Toxic Trailers: mobile home cause of lung problems?

About ToxicTrailers.com

ToxicTrailers.com is dedicated to providing information about formaldehyde poisoning, and advocating effective government regulations. The government spent more than $2 billion on FEMA trailers with hazardous levels of formaldehyde, and now has dumped more than 103,000 former FEMA trailers known to be toxic on the market. If you are living in a former FEMA trailer and want a free test for formaldehyde, e-mail nicholas.shapiro@anthro.ox.ac.uk.

The FEMA trailer tragedy exposed what is a widespread problem in RVs, mobile homes, modular buildings and even conventional buildings. If you are having burning eyes, congestion, sore throat, coughing, breathing difficulties, frequent sinus infections or rashes, and difficulties concentrating, you may have a formaldehyde problem. For questions or to share your story, write 4becky@cox.net.

To make a complaint about former FEMA travel trailers being advertised or rented as permanent housing in violation of the sales contract, e-mail david.robbins@gsa.gov.

Plywood made with Soyad, soy-based alternative too formaldehyde glue, is available at Home Depot at no extra cost. For a eco friendly travel trailer built with materials that don't outgas formaldehyde, see http://www.goevergreenrv.com/.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

mobile home cause of lung problems?

Reading up on the trailer testing for formaldehyde, my aunt has lived in a mobile home for many years and has terrible lung problems ..and gets rushed to hospital on a regular basis. Is there anyone or any way to get testing done on their home? I would hate to see that be what caused her all these problems but I tend to think now that it has. Please email me back if possible.

Joe

Dear Joe: The problems with formaldehyde have existed for years, and while they may have been worse in FEMA mobile homes and travel trailers due to rushed construction, there are no regulations in the U.S. for indoor air levels of formaldehyde. OFten people in mobile homes and travel trailers got sick without knowing why. Send me your address and I will mail you a free test kit or you can order one yourself. Kits to test trailers for formaldehyde can be purchased from Advanced Chemical Sensors, 561-338-3116. Cost: $39/kit (www.acsbadge.com).

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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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

mobile home cause of lung problems?

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