FEMA provides toxic trailers for hurricane refugees

[babylonsister]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#51733

FEMA provides toxic trailers for hurricane refugees
Posted by Guest Blogger on May 10, 2007 at 3:01 PM.

This is a guest post from Josh Dorner of the Sierra Club.

We know the Bush administration must just have a serious case of amnesia about Hurricane Katrina, right? I mean, the only other explanation for failing to keep their promises to rebuild New Orleans would be sheer incompetence and a total lack of compassion for humanity in general. FEMA seems to have a particularly intractable case, as they keep sending their toxic trailers to disaster victims far and wide.

As air tests conducted by the Sierra Club found out over a year ago, the levels of the chemical formaldehyde in the air inside FEMA's toxic tin cans are through the roof. In fact, levels were on average AT LEAST THREE TIMES higher than the levels the Environmental Protection Agency concedes will make people sick.

Subsequent tests by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found formaldehyde levels as much as FIFTY TIMES higher than the EPA's "elevated" limit. And wouldn't you know it, the storm-addled folks housed in these trailers immediately began complaining of watery eyes, burning in the eyes and throat, sinus infections, nausea, and respiratory distress. Only FEMA could spend billions of dollars on brand new trailers for disaster victims that were unfit for human habitation.

And what did FEMA have to say at the time? No worries, they're safe!

Fast forward to this February -- despite continued warnings from the Sierra Club and others, FEMA begins trying to sell off the toxic trailers on the cheap in Hope, Arkansas of all places.

And now this week, just in time for FEMA to ship its carcinogen-spewing boxes to victims of the Kansas tornado, it released its own study on the trailers -- a study conducted due to Sierra Club pressure. While the study acknowledged the high levels of formaldehyde present in the trailers, its conclusion simply beggars belief. Did it call for getting trailers without high levels of toxic chemicals? NOPE! FEMA's suggestion for disaster victims: open a window!

Talk about the cure being worse than the disease. Who's going to save us from the folks trying to save us?

[uppityperson]

1. Are the onews going to KS coming from ARK ones NOT sent for Katrina?

[babylonsister]

5. It seems that's what KS is getting.

I know there were many sitting in Ark. that were not used in NO, for various reasons.

[MadMaddie]

2. Absolutely criminal....the manufacturer of the trailers should be

prosecuted...and the management of FEMA responsible for approving the trailers should be prosecuted....

[don954]

3. this was reported several months ago too.

the solution is actually simple, run a carbon canister filter till the formaldehyde has finished off-gasing. The carbon will absorb the formaldehyde in the air...

[babylonsister]

7. You need to tell FEMA that, because they're obviously clueless. nt

[don954]

10. I did, several months ago

the problem is pretty much in all trailer houses. having grown up in mobile homes, and most of my friends also having do so, I'm familiar with the problem, an fixed it for myself and others. I emailed the Serra club with the info (parts and diagram, its a 15$ solution) as I have no idea who in fema would be responsible, but, no response.

[babylonsister]

12. Thank you for being pro-active on this. And wow, $15? Maybe

the Sierra Club just wants to attract attention to the many failings of FEMA.

[uppityperson]

8. It seems that if they were smart, they could have outgassed these in the last 1 1/2+ yrs

Therein lies the rub.

[don954]

11. trailer houses have the formaldehyde smell for years

go to a mobile home dealership on a hot day and walk into a unit, it will knock your socks off.. a carbon filter is how my family made it manageable when i was a kid, a 15$ solution...

[Rex]

4. So a federal agency is willingly sending people trailers that will

kill them, unless they open a window (which is NOT a solution)? Yeah, that sounds about right with Bush/Cheney in charge. Killing poor people is what they do best!

[EFerrari]

6. Open a window and IMPEACH these bastards.

:nuke:

[blues90]

9. If this is not bad enough did you know that

most all mobile homes are made of particle board and have been for decades and now many floors and beams are mde of this same shit . Heat releases the toxic formaldehyde which is used to bind the wood chips used to make this cheap garbage , also alot of furnature is made of this stuff . /sealing it helps but I doubt this is ever done .

No one really cares when it comes to saving a buck .

[KT2000]

15. You are sooo right

There is a lot of new building where I live and I look at them as gas chambers.
People move in, develop sinus problems, have sinus surgery, it doesn't help, they have a million more tests and eventually progress to "their" end stage illness.

Manufacturers are looking for more permanent formaldehyde, especially for clothing.

Personally, I get seizures from the stuff.

It is already in OSHA records that about 15% of the population is highly sensitive or will develop sensitivity to formaldehyde.
Throw away people.

[BushOut06]

13. It's just their way of trying to finish the job

They allowed the levees around New Orleans to deteriorate, not allocating enough funds to fix them. FEMA stood by and did nothing to help evacuate the city beforehand. How many countless souls died while waiting for FEMA to get their act together afterward? Now we find out that FEMA is giving them toxic trailers.

Connect the dots... If they aren't deliberately trying to kill off the minority population of New Orleans, they're at least allowing it to happen.

[babylonsister]

14. Kick because this sucks. nt