Notebook

In the past year or two, indoor mold has emerged as a major homeowner health scare. Mold-related lawsuits against builders, landlords, and insurance companies have become so common that Mealey Publications — a national clearinghouse of litigation news and information — now devotes a separate category to them, as it does to suits involving lead, asbestos, and tobacco. Even Rex Morgan, the fictional comic-strip doctor, has weighed in with a multi-week story revolving around unexplained mold-related illnesses. “It’s become a phobia,” says Daniel Friedman, a home inspector in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. “Scary news articles do everyone an injustice, because when people are scared, there are always other people who find a way to make money on their fear.” What is mold? Mold