Thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina were told they were lucky to be placed in 280-square-foot trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But now, these trailers are causing the people living in them to get sick.
What’s causing the illnesses? Formaldehyde gas.
|
Formaldehyde is a chemical used in many products, including composite wood and plywood panels in the trailers. It is considered a human carcinogen, or cancer-causing substance, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The chemical also causes watery eyes; burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat; nausea, coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, and skin rashes; and allergic reactions, according to a government fact sheet.
As of May 2007, FEMA had received 200 formaldehyde complaints. Some Katrina trailer residents filed a class-action lawsuit in June in Baton Rouge federal court against trailer manufacturers and the government.
Now, it has come to light that FEMA knowingly hid information from field workers since the middle of 2006 about the health problems caused by formaldehyde gas in the trailers.
On July 19, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on this issue. Internal e-mails were released at the hearing—nearly 5,000 pages worth. The documents showed that FEMA lawyers had denied requests for environmental testing to avoid liability for health problems.
According to a FEMA logistics expert, FEMA’s Office of General Counsel “advised that we do not do testing,” because this “would imply FEMA’s ownership of this issue.” This was on June 16, 2006—three months after news came out on the formaldehyde issue and just one month after the agency was sued.
A FEMA lawyer wrote, “[d]o not initiate any testing until we give the OK. … Once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them.”
About 60,000 Katrina survivor families still live in FEMA-supplied trailers.
FEMA director R. David Paulison has tried to dodge the issue, saying the problem might be caused by something else.
“There is an issue inside the trailers, but I don’t know if it’s formaldehyde or mold or bacteria” or something else, Paulison said. He added that there was no federal scientific consensus on what level of formaldehyde in homes is safe.
That’s because the government has not bothered to create consistent standards on formaldehyde.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development limits the use of formaldehyde-emitting products in manufactured homes—allowing no more than 0.2 part per million for plywood and 0.3 part per million for particleboard. But there are no standards for trailers or RVs.
The Sierra Club reported finding unsafe levels of formaldehyde in trailers it tested along the Gulf Coast in May 2006. The group’s tests have found formaldehyde concentrations up to 0.34 part per million—almost as much exposure as a professional embalmer!
FEMA finally did its own tests on trailers and found formaldehyde at 1.2 parts per million, but levels dropped to 0.3 part per million after four days of ventilation.
Mary C. DeVany, an occupational health and safety engineer advising the Sierra Club, testified that that an exposure limit of 0.3 part per million is 400 times greater than the normal limit for year-round exposure set by the Center for Disease Control-affiliated Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Register. It is also three times the daily exposure limit recommended by the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health.
Almost all the trailers tested by Sierra Club have levels higher than 0.1 part per million, which is considered by Environmental Protection Agency to be an “elevated level” that can cause watery eyes, burning in the eyes and throat, nausea, and respiratory distress.
Dr. Scott Needle of the American Academy of Pediatrics testified: “I was seeing kids coming in with respiratory complaints—colds and sinus infections—and they were getting them over and over again. Almost invariably, these families were staying in the FEMA trailers.”
Just open the windows?
Prior to the class-action lawsuit and the hearings, FEMA director Paulison told people to “air those trailers out.” Similarly, Recreational Vehicle Industry Association spokesman Kevin Broom said, “People may just need to be shown how to open the windows.”
According to Mary DeVany, high levels of formaldehyde were still found in nearly all the trailers tested, even if they had been continuously ventilated or air-conditioned.
Paul and Melody Stewart of Bay St. Louis, Miss., were forced out of their trailer due to the gases. They had a friend air out the trailer before they arrived, but the smell was overpowering. Melody had a nosebleed the first night they slept in the trailer.
This abuse of the Gulf Coast hurricane survivors is nothing new. From the non-existent evacuation plans to the inability to rebuild the devastated areas, the capitalist system and its government have consistently put corporate interests ahead of the ordinary people who were victimized by the hurricane.
What has happened to the survivors is an example of the complete inability of capitalism to provide for workers’ needs.
Why is a toxic substance like formaldehyde used in any product that comes into contact with people? Is it not possible to build homes and RVs without formaldehyde-treated products?
Formaldehyde use is cheap and, thus, profitable. Under capitalism, the profits of trailer manufacturers and retailers come before the health of those who choose or are forced to live in them.
