CDC: Gulf Coast trailers have toxic air

Dark Knight

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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
 
My question is why wouldn't they use a different process for the plywood?
This is terrible.

A good read..
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/formaldehyde/
So, do they just send all of the trailers to the recyclers??

Leave it up to the government to find a way to waste $2.4 billion dollars. Of course the War In Iraq costs close to $4 billion dollars a week.
 
I was listening to ABC news tonight, and he said that $60,000 has been spent so far on each trailer!!!

And Chertoff says they won't be using any more trailers for disasters.
 
why on earth did anyone allow the trailers to even be manufactured in the first place? Doesn't anyone check out the safety of anything in this country?
 
Another question, are all trailers harmful like these?
 
Does this include the FEMA trailors from the 2004 Season here in Florida or did we just get lucky? :waitasec:
 
I dont know how they come up with these numbers.
The dang trailer did'nt cost that much new.

Also, they have been talking about the trailers being toxic for some time now, maybe
even a year or more. Why is it NOW a concern? Why not a year ago? This
makes no sense to me.


I was listening to ABC news tonight, and he said that $60,000 has been spent so far on each trailer!!!

And Chertoff says they won't be using any more trailers for disasters.
 
I dont know how they come up with these numbers.
The dang trailer did'nt cost that much new.

Also, they have been talking about the trailers being toxic for some time now, maybe
even a year or more. Why is it NOW a concern? Why not a year ago? This
makes no sense to me.


I am sure they are planning a class action lawsuit and they are just making the facts public.

The trailers may be toxic but they were never intended to be lived in for such a long period of time. We are going to put the people who are still living in them out and they still will be demanding the taxpayers pay their rent/living expenses.
 
They sold off most of the excess trailers, that FEMA purchased, for 40 cents on the dollar. They are now buying them back at 40 cents on the dollar. I would be willing to buy one at 10 cents on the dollar, betting that I could solve the outgassing problem, and end up with a perfectly good trailer for a pittance of the the price that FEMA paid for it.

In fact, some enterprising person will probably scoop a bunch up, and do just that.

Since they are adversely affected by heat; take them to a cooler clime, where the problem would greatly lessen.
 
A list of the manufacturers of the formaldehyde- filled mobile homes and travel trailer sized homes FEMA provided, all manufactured in Indiana, are listed today by the CDC.
 
Okay, I'm kind of "local" with this story. I live on the MS gulf coast and sadly, have to agree with Pixies. There are very few cases where I am sympathetic towards people still living in these trailers. I'm not saying that they deserve to be getting sick from these trailers, but there is no reason for them to still be in them. I really don't like living here, because so many people have this attitude-like they are owed everything that is given to them by the government. I understand that the housing market here is beyond rediculous, but there is other help available besides these trailers. The FEMA trailer parks have become a hot spot for criminal activity, and I get the impression that people were planning on living in them for as long as they could-making no positive steps to make it out of the trailers on their own. Not everyone here has the "gimmie" attitude-but those that don't are not still living in the trailers.
 
Okay, I'm kind of "local" with this story. I live on the MS gulf coast and sadly, have to agree with Pixies. There are very few cases where I am sympathetic towards people still living in these trailers. I'm not saying that they deserve to be getting sick from these trailers, but there is no reason for them to still be in them. I really don't like living here, because so many people have this attitude-like they are owed everything that is given to them by the government. I understand that the housing market here is beyond rediculous, but there is other help available besides these trailers. The FEMA trailer parks have become a hot spot for criminal activity, and I get the impression that people were planning on living in them for as long as they could-making no positive steps to make it out of the trailers on their own. Not everyone here has the "gimmie" attitude-but those that don't are not still living in the trailers.
and I will guarantee these same people will now be getting govt money for having lived in the trailers for 2-3 years now...:mad:
 
That's an infuriating thought j2mirish-but that will probably be the end result.
Now I'm cursing myself and my husband for working so hard to be able to afford our own home and not just grubbing off the government. Man, I could say so many things here-but I will bite my tongue.
 
That's an infuriating thought j2mirish-but that will probably be the end result.
Now I'm cursing myself and my husband for working so hard to be able to afford our own home and not just grubbing off the government. Man, I could say so many things here-but I will bite my tongue.
mine is bleeding right along with yours---- :crazy:
 

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