Is Your Home Harming You?
Spring cleaning your home can go deeper than a simple vacuum and spruce up of the furniture. If mould is lurking in any carpets or on walls, you’ll want to be rid of it fast. Find out why these fungi are so deadly and how best to avoid them growing in your home.
LOVE IT OR HATE IT, A SPRING clean is a ritual that can uncover more than a spot of dust in the kitchen cupboards. That’s because, while scrubbing away in a forgotten corner of the bathroom, you might find a hidden health hazard lurking in your home. A dark patch of discolouration, slimy film or fuzz probably means you have mould in your house. It thrives in damp conditions, so kitchens and bathrooms are mould hotspots, especially if poorly ventilated. It’s often found on walls, ceilings, window frames, floors, baths, showers, concealed behind furniture and even inside your fridge.
About 6.2 million households had issues with mould and damp during 2018 and 2019 – and it can be a serious threat to health. Having mould in your home can make you more prone to respiratory infections, allergies and asthma, as well as harming your immune system, according to the NHS. The danger was starkly highlighted by the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died due to a respiratory condition caused by exposure to toxic black mould in his social housing home, in 2020. As a result, a new law has been proposed requiring social landlords to investigate tenant complaints of mould or damp within a fortnight and make repairs rapidly, if there’s a medically confirmed risk to health. Currently, the Government is undertaking a review of existing guidance on health impacts of damp and mould in homes, with new guidelines expected by summer.
VARIOUS STRAINS
So, what exactly is this unwelcome substance that could be making itself at home in the dark recesses of your bathroom or kitchen? ‘Moulds are a type of fungi that spread by making spores, and they thrive best in warm, damp, humid conditions. Mould exists in the air around you as a microscopic substance, which usually can’t be seen until it grows close together in a large number on a surface,’ says Dr Nasha Winters, healthcare teacher and specialist in integrative cancer care (drnasha.com). ‘Although some species of mould are considered harmless, such as those that grow on cheese, there are others that cause major health issues. The most toxic to human health is called Stachybotrys chartarum, known as black mould,’ she adds.
