In Mold Claims: Recognizing What Is Real and Dealing With the Current Excessive Fears and Claims, pollution expert witness Ronald E. Gots, MD, Ph.D.writes:
Outdoor levels of mold spores in parts of the country (i.e., St. Louis in summer) are routinely 50,000 m3.5 People are being told to evacuate homes which have 5% of those levels. The term “toxic” mold makes no sense.6 Almost all molds can make mycotoxins including Alternaria, one of the most common outdoor molds and always considered “non-toxic” or benign by environmental consultants. One of the reasons for this strange and vast discord between health realities and health perceptions is the lack of medical expert voices in the fray. Instead, the din of “indoor air” experts and “air quality experts,” few of whom have any medical expertise and even fewer of whom have read thoroughly the scientific literature, has coopted this field. Some fringe physicians have also jumped into this arena. The growing interest in testing and finding problems rivals Anderson’s interest in keeping Enron healthy. Thus, they are neither expert, nor impartial.