• In 1880 Thomas Edison said, “The phonograph is not of any commercial value.”

• Simon Newcomb, noted astronomer, said in 1902, “Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.”

• President Grover Cleveland said in 1905, “Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.”

• Baseball player Tris Speaker said in 1921, “Babe Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching.”

• Thomas J. Watson, IBM chairman, said in 1943, “I think there is a world market for about five computers.”

• The IOM (Institute of Medicine) found that there was little evidence to link indoor exposure to mold with upper respiratory tract symptoms, cough, and wheeze in otherwise healthy people.





WebMD offers clues to stopping germs from spreading in the classroom upon re-entering school:



“So many classroom activities involve hand-to-hand contact: things like passing papers back down the row, or sharing pencils, pens, scissors and other tools. But it’s not touching things that belong to other kids that’s the problem, it’s what kids do after they touch an item. “The important part is they’re not putting their hands in their mouth and in their nose,” Delack says. "That’s how germs have a chance to enter the body and that’s really how you get sick.”



How I wish it were that simple! Let me share my take with you in this issue of KNOW THIS!



Mrs. O’Leary’s red, wooden, one room schoolhouse is a thing of the past in all but very remote locations throughout the world. As proof that the Industrial Revolution continues even today, schools are large modern buildings complete with huge ducting systems that allow both heat and cooled air to pass through. The concept was brilliant, but developers never thought through the consequences of these “advanced” schools houses. Do you remember the days in elementary and high school when the teachers simply opened the windows and allowed outdoor air to circulate in the classroom? I do, and that was in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Of course, I grew up in California where winters dropped all the way down to the 50’s and summers hit a staggering 80 degrees. But friends have attested that even in Arizona and Texas, there are several months annually where siphoning of outdoor air was tolerable. That was yesterday….and yesterday’s gone…(there is a song in those words)



Today, modern buildings, including schools, use HVAC systems to deliver thermally controlled air. HVAC stands for “heating, ventilation and air conditioning.” I’m not an HVAC professional, so I probably have no right to be trying to educate you on this, but I am concerned that it is these systems, not pencil sharing, that are sometimes making our back-to-school children sick!



These children have not been exposed to this HVAC system for almost three months during their break and now, their first day back, an outlet vent will be delivering more than just cool air into their closed classrooms. I spoke with a school custodian who informed me that some schools simply shut down the HVAC systems during summer break, while others, mostly those that offer a summer-school schedule, maintain a static temperature throughout the year. When the child left school in June, the air conditioning was blowing and condensation develops within the ducting system. Fungus requires moisture and heat to thrive. Just as moisture was assured when the air conditioning was blowing in June, heat is now assured throughout the upcoming winter months. An unused system may develop an internal (within the ducting system) mold condition that is released on the first day of the new school year.



As many of you know, for many years I worked with various physicians and was able to prove to them that mold caused significant health problems. The one assurance we had was that the “seeing patient” business was slow during the school summer break period, but picked up briskly when school started. We never fully understood why both the adult and child population visits increased at that time, and then it hit us. The adults were teachers, now inhaling the same mold spores that their students were. Illness ensued and the herd mentality (lots of kids together equals lots of health problems) was routinely applied! “Of course he’s sick, he’s back in school and being exposed to lots of germs!” How right they are, but where are the germs coming from? They say pencils, but I say HVAC systems. They same bacteria, I say mold. They say potato...you get the idea!



Keep an eye on this when school starts again this year. Is your child regularly sick? Is there a substitute teacher often? Are other children missing school because of illness? Are you now seeing suspect diagnoses in your children like chronic sinusitis (documented as being mold induced in 95+% of cases), or bronchitis or asthma, all of which can be due to mold? My friend, John Kerr. President of Healthy Perceptions writes the following about indoor mold:



"There was a recent article published by http://www.medpagetoday.com
and it read 'CDC Confirms Danger in Airborne Fungal Infection.' The article went on to say that recently there were at least sixty reported cases of Cryptococcus gattii in the northwest United States. Among the forty-five patients with known outcomes, a total of fifteen had died due to exposure to this fungus.



This bit of information sheds light on just how serious a problem we are facing. Remember, this took place in the northwestern US, not exactly an area we think of with a serious mold problem. This further proves that mold and other fungi truly are ubiquitous and can be found in deadly quantities where we least expect it."



The question still remains: Is it better to go to the doctor and treat the person for the symptoms they are having by giving them a prescription, or do we try to get to the root cause of the problem and alleviate the symptoms by removing the source of the problem? We might first want to consider the source of the infection, get it fixed, and then fix what the mold has done to our body by seeing a doctor who understands mold.



As it relates to mold, we can accomplish this by controlling our diet and using the Aclare air purifier. Studies have shown that the Aclare air purifier has a 90% reduction in airborne mold with its proactive approach to cleaning air. It does not filter the air, but rather destroys mold at the source of the problem. More information can be found at http://www.healthyperceptions.com.




With fall and winter approaching, our kids will be back in a school system that has been closed up for the summer. We will once again be closing up our homes and sealing them tight for the winter. Now is the perfect time to assess if mold may be a problem in our environment and do something about it.



We have three of these Aclare units in our home, and as health care workers begin to understand the mold link to serious diseases and learning disorders, I am certain that John and his family will sell out of these incredible units as schools across this great country place one unit in each classroom. If my children were still in school, I would make a gift of an Aclare to each of their classrooms.



As we observe children on the 6 p.m. news lined up for their back to school vaccinations, we must understand that today, in 2010, health care providers trust in preparing the immune system for certain attacks against specific germs that cause diseases. One day, we may realize that a strong immune system (beta glucan anyone?) defeats aggressive germs of all kinds. Is your child prepared for the germs of the real world because of thirty-five shots, or because of the lifestyle you have taught?