July 2007
The Sierra Club is declaring a
partial victory in its fight with the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
FEMA, over toxic formaldehyde found in some of the 120,000 mobile homes
and travel trailers provided to hurricane survivors left homeless in 2005
by Katrina and Rita.
In response to a public outcry by the Sierra Club and others, FEMA has
decided to re-evaluate its decision to continue distributing trailers
known to have unsafe levels of formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is a chemical used in paint and adhesives, and is classified
as a "known carcinogen" by the International Agency for Research on
Cancer.
Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said today, "Trailer residents
and the Sierra Club have been pressing the agency to acknowledge the
problem of formaldehyde outgassing in the trailers and to stop
distributing the trailers until the agency could ensure that all trailers
going out were safe."
Outgassing is the slow release of the formaldehyde gas from the paint and
adhesives used in trailer construction.
"Dangerously high levels of formaldehyde found in many FEMA trailers have
caused serious health problems for many trailer residents and are even
suspected as the cause of several deaths," Pope said.
"FEMA's track record on this issue is far from good," said Pope. "They
willfully ignored complaints of people suffering from formaldehyde
exposure; they refused to investigate formaldehyde outgassing, despite the
advice of their field staff to do so; and they manipulated testing
conditions in the trailers to sway the results and present a minimized
risk of formaldehyde exposure."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, says that formaldehyde, a
colorless, pungent-smelling gas, can cause watery eyes, burning sensations
in the eyes and throat, nausea, and difficulty in breathing in some humans
exposed at elevated levels - above 0.1 parts per million.
"High concentrations may trigger attacks in people with asthma," the EPA
says. "It has also been shown to cause cancer in animals and may cause
cancer in humans."
FEMA Administrator David Paulison told the House Committee on Government
Oversight on Thursday that the agency has been responsive. FEMA first
responded to a formaldehyde complaint from a trailer resident in March
2006, and the trailer was replaced that same month, he said.
In May 2006, FEMA began consulting with other federal agencies and the
mobile home industry, the agency established a system to address the
complaints on a case-by-case basis, Paulison said.
In total, 58 trailers have been replaced due to formaldehyde complaints.
In five other cases, residents were moved into rental housing.
FEMA trailer resident Lindsay Huckabee told the House panel that when she
moved into the FEMA single-wide in Kiln, Mississippi in December 2005,
she, her husband and her four children were all healthy.
But the trailer had "a very strong odor," she said, and almost immediately
health problems began. Pregnant when she moved into the trailer, Huckabee
delivered a month early when all her other children were full-term babies.
The entire family developed respiratory problems, severe nosebleeds, and
caught every cold and virus going around. After being symptom-free for
four years, one daughter developed severe asthma. Her husband, a
non-smoker, developed a malignant tumor in his mouth.
Through her physician, who said he was treating many other trailer
residents for similar illnesses, Huckabee was contacted by the Sierra
Club. When a test was done on her trailer in April, it showed formaldehyde
at well above the level believed to be harmful to humans, Huckabee told
the House panel.
"When we told FEMA about the test, we met much opposition," Huckabee
testified. "FEMA representatives were rude when I called them. I was
forced to call five different representatives, and my request for a new
mobile home was lost twice before anything was done to help solve my
problem."
Finally, FEMA agreed to give the family another mobile home. The Sierra
Club had it tested for formaldehyde and results came back higher than
EPA-recommended limit of 0.1 parts per million, but lower than the
previous trailer.
When a FEMA inspector saw the testing instrument hanging in the
replacement trailer, Huckabee testified that he said, "people were
claiming to have high formaldehyde levels so they could get bigger and
better trailers" but he could not produce evidence to back that claim.
FEMA Administrator Paulison told the panel, "It is very possible that the
observed illness pattern is due to multiple factors including other
exposures, other environmental conditions in the area, or just simply the
very close living conditions in a travel trailer."
He did not acknowledge that there is a federally established limit for
formaldehyde exposure of 0.1 parts per million, but said more study is
needed to determine a safe level of exposure.
"When FEMA took on the role of landlord for the thousands of people, they
took on the responsibility to provide a safe, fit home for these people,"
said Huckabee. "This temporary housing should have given people time to
get on their feet again, and even save some money for a permanent home.
Instead we are spending so much on medical bills and prescriptions, we are
actually moving backwards."
Paulison said Friday that health experts at the Centers for Disease
Control, CDC, and Department of Homeland Security's Office of Health
Affairs will conduct a preliminary field study that will test air quality
conditions in the mobile housing units "under real-life conditions."
Testing began on Tuesday.
In addition, said Paulison, "the CDC team is comprehensively reviewing
known research in order to provide FEMA with advice about the safety of
environmental conditions in travel trailers. We are also looking into
engineering solutions that may be available effectively to remove
environmental pollutants from the trailers."
As the first group to discover the toxicity of FEMA trailers, Pope says
the Sierra Club has taken a lead role in fighting for better disaster
assistance and emergency housing.
Testing by the Sierra Club in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama showed
that 88 percent of trailers tested in 2006 and 2007 had formaldehyde
levels above the EPA's recommended limit of 0.1 parts per million.
"The EPA's own testing showed that FEMA trailers had average formaldehyde
levels three times higher than the EPA standard," Pope pointed out. He
said that tests currently being conducted by the Sierra Club and Texas
Wildlife and Parks on FEMA trailers in Texas are also showing high
formaldehyde levels.
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