Podcast Transcript
00:20
Welcome to the power is within us the podcast that explores our natural power within to heal, stay healthy and lead extraordinary lives. I’m sort of Van Kampen, your host, founder of tonic health, the immunity brand is aiming to change your relationship with your immune system for the better. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Power within us. Today we have Jason Earle joining us who is a man on a mission from being a child who is allergic to nearly everything in his environment, to becoming the world’s youngest licensed stock broker on Wall Street at the age of just 17. Jason has now become America’s top mold detective, and he has founded one 800 Got mold and microlab, USA, and is the creator of the world’s first at home, got Mold Test Kit. So as you guessed, we talk a lot about environmental toxins, and mold and damp that sitting potentially under your sink, and the impact it can have on your health. So this may be a subject that you’ve never considered. I myself haven’t considered it. I haven’t looked out under my sink, how much more there is. But it’s a really important topic that has a huge amount of science behind it. And it’s a fascinating podcast listening to Jason’s journey. Hope you enjoyed it a Jason, good to have you on the podcast.
01:52
Great to be here.
01:53
Thank you. Thanks for joining us. So with all our guests, we like to start at the beginning. Because I find with most founders of businesses like yourself, their health journey begins from a kind of fairly personal experience. And I like to get under the skin and find out, you know, what happened to you? What made you get into health and into mold specifically?
02:16
Yeah, I mean, I find that to be true that most most entrepreneurs have a have a personal story that drives them, because what else would make you endure all this stuff, you know. But it’s really true. I you know that I think that when it comes to my space, in particular, I help them on the space. People tend to have their own struggle that their own their own journey. And once they arrive at a certain awareness, feel, I think compelled to share what they’ve learned to help reduce other suffering. And so that’s exactly the case with the effect. I often think that that’s a really good business model. In general, more people should probably examine their pain and use that as a as a way to provide service and add value to the world. Because nobody wants to feel like they’re alone. And I think when it comes to my my situation that the story is that when I was about four years old, I was suddenly struck with some respiratory illness, I was I was having a hard time breathing. And I lost a lot of weight in a three week period. And so my parents took me to the pediatrician who said you should really take him to the hospital. And so, so the first visit was Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia, which has a renowned respiratory hospital, and their initial diagnosis was cystic fibrosis. And this is a devastating diagnosis, of course, because, you know, back then it was a death sentence. But the the, the it was especially problematic because my father lost four of his cousins to see up before the age of 14. So, so they went on cried for six weeks, and then they waited for a second opinion, which thankfully was that I didn’t have cystic fibrosis evidenced by the fact that I sit here talking to you at 45 years old, but actually had asthma compounded by pneumonia. And and when they tested me for allergies, which was one of my first memories actually, they did it I don’t know how they do it over under the pond but they put me in like a pet pousse like a like a straitjacket for toddlers basically with an exposed back and then they drew a grid and and put these antigens on my back. And my dad said that that I looked like a ladybug just big red swollen back with dots all over it I tested positive for every single thing that they tested me for. And so it was I grew up on a small nonworking farm surrounded by you know, all these fields and, and animals and stuff and I tested positive for everything I was surrounded by dogs, cats, grass, wheat, corn, eggs, cotton, I mean soybeans, everything you could imagine. And so But I looked on essentially inhalers. I spent a lot of time outside not really realizing intuitively, I suppose understanding that might have been an issue and but I spent most of my time outside and when I was about 12 years old, my my folks split up, which was benefit everyone. And, and we moved out of that house and suddenly all my symptoms disappeared. But I didn’t think about it that because it was my grandfather had grown out of his asthma and, and which is very common, and, and so, so I just dismissed it. But fast forward, I had a series of crazy circumstances that happened, my mom died. Suddenly, when I was about 14, I got diagnosed with Lyme disease. And then I was forced to drop out of high school and I got recruited out of the gas station to become a stockbroker. And that’s a whole nother story for another podcast. But after a successful career doing that, I one day went looking for something meaningful to do with my life after the.com bubble burst. And while I was away I was I was traveling, I was in Hawaii, actually at the time, and I was reading some of the local newspapers. And there was a story about a guy who had been working at one of the main hotels there in Waikiki Beach was the Hilton Kalia tower. It’s the flagship property and alive and he’d gotten sick. He presumed from the building that had a serious mold problem. It was one of the biggest mold problems in history. $55 million in total remediation costs, it was only 90 million to build it, but it was cost 55 million to clean it up. And so it’s in the record books. But anyway, I was there in Hawaii while this was was happening. And so just coincidentally, and and his story really rang a bell for Mayor Turner who was like a light bulb moment, because he had at 40 years old. Because of he reportedly because of exposure to the hotel. That’s a moment hotel, he developed adult onset asthma, which I had never heard of, and also all the sensitivities to things that he had always enjoyed. And he blamed the mold. And so it was like a deja vu moment for me. I was brought back immediately. And I thought geez, I wonder if we had a mold problem. And we’ll try and Rhodes I called my father, a payphone which probably isn’t there anymore, and said, and said, Hey, daddy had a mold problem. And he just laughed at me. He said, of course, we have mold in mushrooms in the basement.
