A Maricopa County Superior Court jury awarded $3.3 million to a Scottsdale woman who was sickened and permanently disabled by a mold infestation in her apartment building.br /br /Robin Minium worked out of her upscale apartment near Scottsdale and Bell roads. She had lived there since 2000. According to court documents, her health deteriorated significantly by 2002, and as she got sicker, she spent more time in her apartment.br /br /Minium learned about the mold infestation from her neighbors, and her doctors told her that her illness was consistent with toxic mold exposure, so she left the apartment and moved into a hotel. Minium did not return, and she claimed her health was permanently impaired. “She is disabled from any work and will be for the rest of her life,” said her attorney, Andrea Watters.br /br /Watters filed suit in Minium’s behalf in August 2004 claiming that Minium suffered significant permanent hair loss and a neuro-cognitive disorder that does not affect her long-term memory but keeps her from performing basic day-to-day functions such as balancing a checkbook or remembering where she put her car keys. The building was rife with several types of toxic molds, possibly as a result of pipes that were not properly connected and drained, according to her court pleadings.br /br /Experts for the apartment building argued that mold contamination could not have such lasting health effects. But the jury sided with Minium, and on April 22 returned a verdict in her favor.br /br /strongDr. Grout’s Comment:/strongbr /br /In 2006, Arizona ranked 6th highest among the 50 states for mold, according to the relative hazard ranking model developed by American Risk Management Resources (ARMR) and now being used by GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI).br /br /Many buildings and houses in dry climates develop mold issues when moisture is nurtured within walls and windows that are tightly sealed off from consistently hot conditions outside. Think of a glass of ice water sitting on your patio in 95-degree heat. Condensation quickly forms on the outside of the glass and runs harmlessly onto the ground. But condensation in a home or business builds up in the cavities of the structure, creating an ideal climate for mold contamination.br /br /Molds produce hundreds of allergens and toxins. Molds are why some children go into anaphylactic shock when they eat a href=”http://www.arizonaadvancedmedicine.com/articles/kid_food.html#peanutbutter”peanut butter/a. Molds also are one of the most important pollutants children are exposed to indoors. It is hard to believe that attorney for the apartment building will get much traction with the argument mold is harmless when across the country, schools have been closed for mold problems despite the fact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t updated its position on mold or funded research to advance scientific knowledge on mold in years.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4769404502414351890-4645891196133456396?l=arizonaadvancedmedicine.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div