Black Mold, the most feared and vilified mold, isn't even a real mold. Black mold is a name that was made up by the media and mold industry to invoke a response from you. That's right, misinformation at its best.
How about when people want to know if the mold they have is Bad Mold? Well, a bowl of mixed nuts would be the bad nuts for anyone allergic to nuts. The same thing goes for dairy, if you are allergic to dairy, the dairy aisle of the supermarket is bad. My point being is the mold that affects you, is the bad mold. But let's be clear, Mold is not a benefit when found inside a home or building.
Now, this article will certainly not be looked upon favorably by the mold remediation industry, as they want people afraid, misinformed, and motivated to get the mold problem fixed. I once gave a talk at a convention and spoke about how black mold is a misused term. Well after the talk I had a gentlemen come up to me and asked why I would tell people that Black Mold was not real. He was of the idea that scared people spend money and the term Black Mold Scares people. I speak about incorrect perceptions of the environment all the time and I don't like people being misled by the term Black Mold.
Now, I do not wish to ignore the health issue associated with mold. The EPA considers mold an indoor air contaminant, and rightfully so. You can inhale a live or dead mold spore and have a reaction from it. Mold off gases when mold is growing this produces mycotoxins and microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOC). You may say you smell musty odors, but you are really smelling this off-gassing mold metabolism. These compounds can also have an adverse effect on your health. So to be clear mold will adversely affect indoor air quality and while you may be mold resistant, we have seen people move into new offices and homes with mold and after a period of time, they find mold is affecting them.
We get calls from all over the country regarding mold and entities they are dealing with and are less than satisfied. Complaints range from a company doing mold testing and not providing a written explanation of the test results. You see without federal regulation, there are no acceptable or unacceptable mold testing standards. There are Industry standards, but oftentimes the company doing the work does not explain them or provide their interpretation in writing. My belief is most people doing mold work don't know what they are doing and they get away with it because the client knows even less.
Remediation is a whole other ball game.