In hotel, illness faded

[Guest guest]

In hotel, illness faded

By MEGHA SATYANARAYANA

SUN HERALD- Biloxi,MS*

http://www.sunherald.com/pageone/story/614154.html

Before Lelah Huckabee and her family moved into a FEMA mobile home

in December 2005, the asthmatic 6-year-old had been symptom-free for

about a year, said her mother, . Katrina destroyed the

family's apartment in Pass Christian and the family of six, soon to

be seven, turned to the government for help.

Within a few days of moving into the mobile home, Lelah, her three

siblings and parents started feeling sick. The girl eventually

missed 40 days of kindergarten because of infections, breathing

problems and nosebleeds. She spent several nights in the hospital

and had operations to open her clogged airways. Her parents spent

several nights listening to her and their other children, including

newborn , cough and wheeze.

In March 2008, FEMA started pulling families from trailers and

mobile homes with high levels of formaldehyde. The Huckabees'

trailer had formaldehyde levels that were just above an industrial

limit that induces sinus irritation. They chose to go to a FEMA-

subsidized hotel. The children's health took a turn.

" In the hotel on the third night, everyone slept through the night.

I can't say when that last was, " said.

At Coastal Family Health's clinic in Bay St. Louis, pediatrician Dr.

Shama Shakir has seen many children with respiratory problems who

live in FEMA trailers, and like the Huckabees, " I have a lot of

families who have gotten better after moving out, " she said.

But she is reluctant to blame formaldehyde. Trailers have mold and

other allergens that may contribute to breathing problems, she said.

But she has no doubt something is different. She used to prescribe

around two nebulizers a week. Now it's around two treatments each

day.

Rep. Bennie has asked Congress to approve a measure that

would ensure CDC and FEMA would monitor the health of everyone who

lived in FEMA trailers. The measure would create a registry of

people who lived in trailers. The bill, H.R. 5897, is now in the

House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

This spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released

a small, localized study that examined salvageable medical records

of 144 Hancock County children before and after the storm who either

did or did not live in trailers.

While overall doctor visits before and after the storm were mostly

unchanged, the proportion of diagnoses of lower respiratory

illnesses, like pneumonia, increased. The main author, CDC

pediatrician Dr. Theresa on, could not attribute these results

to living in trailers with high levels of formaldehyde. A larger

study of more than 4,000 children is being approved.

As FEMA trailers in many areas are being rapidly replaced by

Mississippi Cottages under the control of MEMA, the Sierra Club has

started testing them for high levels of formaldehyde in building

products. on said she would be interested in tracking the

health effects of children who live in this sort of emergency

housing, but the request for the study must come from the state

Department of Health.

Every country seems to be studying the effects of formaldehyde

exposure on children but the United States, said Mark Mendell, an

indoor air scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in

California. In 2007, he published a research paper examining the

current international knowledge of how indoor air contaminants

affect children.

In several studies, asthma and allergy symptoms appeared in children

when formaldehyde levels reached 50 micrograms per square meter of

space, roughly equivalent to 0.04 ppm. That level is five times

higher than the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's

acceptable level for someone living for a year or longer in the

presence of formaldehyde, but much lower than other standards. The

Sierra Club is pushing for better standards for formaldehyde in

building products. Several agencies list it as a probable carcinogen.

And while he thinks the National Institutes of Health should fund

rigorous studies concerning children's health while living in

trailers, there is a larger question at stake.

" Lots of people live in mobile homes and park models. Doesn't this

suggest that we should be concerned about people living in mobile

homes and park models all over the country? " he said.