Manufacturers knew of high formaldehyde in FEMA trailers

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25607578/

Congress names names in FEMA trailer probe

House Democrats say manufacturers knew of high formaldehyde levels

By Mike Brunker

Projects Team editor

MSNBC

updated 3:50 p.m. PT, Wed., July. 9, 2008

Congressional Democrats for the first time named names Wednesday in their

investigation of formaldehyde-contaminated travel trailers provided by FEMA to

victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, charging that manufacturers knew but did

not disclose that the units were emitting high levels of the toxic gas that

could sicken inhabitants.

At a contentious hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform

Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman of California and other Democrats grilled officials

of four companies — Gulf Stream Coach Inc.; Pilgrim International Inc.; Keystone

RV Inc.; and Forest River Inc. — whose trailers were found to have the highest

levels of formaldehyde in testing by the federal Centers for Disease Control.

Waxman, the committee chairman, said all four companies should have known that

their products contained potentially dangerous levels of formaldehyde, the

airborne form of a chemical used in a wide variety of products, including

composite wood and plywood panels.

But he saved his sharpest criticism for Gulf Stream, of Nappanee, Ind., which

provided the Federal Emergency Management Agency with 50,000 travel trailers

under two contracts worth a total of $50 million.

He said that documents reviewed by committee staff indicated the company found

high levels of formaldehyde in its trailers in testing conducted in early 2006,

but viewed the results as a public relations liability instead of a health

hazard and failed to inform FEMA.

Letter put positive spin on test results

Waxman cited a May 11, 2006, letter in which a Gulf Stream executive assured

FEMA that “our informal testing has indicated that formaldehyde levels of indoor

ambient air of occupied trailers fall below, for instance, the OSHA standard of

..75 parts per million.”

The letter did not, however, reveal that the tests found formaldehyde levels of

100 parts per billion or higher — the level at which acute adverse health

effects begin — in every one of the 11 occupied Gulf Stream travel trailers that

were tested. In four of the trailers, the levels were higher than 500 ppb — the

exposure level at which the federal Occupational Safety and Health

Administration requires mandatory medical monitoring for workers.

“The company did test trailers,” Waxman said. “.. It found pervasive

contamination and it didn’t tell anyone.”

Gulf Stream Chairman Jim Shea responded that the company conducted only informal

tests of the trailers that did not produce reliable results. He also said the

company offered to share the results with FEMA and to participate in further

testing.

“FEMA did not accept,” he said.

Republicans on the committee rallied to defend the manufacturers, noting that

federal agencies never set federal guidelines for formaldehyde exposure in

travel trailers.

‘Confusion ... not some conspiracy’

“The problem was and is confusion among government agencies, not some conspiracy

by trailer manufacturers,” said Rep. Tom of Virginia, the committee’s

ranking Republican.

FEMA officials did not testify at Wednesday’s hearing, having informed the

committee that they were busy providing aid to victims of recent Midwest

flooding, according to Waxman. At a hearing last year, the committee revealed

documents showing that FEMA lawyers resisted conducting formaldehyde tests out

of concern that it “would imply FEMA’s ownership of the issue.” Representatives

of FEMA did not return a call from msnbc.com seeking comment.

The hearing was the second held by the committee in an effort to determine why

the travel trailers contained such high levels of formaldehyde. The gaseous form

of the chemical can cause a variety of immediate ailments, such as coughing,

bloody noses and burning eyes, and also 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.

Hurricane victims still occupy approximately 15,000 FEMA travel trailers on the

Gulf Coast, down from 143,000 at the height of the emergency shelter program.

All told, FEMA spent approximately $2 billion to purchase more than 120,000

travel trailers for use as temporary housing.

Waxman suggested that the government should try to recoup some of that money in

light of the fact that FEMA began moving residents out of the travel trailers in

February after the CDC testing found potentially hazardous levels of

formaldehyde gas in both travel trailers and mobile homes provided by the

agency.

‘Some responsibility for the manufacturers’

“I think when we have to abandon trailers, it’s not just the government that

should pay for it,” he said. “I think there’s some responsibility for the

manufacturers themselves.”

Though it’s unlikely that the manufacturers would be forced to repay the

government in the absence of a standard for formaldehyde in travel trailers,

they are facing a more serious financial threat. The four companies represented

at Wednesday’s hearing are among the dozens of manufacturers named in a

class-action lawsuit accusing them of ignoring the health risks by using

products containing high levels of formaldehyde.

There is no government standard for the amount of formaldehyde in travel

trailers. The government sets standards for indoor air quality for materials

used to build mobile homes, but not for travel trailers. If the government were

to set a standard for materials in travel trailers, the order would have to come

from Congress.

Until experts determine a safe level of formaldehyde, FEMA has set its own

formaldehyde standard at 16 ppb. The manufacturers said such a low threshold

would be impossible to assure and would preclude them from bidding on government

contracts for emergency housing.

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