FEMA does U-turn, will test trailers for toxins

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FEMA does U-turn, will test trailers for toxins

46 complaints over formaldehyde have been filed by Katrina victims

More than 100,000 FEMA trailers like these in Waveland, Miss., have been

distributed along the Gulf Coast.

(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14185726/displaymode/1176/rstry/14185614/)

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By _Mike Brunker _ (mailto:mikebrunker@...)

Reporter

MSNBC

Updated: 8:46 a.m. PT Aug 4, 2006

_

Mike Brunker

Reporter

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Responding to reports that formaldehyde may be sickening hurricane victims

living in government-provided travel trailers along the Gulf Coast, the

Federal Emergency Management Agency has reversed course and ordered air quality

tests to determine if some of the units are emitting unacceptably high levels

of

the toxic gas.

The tests for formaldehyde –- listed as a human carcinogen, or

cancer-causing substance, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer

and a

suspected human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency -- will be

conducted by the EPA, which is currently working with FEMA to finalize a

sampling

plan, EPA spokeswoman Wood said Thursday.

“EPA does not normally test indoor air … but there’s an exception in the

Stafford Act that allows for cooperation and testing in a special situation,â€

she said.

FEMA spokesman said the agency has requested the tests for

formaldehyde “out of an abundance of caution†and added that agency

officials

remain “highly confident and comfortable in the travel trailer program.â€

_Story continues below ↓_

(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14185614/#storyContinued)

He said the agency has received only 46 complaints of suspected formaldehyde

contamination in the more than 113,000 travel trailers deployed in the Gulf

Coast since it began logging calls on a special hot line in March.

But another FEMA official said earlier this week that the agency already has

determined that there is a problem with elevated formaldehyde levels in “two

or three brands†of the at least 10 brands of travel trailers provided to

the government under emergency contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Mike s, FEMA’s director of mobile home operations in Mississippi, made

the comment Tuesday night at a meeting of the Pascagoula, Miss., City

Council, in response to a question from City Councilman Bill .

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'He acknowledged ... the problem'

“He acknowledged we’re aware of the problem and we’re trying to do

something about it,†said.

s did not identify the models or manufacturers of the trailers and

referred calls from MSNBC.com to a FEMA “news desk†in Mississippi, which

did

not respond to phone calls seeking additional information.

, the FEMA spokesman in Washington, said he was not aware of any

testing already conducted in Mississippi.

An official with the Sierra Club, which has spearheaded efforts to get FEMA

to test the trailers for formaldehyde, said s’ remarks indicated

“that

FEMA has now acknowledged there is a problem.â€

“But what about the people who don’t know why they have been so sick, why

they and their kids get sick again and again?†said Becky Gillette, co-chair

of the environmental organization’s Mississippi chapter. “FEMA needs to do

far more. It needs to do comprehensive testing and should make sure that people

are notified of the problem.â€

Many trailer residents have reported experiencing health problems ranging

from headaches and runny noses to chronic respiratory problems and nosebleeds

shortly after moving into the trailers.

Responding to the anecdotal evidence, the Sierra Club tested 44 FEMA

trailers and found formaldehyde concentrations as high as 0.34 parts per

million -–

a level nearly equal to what a professional embalmer would be exposed to on

the job, according to one study of the chemical’s workplace effects.

All but four of the trailers it tested registered higher than the 0.1 parts

per million that the EPA considers to be an “elevated level†capable of

causing watery eyes, burning in the eyes and throat, nausea, and respiratory

distress in some people.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development limits the use of

formaldehyde-emitting products in manufactured homes -- setting a standard of

0.2 parts

per million for plywood and 0.3 parts per million for particleboard

materials. But the agency does not regulate travel trailers or motor homes,

probably

because it was never anticipated that people would spend long periods of time

living in them, said the Sierra Club’s Gillette.

_CONTINUED_ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14185614/page/2/)

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