colabeu and Regenerus laboratories. These are recommended per patient need.
For mould sceptics wishing to learn something new, I recommend the following sources of information on how indoor mould exposure can affect a sizeable part of the population (about 40%) whose immune systems do not deal with mould efficiently:
www.toxicmould.org Explains Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) a multi-system, multi-system debilitating illness caused by inhaling the toxic and inflammatory by-products of micro-organisms such as mould, bacteria and actinomyces bacteria found in water-damaged buildings. Please be aware that many infections can also trigger CIRS. Contains a number of good scientific references about mould-related illness, including the valuable contribution to mould-related illness made by Dr Ritchie Shoemaker.
www.buildingforensics.co.uk - run by Jeff Charlton (member of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health) with over 20 years experience in mould, biological and chemical decontaminants. Expertise in identifying the cause and effect of water-damaged buildings and safe decontamination. Contributor, along with Dr Shoemaker to Biotoxin Illness Paper (available to read on the site).
survivingmold.com - the official Dr Ritchie Shoemaker website. Includes a lot of valuable information for patients, including symptom list.
With the wealth of scientific information available on how indoor mould can make a significant part of the population sick, there is really no excuse for landlords, medical staff and builders to feign ignorance. One thing that all mould-literate doctors and practitioners agree on is that you have to remove the mould from the environment in order to get well, otherwise your immune system will be constantly triggered by it. One tool I have found very useful in conjunction with a competent builder’s remedial work is a Propolair machine which is a device to make the home mould free. An Italian study showed if you vaporise propolis at 82.3 C, it creates a vapour of propolis that kills living microbes in the air, making homes safer for children. It is also good for asthma. I used it for Covid. It is a big part of the Dr Klinghardt mould strategy and, in my opinion, a better investment than a dehumidifier.
Therefore, if you suspect that you or a family member are suffering from mould-related illness, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry Call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this a clinical approach you wish to pursue.
Disclaimer:
All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only. All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources. Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.