I was hunting for odd bits in my piles the other night
and
was shocked at the decay of several plastic parts. The ends
of a set of GPIB cables for an old CBM disk drive were
covered in a white powder coating - not mold, but slow decay
of the plastic.
This might still be mold. There are thousands of types of mold, and they
all need to "eat" what they grow on. I'm battling mold now that I'm
sorting/cleaning my basement. Lots of surprises, as there seems to be a
mold type for just about any material.