Why this site exists
In August 2024, Thomas Bowman Jr got seriously sick after using the sauna at his gym in Daytona Beach, Florida. He filmed the mold growing in it, tested it himself, and then did what a citizen is supposed to do: he reported it — to the gym, to the franchise owners, to the chain’s corporate CEOs, to the Florida Attorney General, the Governor, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Better Business Bureau, the county health department, and city code enforcement.
Every door led nowhere. The health department told him there is no mandate covering gym saunas — no rule that lets anyone inspect one, test one, or shut one down. That turned out to be true not just in Florida, but effectively nationwide.
Mold is a topic a lot of people get sick from and few people in authority will touch. So this site does the job at scale: the science, the documented cases, the researchers and authors worth listening to, a petition for a real inspection mandate in every state, and a step-by-step route for any consumer to file a complaint that lands on the right desk.
Start here
- The Story — the founding case: five videos, three named mold species, and the complete agency trail — from Daytona Beach, the World’s Most Famous Beach, where the most famous gym name on earth met a sauna nobody had the mandate to inspect.
- Learn — what actually grows in saunas, why sweat and sealed benches are the problem, mold toxicity and mycotoxins explained, and how to test a sauna yourself.
- Gym Watch — the nationwide evidence base, chain by chain, every claim labeled Documented, Reported, Alleged, or Review-level.
- RSG Group — the founding case taken to the brand owner: Thomas’s August 2024 email, his public video message to the RSG executives he named, and the count of days since — with no response received.
- Voices — the mold authors and creators worth promoting, scored 0–10 for accuracy and quality. Score 7 or higher and their work is republished here, with credit.
- Petitions — one ask, fifty states: give health departments a mandate to inspect and test saunas on complaint.
- Report It — the consumer action center: how to file a complaint in your state, worked end-to-end for Florida.