Toxic Trailers: Is it safe to buy used FEMA trailer?

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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 then dumped more than 103,000 former FEMA trailers known to be toxic on the market. 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.

Plywood made with Soyad, soy-based alternative too formaldehyde glue, is available at Home Depot at no extra cost.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Is it safe to buy used FEMA trailer?

Hello, I was thinking about buying a FEMA trailer because I thought it was a real bargain. Then while searching the Internet I came across your site. I could use some advice before I shell out my money on one of these trailers. Here is one site that advertises the trailers on Ebay. http://www.arkansasonlineliquidation.com/new-direct#!__new-direct. Here is the one I was planning on buying: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170658648828&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

Please let me know based on what you know if you think I would have problems with this trailer...Thanks, Lisa.

Lisa: It is a myth that just because these trailers are older the formaldehyde problem has disappeared. I get contacted regularly by people who have bought these who are sick. I wouldn’t recommend it. See one example of FEMA trailer buyers' regret at
http://www.fox6now.com/news/contact6/witi-20110713-contact6-fema-trailer-story,0,1712297.story

WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE—A West Bend family saved thousands on a travel trailer; one that was perfect for their camping lifestyle. But they soon found themselves exposed to a potential health hazard.

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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Is it safe to buy used FEMA trailer?

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