Something to 'Hyde

Companies knew about high formaldehyde levels in FEMA trailers, Dems say

Posted at 8:03 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said RV trailer manufacturers knew that the trailers they sold to the government had excessively high levels of formaldehyde but didn't disclose the information for fear of bad press. The trailers, which were used to house hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast, have been a touchy subject at FEMA ever since occupants began reporting headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, and shortness of breath. The agency has since asked many families to move out of the trailers. One trailer-company chairman told the Oversight Committee he thought the results of tests showing high levels of formaldehyde were "irrelevant information" because the Federal Emergency Management Agency already knew about the high toxicity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month blamed much of the trailer fiasco on poor ventilation and lax government standards for formaldehyde in RVs, a view the Oversight Committee's Republicans seized on in their defense of the companies. "The problem was and remains confusion among federal agencies, not some conspiracy among trailer-makers," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

sources: The Washington Post, Associated Press

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Comments: (4 comments)

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The blame game

Trailer manufacturer wants to blame FEMA because they knew of the high toxicity. The CDC blames "fiasco" on poor ventilation & lax gov't. standards. Might as well "kick the dog while we're at it". Meanwhile people are sick because of it.
This is another variation of an old song called the name game only this is the blame game. Howz about all those blamers live in a new trailer for a year and see how they like it. I'm a "masked goddess" because of "low level" chemical poisioning. That's what those people are suffering from, poisioning - call it another name, but that's what it boils down to.

by Masked Goddess at 8:56 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Ha...

Well, at least the manufacturers admitted they knew about the chemicals in their trailers. It would have been laughable if they denied knowing about the presence of formaldehyde. I worked for 14 years for a company called ADSI(previous names for this company include: DSI, or Dcorative Surfaces Int'l, Borden Decorative Products, and Orchard Corporation of America), which was a mid-size rotogravure printing company here in St. Louis. It no longer exists, having been mismanaged into the ground by 2006 by the management group installed when the company was purchased from Borden in late 90's. I, along with 88 other men, were fired from that company in 2004 after going on strike(although we were locked out when we showed for work on third shift). I am a pressman with many years of experience at rotogravure printing and I can tell you that we printed for many companies(including Fleetwood) which used the melamine topcoat which was standard for the industry at the time. I believe the melamine topcoat is cheaper than the superior and less toxic urethane. This coating DID contain formaldehyde, and it was clearly stated on the 8x10 label affixed to every roll of these products shipped from our facility. Let me tell you folks, you can't sneeze in that industry as a supplier(printer) without telling your customers about ANY changes to coating or paper specs. The fact that we tried a different formulation(though still containing "hyde") and different paper and subsequently lost two of our largest customers(our management kind of forget to tell them about these changes) should give some indication of how sensitive Fleetwood, et al, are about the contents of vendor-supplied materiel. The "confusion" is just a smoke-screen put there by the spokesman, er, I mean, Representative to obscure the FACT that the trailer manufcturers knew about the presence of various chemicals in their manufactured products. I mean really, EVERYBODY must have had the MSDS for all the chemicals in these trailers. That includes FEMA. CDC, probably not. Having said all that, airing out the trailers for a few days or weeks should reduce the levels of toxins to a "safer" level. It's funny reading the symptoms of various afflicted people: dizziness, headaches, nosebleeds, etc. These were among the things listed on the label we sent out with ADSI's product. In addition to the warning about formaldehyde's KNOWN carcinogenic tendencies.

The mellotron is your friend.

by archigeek at 10:15 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Forum while dey hide

No conspiracy here, just a little confusion among government agencies. Let's move Tom Davis and family into a Katrina trailer and see how long the confusion lasts?

Cheers.

by roncastle at 10:53 AM on 10 Jul 2008

It's no joke

I spent a week in New Orleans helping at the trailer parks we speak of, with a Middlebury College service trip. The very first day, I spent about an hour in a trailer before I started to get a headache, which became very severe. I went outside and my nose started bleeding profusely, and soon I was vomiting, and it went on like this for about 30 minutes after I left the trailer. The headache lasted much longer. Everyone I was with seemed to be fine. Needless to say, there is a major issue of responsibility here!

by jgiampie at 11:34 PM on 10 Jul 2008

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