07:12
Why do you ask and it was just so flippant. And so like, of course, it was like, and this is this is the thing that back then there was no awareness about this stuff, right? My parents both smoked, and I’m in as bad a famous smoke in the car with the windows closed, you know, that was not for lack of love. It was just the lack of awareness. I was a kid from the from the seventh, you know, wandering the seventh. And we you know, there were no seatbelts there in the back of the pickup truck. I mean, that’s just the way things were. But But the bottom line is that there was zero awareness about mold or about the, the impact of dampness indoors on human health. And but in that moment, I immediately knew that this is where I wanted to invest my my energies, because I became fascinated not with mold, per se, but rather with how buildings impact people’s health. And we spent 90% of our time indoors, and we don’t think about that very much. Right? We spent so much time worrying about the outdoor environment. But what about the other 90% that we’re spending indoors?
08:11
Well, and the consequences of that, oh, far reaching, right. Not just from, you know, air quality perspective and mold, but also fairly deep, right, the fact that we’re inside means we don’t produce the amount of them and D we used to, which means bout 77% of the US have some optimal vitamin D levels. And the knock on effects of that can be mild, but can cause you know, things like more respiratory illness, which then as a consequence is about 120 million loss workdays a year alone in the US. So you kind of think, Oh, it’s just a small thing doesn’t affect us that much. But 120 million lost productivity days is, is a big problem. But to go back to your certainly Wow, that was eight years of you essentially living with like allergies and real severe issues and asthma. But purely down to this mold, and you had no idea that’s absolutely crazy.
09:14
Yeah, the craziest part about mold is that you look at the the impact that Scott on has on human health. People talk about food as the leading cause of chronic illness, which of course is fairly self evident at this point. But especially the standard American diet. Sad, right. It’s a sad diet. And the but but but when you look at the numbers on how air impacts people’s health, it’s shocking. I mean, just think about this by itself. I mean, so we the law, familiarity states that anything that you’re supposed to do long enough, eventually you take for granted, and I can’t think of anything that you’re exposed to more than the air you breathe, right? And among the four basic human needs, you know have air water, food, shelter? Shelter, you can live with that for a long time, you know, food, you know, you can go for for a bit too, right? What are you start getting into some dicey territory three days or so and you’re you might be in trouble. But air, you’re talking minutes. And yet of all the things that we worry about on a day to day basis, we’ve got the whole thing upside down, we’ve got the whole thing upside down. And, and in fact, if you look at just the pure volume of breathing, it’s remarkable. I mean, people breathe 13 to 15 times a minute you do the math, stretch it out, you’re talking to 20,000 plus press that day. I mean, that’s so so you’re doing this over and over again, in indoor air, the different thing, the thing that’s unique that people don’t realize is that you’re re breathing the same air. So you may have a small low level pollutants, like mold, or like VOCs, that might come from some new stuff that you just bought online. You know, or from something you bought it? Yeah, some of the big box stores, but the low level pollutant, a concentrates, and B gets reburied constantly. And so so it’s just like anything else. It’s not what we do. Some of the time that matters is what we do most of the time while you’re breathing all the time. And so and this is your interface with the world, your lungs are your interface with the world. Yeah, right.
11:17
Well, you’re absolutely right. I mean, we had Dr. Andrew Meyers, on our podcast a few episodes back. And he said literally, the number one nutrient for your body is oxygen. Right? Right. It’s the number one is the most important. And yeah, we don’t even think about it.
11:34
We don’t we take totally for granted. And in many ways, I you know, I promote awareness, rather than, you know, we don’t our products and services are the, you know, really are secondary, because I think that when people start thinking about this stuff, don’t make better decisions. And that’s what we’re here to do is help people make better decisions about their they breed.
