Amid health concerns, FEMA bars workers from stored trailers; 48,000 still occup

[Guest guest]

Amid health concerns, FEMA bars workers from stored trailers; 48,000

still occupied

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

Associated Press Writer

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_FEMA_TOXIC_TRAILERS_LAOL-?

SITE=LABAT & SECTION=HOME & TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency is

barring employees from entering thousands of stored travel trailers

over concerns about hazardous fumes, while more than 48,000 other

trailers continue to be used by hurricane victims in Louisiana and

Mississippi.

FEMA is advising employees not to enter any of the roughly 70,000

trailers in storage areas across the country, but the directive does

not apply to other trailers still in use, agency spokeswoman

Margaret said Thursday.

" It's common knowledge that formaldehyde emission levels rise when

they are closed in the heat and humidity without any ventilation, "

said.

Sen. Landrieu, D-La., accused FEMA of using a double standard,

and said it " defies logic " that occupied trailers are safer than

those in storage.

" I don't really buy that argument, " she said in an interview. " It

makes no sense, in that most of these (occupied) trailers are closed

up and locked during the day. "

Many trailer occupants have asked to be moved because of concerns

about formaldehyde contamination, and hundreds are suing trailer

manufacturers, accusing the companies of jeopardizing their health

by providing FEMA with poorly constructed campers.

Last week, FEMA indefinitely postponed plans to test for

formaldehyde levels in the air inside occupied trailers, saying it

needed more time to prepare. FEMA has suspended the sale of used

trailers and says it won't shelter victims of future disasters in

them until safety worries are resolved.

Formaldehyde, a common preservative and embalming fluid, sometimes

is found in building materials that are used in manufactured homes.

It can cause respiratory problems and has been classified as a

carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and as

a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The prohibition on entering stored trailers, first reported

Wednesday by CBS News, is outlined in a recent string of e-mails

between FEMA employees.

In an e-mail dated Oct. 19, a FEMA employee asks if entering a

stored trailer at a staging area, in order to close a vent, is

against agency regulations.

Jon Byrd, director of FEMA's Baton Rouge field office, responds

minutes later by saying agency officials " had directed (although I

never saw it in writing) that no one enter any of the (trailers)

that had been sitting around in the sun. The idea was that the sun

may have baked out high levels of formaldehyde. We will find out

what the policy is. "

Three days later, Chawaga, a senior industrial hygienist for

FEMA, sent an e-mail advising employees not to enter stored travel

trailers " until further notice, " based on results from workplace

safety monitoring.

said FEMA imposed the ban on entering stored trailers in

early August, but some employees apparently weren't aware of the

policy change.

More than 10,000 trailers in Mississippi and more than 37,000 in

Louisiana are occupied by storm victims more than two years after

hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast.