Service academy plagued by mold making cadets sick, report finds

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy has had a decades-long mold problem that regularly made cadets and employees sick with minimal intervention, a June 10 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report found.

The NIOSH report found that the academy had a persistent mold problem that caused cadets and employees to contract various diseases over the course of at least a decade between 2011 and 2022, Military.com reported Monday. Multiple people at the academy said the mold problem has been well-known for years, and that confidence is low the academy will sufficiently address the problem.

Diseases caused by the mold include systemic inflammatory response syndrome, autoimmune conditions, burning and irritation of eyes, nose and throat, chronic rhinitis, gastrointestinal issues, headaches, light sensitivity, endocrine problems, excessive sweating, short-term memory loss and hearing issues, according to Military.com.

“They will not make meaningful changes, in my opinion,” Susan Bibeau, president of Local 219 of the American Federation of Government Employees represneting around 130 employees at the academy, told Military.com. “Potential hires need to know about the risks, as do the people who work there.”

The Coast Guard Academy is home to around 420 employees and about 1,100 cadets, according to Military.com

The NIOSH was requested to launch an investigation into the issue in 2022 by union representatives and other employees, Military.com reported. The report found that indoor humidity was chronically high in most buildings on the campus, with condensation leaking from vents, pipes and other duct work.

The Coast Guard Academy told the Daily Caller News Foundation that they welcomed the NIOSH investigation, and that they are taking multiple measures to improve the conditions at the academy. They added that the institution established a team in 2018 aimed at addressing the “inherent challenges faced in historic buildings within a humid environment,” and that they established an “action plan” over the past two years to address the issues.

“In the interim, the Academy is committed to continue to employ the best mitigation and remediation practices to continue to support the safety of the entire Coast Guard Academy community,” the academy told the DCNF.

The Trump administration has stated it wants to put “warfighters first” under its tenure, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly insisting that the Pentagon will put the rank-and-file at the top of the priority list. While Hegseth has pushed forward several reforms intended to improve quality of life for service members, issues such as conditions in certain Army barracks remain a stumbling block.

NIOSH did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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