11:55
Yeah, yeah. Well, listen, man, that’s a absolutely awesome mission, because it’s so important and so badly understood, right? When you get into the detail. I mean, if you look at life expectancy in a city, is about two years on average, lower than life expectancy in rural areas. And that’s purely down to air quality. And completely, you know, you’re talking about showing two years off your life. And because it’s kind of like, well, it’s kind of a long time, right? We just don’t even think how amazing those two extra years could be like, Why are we not more concerned about this? And then you also mentioned a bit about VOCs, which I’ve just actually had a baby, and graduation, thank you. But then he might have been here. And it’s been kind of simple. But like, you know, you, you start to realize, Wow, we spray these chemicals on every piece of equipment, and it’s usually flame retardant. So we try and, you know, keep sofas in rugs safe from fire damage, but what are we spraying on air? And how much of it? Are we actually breathing and what’s going on in that system? Well, so I
13:05
just we just finished up the International Society for indoor air quality is national conference, it was supposed to be in Hawaii, but when virtual and so you know, we did this, you know, there’s a huge group of international researchers presenting their stuff. And a large focus was actually these forever chemicals that you speak of flame retardants, stain resistant materials, things like that. The interesting part about that stuff is that a those things are the most, those are some of the most damaging chemicals that were supposed to ironically, we laugh we lavish them upon our babies, their mattresses and their clothing and stuff as if I don’t know how many babies catch fire spontaneously in their in their crib. But, you know, smoking cribs is probably not a good idea. But you know, the I just don’t know where they’re, how this is all being justified, but but the known toxicity these compounds is such that they should truly be banned. I mean, it doesn’t make any sense, the risk reward. So you got to vary, especially the stain resistant one, this is remarkable. You’re talking about a temporary potential aesthetic risk, that you’re subverting or preventing, and creating permanent long term hormonal damage in our children. That sounds like a great trade. I’ll take that make sure that carpet stays clean. But don’t worry about my kids and their hormonal disorders, right? I mean, give me a plate, right. So this is this is the kind of stuff that my grand mission here is ultimately to, is to empower consumers so that we can ultimately make have people who are who are legislating make better decisions about the air that we breathe to, for example, we should not have chemicals that are carcinogenic, or hormone modulating in building materials or furniture that goes in residential housing doesn’t make any sense. Certainly, I think commercial buildings have even stricter rules about some of these things because there’s money behind it. But residential man it’s just it’s a free for all and the chemical companies are behind all of the most of the building products. And so they’re not building product companies. They’re chemical companies that make building products. And they’re the ones that are educating the contractors. And so the contractor is going into the hardware store asking for their products, because they’re the ones being educated, right? So there’s, there’s a, there’s a education loop here that’s facilitating all of this. And what I’m proposing is that we have an education loop to create with the consumer. So they ask better questions. And so they created demand so that the contractors and the other providers, then start serving that need, and then see the results. Right. So this and you’re seeing this happen with industries all over the world where the consumers are now voting with their checkbook. And large industries are collapsing, like the Yellow Taxi Commission in New York City, or the world. And these kinds of things are crumbling under their own weight. And I believe that we have an opportunity similar to that with when it comes to air quality, and and the buildings that we live in working.
15:53
Well. Absolutely. Toby with you and on board. Because it’s massive. And like you say just doesn’t the risk reward profile doesn’t make sense if what we’re doing at all. But let’s get into mold. So let’s let’s, you know, mold is something we all know from our food, right? Food goes bad, it gets moldy, we throw it away. Nice and simple. But what about mold in our home? Like, where is it? What’s it doing to us? Give us the lowdown? Sure.
16:23
Sure. Mold one on one. So mold is part of the Kingdom fungi. It’s hanging out there with yeasts and other other non mushroom type of fungi. Its job is to take dead stuff and turn it into dirt. So it’s doing its job. It’s doing that in your yard with sticks and leaves and grass clippings and all that kind of stuff. When it does that in your home? Not so much. Right? So. And the thing is that ultimately, the Kingdom fungi always wins. We think that we’re at the top of the food chain. But I’ve gotten history of folks, we are not they are at the top of the food chain. And, and they’re a very important part of the food chain, by the way, because the reason that we have coal is because there was a period in history, believe it or not, where all the trees died, but they didn’t rot. Because there was no fungi to break them down. They ended up becoming coal and oil and all that good stuff. So we’ve got a lot of that has to do with the absence thereof. But so we need those guys to break stuff down. Otherwise we’d have a world full of that stuff, just piling up. But the thing about this is that they’re also very potent. Laboratories. molds have these incredible it’s it’s an amazing array of enzymes and chemic chemicals, some of which are weapons that they use against each other, that also impact our health. We’re very closely related to fungi, by the way, Paul Stamets, the great proselytizer of of mushrooms, he talks about this quite a bit. And that’s actually why he believes the antibiotics work well for us because it kills the bacteria but not the fungi. And so we are more closely related to them than than we think. So anyway, the bottom line is, we happen to have like a lot of the same lifestyle requirements. So like mold likes a comfortable temperature. So to wait, mold likes to eat. So to wait, it happens to like stuff that was one time dead. But we haven’t built buildings out of stuff that was at one time that sheet rock is paper with gypsum in the middle. And paper was of course from trees. And so so we build basically buildings out of paper mache. And in fact, I kind of laugh about that, because even the dumbest three little piece in buildings outside of paper, but we did. And yeah, it is. And that’s actually what happened. It was it was World War Two. And suddenly, we needed fast, cheap building materials to feed to feed the demand for baby boomers. And so we created fast, cheap materials. And they also happen to be self composting. Just add water. And so wet sheet rock is a perfect growth medium, it has the food. And it also absorbs water, that gypsum absorbs the water. And something that gets wet and stays wet. Let me back up actually. So mold likes the same stuff. We do temperature, food, moisture, right? We all need moisture. And of course oxygen as well. molds are our, our aerobic. And so. So we, we can’t really control we’re not going to change our temperature to modify mold. We’re not going to change the way we build buildings, because that’s just that’s not what we’re going to do not today at least, the only thing that we can really control is moisture. And that’s the only thing that causes mold to grow. The spores are ubiquitous. In other words, you are a wash and mold spores right now you’re breathing in and out right now 1000s of mold spores spores, in most cases without any ill effects unless you’re in a moldy environment yourself and you’re experiencing some sort of symptoms. But in most cases, you’re breathing in all sorts of mold spores. It’s a normal healthy thing. In fact, check this out. Fungi produces Is 50 Mega tons of spores every year 50 Mega tons is the equivalent of 500,000, blue whales, okay, it is the most abundant generator of biological particulates on the planet. It’s just, it’s incredible. So you are not going to get away from spores. what our job is to do is to maintain an environment that is not conducive to its grow. Because when it starts to grow in your building, it’ll start to produce these compounds. Some of them are the digestive byproducts that musty smell, which was long thought to be just a nuisance, but it’s now known to be an actual health hazard. It doubles the risk of asthma and children, it causes adult onset and some people adult onset asthma and some people, chemical sensitivities and others headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, it’s a it’s a powerful combination of chemicals, that will, that will, that will reduce your your vitality to an incredible degree. And we see this often with people who are living in basement apartments, in any any sort of a musty space, that is a major, major problem and people will dismiss it. But the emerging medical research on this is, is is extremely clear that anytime you smell that smell, you take action.
