Asthma And Mold
St. Louis Ranks Sixth In Cases Of Asthma And Allergies
Back in the early 1900's St. Louis was a coal burning city. At one point it got so bad that it was as dark as midnight in the middle of the day. The recently opened Missouri Botanical Garden had to purchase land about 40 miles outside of the city out of fear that a lot of the delicate plants housed there would die from the pollution.
When I was growing up near downtown we could smell the acrid chemicals from the chemical plant that was all the way across the river in Illinois. A friend's father worked there and the fumes burned his throat so bad that he could no longer talk.
St. Louis has cleaned up its act now. We no longer burn coal and the chemical plants have strict pollution guidelines, but the air quality around here still gets pretty bad when there's smog in the summer. St. Louis also ranks sixth in the country for cases of asthma and allergies. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch:
"St. Louis has been dethroned as asthma-allergy capital of the United States, but not by much. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranks St. Louis No. 6, which in one way, is good news. Last year St. Louis was ranked No. 1"
Well, at least we're not number one anymore, but number six is not very much better. Some of the reasons that we are ranked so high is not even under our control. Since St. Louis is renown for its humidity in the summer, there is a lot of opportunities for mold to grow. The reason that we have so much humidity is the fact that we are stuck between two major rivers.
Although the city-wide smoking ban has helped us a lot, there are other factors here in St. Louis to be worried about. We had 13 deaths that were attributed to asthma last year and that's too many.
Economics also play a role. 1 in 13 kids living in the city have asthma, but in some of the neighborhoods in the impoverished north side, the number is as high as 1 in 5. The number one reason for emergency room visits for children is because of asthma.
Most children who have asthma are given two inhalers: one for daily use and one to use in emergencies, but most only use the one that is designated for emergencies. Whose number one in the nation? Richmond Virginia, right in the heart of coal country.
Source: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/article_6b65cf50-4b50-11e0-9579-00127992bc8b.html
By Walt Crocker -
Walt grew up in Lafayette Square, near downtown St. Louis. He is now semi-retired after years in the restaurant and entertainment industry. His poetry has appeared in two published works: Stepping Stones and...
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Am I in the wrong?
My wife really needs our baby's room cleaned before we put him in there. She has my brother and his two friends helping her to do it. We all have asthma and mold was discovered in the room. I have had trouble breathing for quite some time now before the mold was discovered. We are all sensitive to mold because of asthma but I am allergic. I decided not to help because of the fact that I have trouble breathing to begin with, and mold would really pose as a problem to me. But now every one is now mad at me and talking about how much of lazy bum I am. Am I doing something wrong?
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Need help.. Rental lease and problems.?
I currently live in a 2 bedroom apartment with my 2 children. We have reported several times that our air conditioner drains into our hallway carpet. We have 3 buckets that now stay in the hallway permanently to catch the draining water. The LL has sent out the repairman several times for a "quick fix." The repairman states that there is "nothing he can do, since it needs a new unit." Our LL is NOT about to replace it. Also because of this problem, we have no tiles in our hallway because the a/c causes them to break and fall. Recently we had a big rain and noticed that there is a big leak in the wall draining to the floor in our girls bedroom. It smells like Cat Urine, and is soaking wet. I contacted the LL on the weekend to report this and was told, " Yeah, we had several apartments leak when it rained. I will come look at it sometime on Monday." My problem with is that my 5 year old has asthma and mold will only make her asthma worse. Can I request that he replace the carpet and check inside the walls to check for mold? Let alone the smell is just NASTY! If he does not do this, do I have the right to present him a letter in writting that suggests we are moving out and breaking our lease early because of this. I do not want to be picky, but the smell alone is awful, and my kids have to breathe this. A note: the cat smell is not from us, as we are not allowed to have pets. Help me, I don't want to get a bad record from this, but I also do not want to have to live with this problem.
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Is a binder placed to rent a house refundable. After 3 wks tenant changed her mind and does not want to rent?
After receiving her binder I have removed the house from the market and held it for her for >3 weeks. She has not signed any documents or lease except completed Rental Application. Now she does not want to rent because she says that her son has asthma and mold and mildew makes him sick.
Tenant has not occupied the property yet. As per her request I had the cabinets disinfected. There is no apparent mildew in the rest of the house except on couple of cabinet due to high humidity and rain we received recently. She visited the house only once and after few days placed the binder to take the house off the market. Now without seeing inside she says the mildew problem is not resolved and wants her binder refunded.
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