Toxic Trailers: EPA petition on formaldehyde

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ToxicTrailers.com is dedicated to providing information about formaldehyde poisoning. FEMA and the CDC have now admitted that levels of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers are so high that residents should be moved out quickly. CDC testing revealed unacceptably high formaldehyde levels in all brands of RVs, mobile homes, and park homes. To read which trailers brands tested the highest, go to the Website http://cdc.gov/nceh/ehhe/trailerstudy/. The problem is not confined to RVs and mobile homes, but also can be a significant health threat in regular homes, offices and portable classrooms. If you think you are having problems with formaldehyde, send an e-mail to stories@toxictrailers.com.

Friday, April 25, 2008

EPA petition on formaldehyde

In today’s Federal Register, EPA requested comments on the TSCA Section 21 petition to adopt and apply nationally the formaldehyde emissions regulation for composite wood products recently approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB); and to extend the regulation to include composite wood products used in manufactured homes. EPA must accept or deny the petition on or before June 21, 2008. See http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-9136.pdf for a copy of the Federal Register notice.

Submit comments on or before May 12 by going to www.regulations.gov and looking for EPA Docket # EPA–HQ–OPPT–2008–0267. Go to www.sierraclub.org/toxics/downloads/2008-03-20-formaldehydepetition.pdf to view the petition. 25 organizations and 5000 individuals from every state signed the petition. See the list of organizations signing it below. To get the latest on CARB’s standards, which went into effect on April 18, go to www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/compwood/compwood.htm .

Warning: RVS and mobile homes may be hazardous to your health!!

Imagine that you have just lost your home in a natural disaster, and are now waiting to get a FEMA trailer for temporary housing. The fact is, you and your family might be better off in a tent or living with friends and relatives, even if it is crowded.

After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA purchased about 102,000 travel trailers at a cost of $2.6 billion to house the victims of the nation’s largest natural disaster. It turns out that the vast majority of these trailers have excessive levels of formaldehyde. See the results of testing done by the CDC that were announced Feb. 29, 2008 at the website http://cdc.gov/nceh/ehhe/trailerstudy/ or just Google CDC formaldehyde FEMA study. This website also has links to information for residents and health care practitioners.

From the very beginning people who received FEMA trailers after Katrina reported experiencing problems such as irritated eyes, breathing problems, bloody noses, headaches, nausea, frequent respiratory infections and skin rashes. We know one family that moved from the FEMA trailer into a storage shed on their property because their daughter threw up every time she spent any time in the trailer. Another man sleeping in his driveway next to his trailer said, “My FEMA trailer is killing me!” One couple experienced such heavy chest congestion combined with nose bleeds that they abandoned their FEMA trailer to sleep in their truck.

The CDC testing confirmed three earlier rounds of testing done by Sierra Club in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama in 2006 and 2007 with test kits from Advanced Chemical Sensors. Out of 69 tests, 61 were over 0.1 ppm which represents 88 percent of the trailers tested. The tests used 0.1 ppm as the concentration above which health impacts are expected. However, much lower levels are recommended for long-term exposure. The Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR) Minimal Risk Levels are 0.04 ppm for 1-14 days, 0.03 for 14-364 days and 0.008 ppm for 365 or more days exposure. The lowest of the 69 Sierra Club tests was 0.04. The highest test was 0.39.

As you will see by reading the blogs on this page, the formaldehyde problem is not confined to just RVs and mobile homes purchased by FEMA. Manufacturers state that they didn't do anything differently for RVs and mobile homes sold to FEMA than those sold to the general public. People across the country are reporting formaldehyde problems in not just campers and manufactured housing, but regular homes, offices, churches and schools.

For an in-depth look at this issue including how FEMA and the ATSDR tried to coverup the problem rather than respond to a major public health disaster, see the hearing transcript from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1413.

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Friday, April 25, 2008

EPA petition on formaldehyde

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Warning: RVS and mobile homes may be hazardous to your health!!