21:18
Well, so yeah, that is incredible. I mean, I love that, you know, reality of just in our environment, we’re breathing them in right now, wherever you are, doesn’t matter that there is the same thing I always say about the immune system, right and viruses so there’s, you know, probably close to a trillion viruses in your room with you right now that they’re part of the ecosystem. And we just have to learn to live with them in the right way and deal with them and have a functioning immune system that can function and work optimally to keep you healthy. You know, you can’t hide and it’s you know, you’re sending exactly the same thing, right? We can’t hide from fungi is going to be around is so ubiquitous, but it’s like how do we create our environments in the best possible way? To you know, to make sure it doesn’t make sell. So, what is it? You know, what’s typical? Like, what do you see most common with people? Like, I don’t think I have no, but you know, where would I start looking?
22:20
Well, so first of all about about the what you were just saying, I think when it when it comes down to people, you know, once wondering if they’ve got mold, first thing you want to do is you know, or if you see something, smell something or feel something, those are the three questions you want to ask yourself, do you see something smell something or feel something? You know, seeing something obviously, if you see water, that’s a concern any signs of dampness, so condensation on Windows, blistering paint, you know, these kinds of things, obviously, any of that sort of speckled pattern could be, you know, mold colonizing. So if you see something, do something, if you smell something, the musty smell we just talked about, that’s a dead giveaway. It’s it’s, it’s it is the gift of mold, by the way, I have been playing with this idea of buildings as having a center is a symbiotic relationship with our buildings, it’s sort of like the building as a as a body or the building as an organism really. And I think that when the bot when the building starts to developing campaigns, and it starts to have problems like moisture issues, the first thing that develops is mold. And the mold sends a signal, which is that smell, and that smell, it’s kind of like a signals kind of like when we get inflammation in our body, you know, and it’s telling you that there’s a tension that needs to be directed here. And if you don’t direct your attention there, then it will get worse. And then so an acute inflammation is no big deal, right? That hopefully will heal itself. Chronic inflammation is a disease in and of itself. Acute moisture is is just something you just deal with. Chronic moisture is a disease in and of itself. It is a disease in the building, the building gets sick. And then of course, you know, because the building doesn’t have an immune system. We are its immune system. And so it’s our job to do that. And what’s interesting is that when you heal the building that people feel to so there is a synergist, there is a brother at symbiosis. There’s a mutualism, if you will, the building requires you and you require it. You can’t live without it for one of the basic human needs, right. Like, and, and if you look at buildings that are unoccupied, they collapse they don’t do well on occupied they need us we need them. It’s it’s a it’s something to consider that we actually have a relationship there that might be more so than just you know, paying the mortgage and paying the electric bill.
24:31
Why is this a great analogy? Because I think, you know that the challenges, right? If you ignore the symptom, you then start getting sick yourself. And then what happens to your body, right, this is what was a symptom Do you have like you said, you were allergic to everything. Now, what’s the doctor gonna do to treat your allergies to everything, right? You know, in the current conventional medical model, we’re like, okay, you’re allergic to pollen to how do we fix that and block that receptor. Okay, you’re allergic to wheat or gluten, we need another pill to fix that. And then do you know what I mean? Like, and the medical model has kind of lost the understanding of the symbiosis. And actually, well, let’s fix the home, remove the root cause as it were. And then from that, we can start the healing process and outfit’s body
25:26
100%. I mean, you know, doctors are starting to wake up and realize that they’re making their job harder than it needs to be it you know, the first thing you want to do is if you if you want to get better stop doing stuff that makes you weak. And and this is something that makes you weak, I would argue that mold is is a kryptonite for many people, for most people, you know, you said to finish the three, three pieces, because it dovetails into what we’re saying that the last piece is if you feel something, and what’s interesting is that people will complain about with mold from a wide variety of, or with a wide variety of symptoms. Upper respiratory typical sinusitis, sinusitis is largely related to mold, according to Mayo Clinic study done from 1989. And that affects 37 million Americans to one of the most prevalent long term illnesses in America, asthma, Asthma is a big number. You know, so as the triggering asthma asthmatic like symptoms, but you know, the more nebulous stuff is where you start getting into the cognitive impairment, brain fog and fatigue and difficulty concentrating. As I mentioned earlier, there was a big study that was done. And it’s fascinating stuff, actually, Brown University, did a study in 2007, and found a connection between mold and dampness indoors and depression. In fact, it was, it was a it was an offshoot of an Oxford