Woman who sued over poisons in FEMA trailer dies of lung cancer

[Guest guest]

Woman who sued over poisons in FEMA trailer dies of lung cancer

WLTV, Baton Rouge, LA*

Associated Press

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl071307khabortion.6fabe04e.html

BATON ROUGE -- A woman who claimed in a lawsuit that FEMA trailers

exposed their residents to formaldehyde has died of lung cancer.

, 47, who had asked the federal court in Baton Rouge

to approve her suit as a class action -- not against the Federal

Emergency Management Agency but against companies that sold trailers

to FEMA -- died July 2.

She had spent several weeks at Baton Rouge General Medical Center

with respiratory problems. Her lung cancer was diagnosed a week

before she died, attorney Woods of New Orleans said Thursday.

Woods said he hasn't determined whether formaldehyde is to blame the

cancer, and forensics specialists will test tissue taken while

was alive.

However, lung cancer is typically diagnosed after years, even

decades, of growth -- a major reason it is so deadly.

" Because symptoms often do not appear until the disease has

progressed, early detection is difficult, " the American Cancer

Society says on its Web site. About 60 percent of patients diagnosed

with the most common form die within a year after diagnosis, it

says.

, whose family lived at Renaissance Village near Baker, sued

Forest River Inc. of Elkhart, Ind., and other unnamed travel trailer

vendors.

Her husband, Earl, and her children now will act as plaintiffs in

the case, Woods said. He said that if tests indicate the lung cancer

is connected to formaldehyde exposure, the lawsuit will be changed

to include a wrongful death claim.

At issue are 120,000 trailers FEMA supplied to people displaced by

hurricanes in 2005.

The lawsuit alleges and thousands of other hurricane victims

in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who lived in the

trailers " have been exposed to dangerously high concentrations of

formaldehyde fumes and have had no choice but to accept their

plight. "

Formaldehyde is used in a number of materials inside the trailers,

including particle board, plywood, glue, curtains, molded plastic

and countertops. It can irritate eyes, nose, throat and skin,

according the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As of May, FEMA had received 140 formaldehyde complaints.

A spokeswoman for River Forest lawyer Bone of New Orleans said

he was not available for comment.

In documents filed earlier this week in Baton Rouge federal court,

Bone writes that the company's trailers met FEMA guidelines and

complied with state and federal law. " In all material respects,

River Forest provided safe and reasonably efficient housing. "

[Guest guest]

seems to me that mold/myco exposure doesn't exactly mix well with

other toxin exposures. maybe they should look at the bigger picture.

--- In , " tigerpaw2c " <tigerpaw2c@...>

wrote:

>

> Woman who sued over poisons in FEMA trailer dies of lung cancer

> WLTV, Baton Rouge, LA*

>

>