Dark Knight
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2004
- Messages
- 21,649
- Reaction score
- 82
U.S. health officials are urging that Gulf Coast hurricane victims be moved out of their government-issued trailers as quickly as possible after tests found toxic levels of formaldehyde fumes.
Fumes from 519 trailer and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were on average about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In some trailers, the levels were nearly 40 times customary exposure levels, raising fears that residents could contract respiratory problems.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency which supplied the trailers should move people out quickly, with priority given to families with children, elderly people or anyone with asthma or other chronic conditions, said Mike McGeehin, director of a CDC division that focuses on environmental hazards.
"We do not want people exposed to this for very much longer," McGeehin said.
While there are no federal safety standard for formaldehyde fumes in homes, the levels found in the trailers are high enough to cause burning eyes and breathing problems for people who have asthma or sensitivity to air pollutants, said McGeehin.
CDC officials said the study did not prove people became sick from the fumes, but merely took a snapshot reading of fume levels. Only formaldehyde was tested, they added.
FEMA provided about 120,000 travel trailers to victims of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2006, some occupants began reporting headaches and nosebleeds.
The complaints were linked to formaldehyde, a colorless gas with a pungent smell used in the production of plywood and resins.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214...s&printer=1;_ylt=AvnoTZZ7mH5d3EDT7Gakcs1H2ocA
Fumes from 519 trailer and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were on average about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In some trailers, the levels were nearly 40 times customary exposure levels, raising fears that residents could contract respiratory problems.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency which supplied the trailers should move people out quickly, with priority given to families with children, elderly people or anyone with asthma or other chronic conditions, said Mike McGeehin, director of a CDC division that focuses on environmental hazards.
"We do not want people exposed to this for very much longer," McGeehin said.
While there are no federal safety standard for formaldehyde fumes in homes, the levels found in the trailers are high enough to cause burning eyes and breathing problems for people who have asthma or sensitivity to air pollutants, said McGeehin.
CDC officials said the study did not prove people became sick from the fumes, but merely took a snapshot reading of fume levels. Only formaldehyde was tested, they added.
FEMA provided about 120,000 travel trailers to victims of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2006, some occupants began reporting headaches and nosebleeds.
The complaints were linked to formaldehyde, a colorless gas with a pungent smell used in the production of plywood and resins.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214...s&printer=1;_ylt=AvnoTZZ7mH5d3EDT7Gakcs1H2ocA