University study that was done, that they were kind of challenging, and they actually found similar data. But the The interesting part about that is that you think about public health cost, you think about lost productivity, how many how many people that that were medicating, or they’re self medicating, either through drugs or alcohol or whatever, or food are doing that, because they’re experiencing indoor air quality induced depression. And so you see, the cost associated with this is so massive. And the thing that’s interesting to me, and this is where I was, I was about to go. But I kind of lost my train of thought on what you were saying, What about about the sort of priorities, outdoor air is everyone’s worried about the outdoor environment. And I think we should preserve our environment, we’ve got generations to come that deserve to have a beautiful place that we enjoy, right? That we can all enjoy. It’s imperative, but not at the, at the exclusion of our indoor environment. And so But and so we literally have we scoring 90%, about the time 90%, about the outdoor environment, maybe 10%. Indoors, but we spend 90% of our time indoors. And the funny thing is, is that we had no control over the outdoor environment. I mean, no one of us, not even Elon Musk, will have a true impact on me the outdoor environment in a lasting way, with all of his enterprise, clean or not clean. Nobody, nobody, nobody, I mean, we can’t deal with Russia, we can’t deal with China. However, in your home, you have an unbelievable amount of control. And because we have 90% of our time indoors, that means that you have control over most of your indoor environment, most of the time. And the question is, are you taking advantage of that? And so, you know, our job is to create tools and knowledge for people to to measure and then modify those things in a healthy way. But you know, really, because it begins with the awareness that you can do that. And that, and I believe that since we have so little control over our lives, if you’re honest with yourself, you control very little. This is an area where you have unique domain control, if you so choose to exercise. Yeah,
28:55
wow. Absolutely. But I guess it’s scary for people, right? Like, you know, where do you get started? Like, how big is the problem? So, for example, I’m sure most people have like a little bit damp under their sink, potentially, where they got a leaky up, and, you know, and it’s dripping onto the chip board, and you know, you see a bit of water damage, but like you don’t really maybe really see mold, like, or maybe there’s a little bit like, at what point does it become? Like, just a little bit of mold versus like, No, this is a real health issue.
29:29
Yeah, well, it’s a really good question. That last part of you, if you see something small something or feel something that feels something it’s generally speaking, where you know that that that is usually the trigger that pushes people towards action. It shouldn’t be that way. But it is and that’s just sort of the American way, I suppose is the human way. But we, what I look at this there is a distinction and the line is blurry, though or maybe it’s a broad line Flora broad and fuzzy line between mould lines. household mold, sort of like basic household hygiene mold that happens the grout between the tiles and your shower. And, you know, like you said, that little bit of a leaky, you drink any water intrusion of any significance is unacceptable period because it’s going to cause problems. So if you have an active leak of any sort or kind your job, you must take action on this quickly, the EPA, the US EPA says that, you know, moisture or water problem is not properly dried or dealt with within 24 to 48 hours, is a high risk for mold problem. The industry standard actually says the same thing in terms of the mold remediation industry standard. But then they go further to say that at 72 hours, everything should be treated as if it’s moldy, whether it’s visible or not. So basically something that gets wet and stays wet for three days, you just immediately don’t even worry about testing or anything else, it gets wet and says what three days and it’s porous, consider it gone. And that’s a good rule of thumb. So what that means is people are worrying about moisture issues in terms of weeks, months, years, right. And I’m talking about days, where you can’t even say hours, so you have to move quickly on this mold is a fact of life, it’s like that it’s up there with death and taxes, it’s going to happen, whether it you may not have, it may not happen to you yet, but it’s gonna happen. And when it does, you’re either gonna be prepared or not. And so I would say that this is probably up there with, you know, you should learn how to, you know, boil water, you should learn how to, you know, change your tire, you should learn how to balance a checkbook if we do that anymore. And you should learn how to deal with a moisture problem when it happens. So it doesn’t become a mold issue. It’s that it’s that basic thing is that people think that it’s this unusual thing that happens like lightning striking or like a seismic shift or like an earthquake. And it’s not like that it’s very predictable biological phenomenon that happens within days or something gets wet. It’s that.
31:48
That’s a really interesting point. Because yeah, the psychology of most people is I heard one story about one guy who had a bit of black mold or whatever, but where it happened to me, right, it’s not going to happen to me, is do you? Is there any data? Or do you have an understanding of like, what is the prevalence of serious mold in the home? Is it you know, 10% of houses in the US? Is it 90?
