FEMA ignored formaldehyde concerns, says memo

Tag : air ventilation kit

"To our knowledge, our suggestions regarding use of such mitigationmeasures as additional ventilation fans, air purifiers and airexchangers ... were not implemented by FEMA," Jim Shea, chairman ofGulf Stream Coach Inc., wrote in testimony prepared for thecommittee.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency did not respond to requestsfor comment Tuesday.
The Democrat-controlled committee is holding a hearing today to askfour Indiana-based trailer makers what they knew about high levelsof formaldehyde in the trailers sold to FEMA for victims ofHurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Some Republicans and industry representatives have accusedDemocrats of unfairly going after the trailer makers.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who heads thecommittee, called the GOP staff analysis an "incomplete summary ofthe record before the committee, as the hearing with the trailermanufacturers will demonstrate."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last winter testedabout 500 of the 120,000 travel trailers purchased for hurricanevictims. All types tested had some high levels of formaldehyde gaswhile the levels in some trailers were high enough that healthcould be affected, according to the CDC.
Formaldehyde is a compound used to make particleboard, resins,glues and other construction materials and is released into the airas a colorless gas, although it has a pungent odor. Warm weatherand humidity can cause its levels to increase. At elevated levels,airborne formaldehyde can cause headaches, burning eyes andthroats, nausea and difficulty breathing. It is also a suspectedcarcinogen.
Most trailer manufacturers are located in north central Indiana andexecutives from Pilgrim International Inc., Gulf Stream Coach Inc.,Keystone RV Inc. and Forest River Inc. are scheduled to testifybefore the House committee today.
Gulf Stream, which hired more than 300 new workers in the firstmonth of federal orders, made 50,000 trailers for FEMA. Shea saidFEMA inspectors visited its Indiana plants and made additionalinspections on the Gulf Coast.
During the peak manufacturing period in the spring and summer of2006, some manufacturers suspected components they were receivingfrom suppliers might have had formaldehyde problems, according tothe GOP report.
A key component, a type of plywood called "luan board" that islight weight and inexpensive, is made of wood pieces glued togetherto form sheets.
The GOP report says the dramatic increase in demand for trailersmay have forced luan board suppliers in China and Southeast Asia toseek new sources for materials and overlook formaldehyde standards.
An independent test of luan board conducted for an unidentifiedmanufacturer in March 2006 showed high formaldehyde levels,although the GOP report says the type of test done on the board isunreliable.
The GOP report says one manufacturer was concerned about theresults of a "home test kit" used on a trailer made for hurricanevictims and tried to share the data with FEMA.
The manufacturer was not identified in the report but Shea detailsin his testimony Gulf Stream's efforts to work with FEMA.
That included offering to participate in joint testing, providinginformation on how to increase ventilation and asking FEMA forinformation on complaints the agency had received from residents.
Shea said FEMA "specifically advised us not to directly contactoccupants" as the agency's field staff could handle the fewcomplaints it had received.