Dampness and Mold Hypersensitivity Syndrome, or Mold-related Illness, Has Become Highly Politicized and Downplayed in Finland

Tamara Tuuminen, MD

In Finland, the public health policy regarding the management of patients exposed to dampness microbiota and decay products of construction materials in moisture-damaged buildings remains unacceptable. Most important, it has become practically impossible to hold a true exchange of views on this topic with the Department of Health and Welfare and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. While in the past patients would have been thoroughly examined medically, such as by specialist physicians investigating a suspicion of allergic alveolitis, currently mold-related disease or dampness and mold hypersensitivity syndrome (DMHS), usually identified as the disease’s chronic cause, is misinterpreted as a functional impairment. The illness is claimed to be psychological and to respond to treatment with the Dynamic Neuronal Retraining System (DNRS), a method for which no evidence of its effectiveness exists, even though it’s promoted by policymakers. A critical questioning of this public policy is deemed heretical by insurance companies and their concealed allies, such as Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) means that critics of this approach may be subjected to vilification, harassment, reprimands, demotion, attacks in the social media, denial of funding and grants and access to research material, and even outright offensive behavior and marginalization. Not surprisingly, censorship or self-censoring is common, and conflicts of interests are hidden. The aim of this commentary is to advocate open-minded, honest debates with no prevailing a-priori attitudes. A return to a medicine-based interpretation of the disease and the mechanisms underpinning would be met with enthusiasm in Finland.

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