32:15
Yeah, the statistics are kind of shocking. And I didn’t really answer the question about how do you know what the difference between mold and mold problem. And the difference in mold, household mold and a mold problem is, is the nature of the moisture. You know, like I said, if it’s in the shower, and you know, you that’s a moisture prone area, that’s why there are tiles, why we’re not showering with carpet, on the walls, you know, it, there’s, there’s that’s designed for that, and then you can be cleaned up and your moisture your your bathroom exhaust vent venting outside, right? Even if building code doesn’t say, so that’s the only way to do it. And so, you you, you have to and then when it comes to a mold problem, that is typically a an active moisture issue. Now active means that it has not been solved. It could be intermittent. But chronic. So something that happens once is, you know, a quick flood or a leak has to be dealt with promptly. But if it’s not, that will become a mold problem. If if you’ve got a chronic issue, even if it’s a drip, drip drip off that you join, that can go from this little stain to a significant mold problem in a very brief period of time. The types of molds that are most disconcerting, the ones that are called toxic mold and black mold. Their home wares are actually late stage colonizers. And so they only come after the little guys have come in kind of eaten eaten away stuff. They come in and kill everything because they’ve got these very potent chemical toxins that actually affect us too. And that’s why they’re called toxic mold. That’s why it’s that’s one of the reasons why that we get kind of caught in the crosshairs. And so you want to address a mold, even if you think it’s small, especially if you think it’s small. I consider that a gift that you found it when it was small. Because Because mold you know what mold does, it grows. It’s a lot like a boa constrictor, it will it will it will get wrapped around, it will just continue to grow. And then as soon as the moisture goes away, it just stays. Moisture comes back and then it grows more. And just like a boa constrictor. Every time you exhale tightens, the mold will do the same thing and it will just continue to go. Ultimately, it wants to own your house. Are you gonna let it?
34:25
Yeah, it would consume the whole thing, right? If you gave it enough moisture and enough time. It’s right
34:31
and it will force the people out of it. You know, it will force it, it will make it in a bit of an inhospitable, uninhabitable. Ultimately, that’s the goal of mold is to get you out of there so that it can take your house and turn it back into dirt. And so the difference in a mold, mold issue, mold, mold, mold spores, and a mold problem is that it’s the it’s the it’s the nature and the length of the of the problem. and anything any degree of mold is causing any sort of health effect. And people intuitively usually have a pretty good idea. If something’s making them sick, they feel better when they leave. And and if they if they in fact do, then that that is enough for you to know, it doesn’t matter the size of a mold problem doesn’t dictate the impact on health, it really has more to do with individual sensitivity than anything else.
35:19
Yeah, I guess that’s where it can be the tip of the iceberg rather tips people into poor health, like, if you’ve got a compromised immune system, your general metabolic health is quite poor, then it doesn’t take a lot of mold to probably tip you into a state of issue.
35:37
Sure. Yeah, I have an allergy there. I think our immune system is a juggler. And it’s just doing its thing. And if it’s, well, if you’re giving it what it needs, you know, you’ve got the right balance of nutrients and, and, and the like, it will, it will, it will continue to juggle without fail. Mold is like a guy across the room throwing balls at the juggler someone’s gonna, someone’s gonna, someone’s gonna fail the ball, something, you’re gonna catch them, you’re gonna deal with it some way shape or form, but someone’s going to drop the ball, and your immune system is going to drop the ball, it’s gonna get distracted. Mold is it will over it will it will cast a pall over other conditions it will, it will make you susceptible to other conditions, it can also by itself, in some cases, if you got a compromised immune system, fungi, you know that household mold can become pathogenic people do die from fungal infections that they got compromised immune system. So you the range of mold Symptoms range from zero like people, I’ve very common, you walk into a house, five people living in there, one person called, they’ve been very emphatic, this is houses sick, there’s something wrong here. Usually it’s it’s the woman or the trial. And it’s just happens to be that way most of the time, because they spend more time in the home. But also they tend to be more in tune. more in tune, women in particular have a better sense of smell, they’ve more, they’re more intuitive when it comes to things being off balance, especially when it comes to the home. And thank goodness for that because men really need more intuitive, strong help insightful women, right. And it’s what makes the world go around. We just make messes us man. But the but the but that balance is is the key. And so. So when it comes down to the, the immune system and mold does really is it interrupts all of the other processes, mold, mold and indoor air quality has been shown to impact hormones, impacts people, hunger hormones, it wreaks havoc on it has an impact on people’s. It’s obviously allergenic. Some people it has, it can be toxigenic. And also, interestingly, mold creates in some people, something called chronic inflammatory response syndrome, which is or it just period, and I’m sorry, it causes inflammation in the body. And such that some psychiatrists are now recommending our test kit and other and mold inspections as part of their intake because they’re finding that in psychiatric illness, that they’re finding inflammation at the root of most of it, except for you know, there’s one particular practice once to prescribe it to every single new patient, except for people that are there for relationship issues.
38:28
Wow, that’s amazing. But yeah, I mean, it’s the new science and research on psychological problems is often you know, they find things that are chemical level wrong. It’s not just psychological, it’s physiological as well. And, yeah, why? Why can mold have a role to play in that and disrupt something that then creates inflammation in the brain or somewhere that then kind of throws a whole system of work. And I think that’s the fascinating thing with stuff like mold and allergies, where the conventional medical system struggles to treat or cure them, because they look at just one particular thing. But actually, what you said is, well, mold could express itself in my range of ways from psychological problems, to allergic problems, to inflammation to to weight gain, perhaps if it is making, you know, more hungry and changing your hormones. To that makes it almost impossible to diagnose, right. And that’s, I guess, where you come in with, got mold.com Tell us a little bit about you know, the business and what what your mission is that?
