FEMA Hurries Hurricane Survivors Out of Toxic Trailers

[flashl]

Source: Enivironment News Service

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, February 15, 2008 (ENS) - Testing by the nation's top health agency has found high levels of formaldehyde in government issued travel trailers and mobile homes used as emergency housing in the Gulf Coast Region after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

So, after denying for years that health problems of trailer occupants were caused by high levels of formaldehyde, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, today is hastening to move people out of 35,000 trailers and into other accomodations.

...

"As a result of preliminary findings FEMA will be taking additional actions to provide for the safety and well being of the residents of these travel trailers by finding them alternative housing," said FEMA Administrator David Paulison. "FEMA is leaning forward and will continue to act and provide information to our residents in an expedited manner."

...

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, which conducted the testing, said now is the time to get people out of these trailers.

Enivironment News Service

Read more: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-15-02.asp

---

Finally.

[sakabatou]

1. And they found this out now?!

[thecrow]

2. My question : WHY are THESE trailers so full of formaldehyde?

Why not others? Why aren't other travel trailers so full of formaldehyde?
Did FEMA just happen to buy these trailers so full of formaldehyde?
What, beyond the obvious are we not being told about these trailers?

[KT2000]

5. Exactly!

Formaldehyde in prefab housing has been known for years. They were supposed to voluntarily keep the levels down after it was found that people were getting sick.
Who was the manufacturer and why are the levels so high?
Where did the trailers come from?
How many were sold to the unsuspecting public?

[barb162]

8. There were multiple manufacturers n/t

[kurth]

12. They were hastily and cheaply made with Chinese plywood

which is very high in formaldehyde.

[skooooo]

3. Thank God we have FEMA looking out for these poor people..

:sarcasm:

[uppityperson]

4. "hurries"? and then giving same trailers to tornado survivors?

I agree, it is time to get people out of these trailers. Indeed it is.

[seafan]

6. I suspect that LIABILITY is about to raise its ugly head for Bush's FEMA.

I remember reading that FEMA knew early on about these contaminated trailers, but *wanted to wait* for an official report before acting. This is going to be hell to pay.

[flashl]

7. Indeed. More from the article ...

Various lawsuits have been filed in federal court in New Orleans against the manufacturers of the trailers by occupants who have suffered health problems. They were combined into a single legal action in November 2007, and the plaintiffs have until March 18 to file a master complaint

According to Tony Buzbee, of the Buzbee Law Firm, in Galveston, Texas, "While we question FEMA's handling of this health issue, we agree with the agency that the ultimate responsibility for the safety of families using these trailers falls to the manufacturers."

"We allege that the manufacturers produced and delivered tens of thousands of unsafe and hazardous travel trailers, at a cost to our government of more than $2.4 billion, and we urge the federal government to investigate the manufacturers of these units immediately," Buzbee said.

[H8fascistcons]

9. Who cares, why now?

Fema did not care about these poor Americans, this information has been out for almost two years, reports of illness came out right after people started to live in them. What happened now, suddenly fema cares? Are people dying? Increase in birth defects? Cancer on the rise since occupying these trailers? The news can't be good.....

[bluerum]

10. Let the lawsuits begin,,,

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. Why do poisoned blankets come to mind?

.
.
.

The PNAC gang and the BFEE wouldn't be continuing the genocide from it's ancestors,

would it?