39:37
Sure. So when I got back from Hawaii, armed with a whole bunch of curiosity, I, I found a company that was there was no such thing as a mold remediation firm at the time, it was such a new industry. And I I found a company that was doing basement waterproofing and mold remediation as sort of like an add on and quickly saw that they were not Are they doing the right thing for the consumer, and they’re using a lot of chemicals and such, which just didn’t seem right. And so I ended up figuring out there were maybe an opportunity to create an inspection business that would help consumers navigate these waters without to protect really them from the contractors to do the initial inspection and testing. I also right around that time, it was looking at different technologies and discovered the use of mold sniffing dogs, which sounds crazy. But is was was was brilliant I ended up being we ended up being one of the pioneers of multi detection dogs starting in 2003. And did just do incredible work with these pups hobbling finds hidden mold, and buildings. And we actually call it the company lab results, because we use Labrador Retrievers, and laboratory testing. And that company became one 800 Got mold, our mold inspection business, and, and I’ve been doing that for 20 years. So we’ve been helping people navigate this, these waters for a long time. And, but the thing about it is that the cost associated with having a professional inspection is high, to have a qualified person come out and do this work. It takes a lot of time and a lot of a lot of resources, laboratory fees, etc. And so the average inspection is north of $1,000. So often more. And so it’s out of reach for most people, and certainly people who have are renting, why would they want to make that kind of investment in a property that they don’t own, and that they probably can’t even take action on. They couldn’t even remediate it if they wanted to. So as a result is huge swath of the population that is a completely unserved, not underserved, unserved that have very real issues with with mold, and they’re currently I would, I would even argue, oppressed by landlord tenant relationships and budget constraints and all these things that are, it’s already hard enough to take, actually, when you get when you’re worried about a mold problem, because there is so much fear and anxiety associated with well, what if I do have a problem, then what, and then what if I do have a problem, then I’m gonna feel so bad that I didn’t take action on Syria, am I a bad parent, that partner but it just, we just, we just we to beat ourselves to oblivion and then into paralysis. And so the idea behind what we’re currently doing now with our test kit, is to eliminate all those concerns is to is to remove the obstacles, for example, cost, you know, so I got all that. So let me back up the mold inspection business that we created. The cost, the cost says we were having a professional inspection was such that my parents could not have even afforded to hire us. And yet I created this company, out of the pain that my family went through. And I made it, it’s cost prohibitive. So so I had to close that loop. And so ultimately, that’s why we created a do it yourself test kit, to allow people to collect the air samples using the same devices that professionals use the same ones that we use in a professional inspection. But we reduced the the the hardware down to a very low cost. So you can collect air samples in your house. And you can test the one two or three rooms for starting at 149. And that includes lab fees and postage both ways. And the analysis is done by the top lab in the country and lab PNK we’re looking at spores and the different types that are that are found in indoors. And our report does an automatic comparison of these generates a very user friendly, green, yellow, orange, red interpretation. The report also gives you recommendations on what to do next in terms of how to hire a professional how to find a qualified contractor, Inspector, etc. And so, so we just launched this just a couple of months ago. So we’re, we’re very excited, the results have been wonderful so far. But what we’re ultimately doing it the real driving force here is that this is a tool for change, to get people out of apathy to get out of inertia, rather, so that if they’re concerned about this, they can now do it without having to get permission from anyone. They can do this without having to you know, without having to find and hire a qualified professional. And so we we created up a for your listeners, we created a welcome page to invite to share some of our
44:17
information, we actually have an ebook that that we that we publish, how to find mold, which can be very useful to your listeners. It’s 45 pages, it’s got inspection checklists, and, and a bunch of FAQs about mold. And so we put that for free on a page for your listeners that got mold.com/power within and also on that page, you’ll find that there’s a coupon code for your listeners that they can get a 10% 10% discount on any of our kits. When you buy a kit you can test one two or three rooms and then once you’ve once you’ve done that you get the keep the pump and then you can buy refills so it’s a lot less expensive to test the second time and you can get 10% off on any of those For
45:00
us, that’s awesome. I mean, it’s, it’s something we look at, as well, it Tonica a lot, we actually started as a business in more than the solution side of things like cravings, supplements, the best kind of healthy natural supplements with no added sugar or junk for your immune system to help, you know, repair your immune system and fuel it and nourish it to that it can do its job, but then we actually then start going, Hey, but actually, a lot of people don’t know, they’ve got an issue with their immune system. And that’s when we started watching test kits in partnership with people. So we’ve got the world’s first kind of at home vitamin D testing that can give you your blood vitamin D level within 15 minutes using your phone and a little fingerprint blood test. So actually cutting out that as well as a step to make it you know, super easy, super affordable, super, like, attainable for people because as you say that the first port of call is, Do I have a problem? And making that? Making the answer to that question really affordable and accessible, so that people can do it, please, like you say, $1,000 for, you know, calling an inspection out and then if there is a problem, or you might have to tear down a wall or like rebuild a kitchen unit, you know, people are like, Oh God, this could cost 510 $1,000 I’m out, I don’t have that spare cash. And they’re just going to ignore the problem, right? But the more you make it accessible, the more you make it easy for people and affordable, the more people can take control of their own health and, you know, make a difference to their lives. So good. Only
46:36
100% Yeah, so it’s been it’s been a lot of fun. And as you can see, just from the initial feedback from people that they that, you know, what we what we sell, I, I’ve concluded is not test kits or mold inspections, or even healthy air, I think we sell peace of mind. You know, and that’s something that’s in short supply these days. So
46:57
what is Yeah, with everything that’s going on in the world right now, if it’s not COVID, it’s Russia, and all sorts of other things. So it’s a bit crazy. Never a dull moment. never dull. Like currently just leave us to get on with life for a little bit like a little bit. But no, that’s cool, man. Well, listen, thank you so much for joining us, we’re kind of out of time. But it’s been really interesting. I’ve learned a lot. And we definitely have to hook up another time and talk about you’ve got the diagnostics, how was the treatment as well, like, how do you cure someone once they have a mold issue, not just curing the house, but how do you cure their health and their immune system? Like how can we help that recovery process? Because I’m sure there’s some things we can look at from a kind of natural health perspective of how you aid that process and help the system get back in balance quicker. I mean, what how was it for you, when you lived in that farmhouse for eight years experiencing symptoms when you left? Did it just disappear overnight? Or did it take a bit of time?
48:03
It took time it was and there are still sort of echoes from that occasionally. In other words, I think that susceptibilities to those allergies are beneath the surface. And what happened in my assessment is that the chronic exposure just brought those to the surface. And so those those are still waiting there for me, in the event that I and they tend to show up when I have like, not when I have like GMO foods, I tend to notice these things will flare up, you know, so there there are triggers that, that bring that up. So, but I think that, for me, it was really about first step of detoxing is stop taxing. And, and so if you’ve got the right, if your liver is behaving properly, and you’ve got the right genetics, and there’s the genetics, we can do this a whole nother podcast on this, but there’s a genetic predisposition, is a mutation that prevents people from being able to detoxify biotoxins well, it affects people with Lyme disease, as well as mold. And, and so those people don’t tend to detox naturally as well. And so they need a little bit of a boost. But when it comes to when it comes to detoxification of for mold in particular, the good immune system is everything. And and then and of course, you know, dealing with getting the environment under control, because you don’t want to create an environment that’s conducive to mold growth. It’s not conducive to human life. As soon as you heal that then then then you can rest and when you rest that body the immune system can start juggling again. Yeah, and when it’s doing its thing, then all is one
49:41
amazing lesson. That was awesome. Jason, really, really interesting. One thing we always ask our guests before we go is What one thing do you Maxim, do you swear by to maximize your health? But obviously in this case, it’s quite clear that it’s removed them all but have you got like One killer tip that people can take away from today’s podcasts and go and check some things in their house or do something to make sure that they haven’t got any bad mark.
50:10
Well, so this is this is not this is a little bit of a kind of a jumping over the mold. So the first thing to do is, is obviously stop any moisture issues that you’ve got. But I would actually advocate and this this may seem a little bit crazy, but I advocate air filters in everybody’s house, I believe that every single house should have ample HEPA filtration. And ideally should have air filtration that has activated carbon in sufficient amounts in that in those units. Because that will remove the VOCs. And, and you should change the filters on the regular. Because if they do get clogged up with the especially the VOCs they get saturated. I believe that if you’ve got you know, if you’ve got any concern about your air quality, you know, mold is obviously something that you should be vigilant about. But even absent mold, there’s a reason to be proactive on this and to get the right equipment in your house that’s going to work while you’re sleeping. And so, you know, a good air purifier, I would argue is a secret weapon and a home, I recommend mattify I like AccuAir. You know, there there, there are lots of good air purifiers out there, you want to look for true HEPA, and you want to find ones that have activated carbon. But that’s that’s my that’s that’s my suggestion. I think if everybody filled their house with air purification, we reduce tremendous I mean health care costs, loss where productivity, I mean that one thing would change the world in a positive way. Mold for no mold.
51:41
Amazing. No, that’s a really good tip. And actually something I don’t do myself, I’ve got my water filter, I’ve got water sorted, I’ve got my food on lockdown on the customer immune system, but I’ve actually never put like an air purifier in the house. So I’m going to look into that. Awesome. So tell us one last time where our listeners can find you and your companies and what steps they can take.
52:08
Yes. So I can be found@gmail.com If you have any questions about mold, you can post those in the in that there’s a little section on the homepage, where you can ask questions. Also, you can ask questions on Facebook. But if you’re interested in learning more about mold and you want to take advantage of this ebook, if you want to take a look at the test kits and and save a couple of bucks go to gmail.com/power within and and that that page is just for for your listeners exclusively. And so you can always just reach out to us though we’ve got a wonderful, amazing team, I look at almost all the messages to and respond to a fair bit of myself still. But ya know, we’re pleased to be here I’m grateful to have the opportunity to, to to share what we’re working with working on with your audience to help them live healthier, happier lives.
53:05
Amazing. Thank you so much, Jason. It’s been an absolute pleasure. And thanks for coming Thank you for joining us on today’s episode of the podcast brought to you by tonic health, helping you harness the power of your immune system naturally. Follow us at Tonic health or subscribe to this podcast to learn more about the magical power within us the immune system
