BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- For nearly a year now, the ubiquitous FEMA trailer has sheltered tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. But there is growing concern that even as it staved off the elements, it was exposing its inhabitants to a toxic gas that could pose both immediate and long-term health risks.
The gas is formaldehyde, the airborne form of a chemical used in a wide variety of products, including composite wood and plywood panels in the thousands of travel trailers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency purchased after Katrina to house hurricane victims. It 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.
Air quality tests of 44 FEMA trailers conducted by the Sierra Club since April have found formaldehyde concentrations as high as 0.34 parts per million – a level nearly equal to what a professional embalmer would be exposed to on the job, according to one study of the chemical’s workplace effects.
And all but four of the trailers have tested higher than the 0.1 parts per million that the EPA considers to be an “elevated level” capable of causing watery eyes, burning in the eyes and throat, nausea, and respiratory distress in some people.
Becky Gillette, co-chair of the Mississippi chapter of the environmental group, said that representatives also have heard from numerous trailer inhabitants who say they began experiencing health problems ranging from headaches and runny noses to chronic respiratory problems and nosebleeds as soon as they moved in.
As a result of its testing and such accounts, the Sierra Club is pushing for a congressional investigation of the potential health hazards posed by the trailers.
“It’s simply wrong that the government would spend billions of dollars to poison people in these toxic tin cans,” Gillette said.
Pediatrician saw unusual illnesses
Dr. Scott Needle, a pediatrician in Bay St. Louis, said he noticed some unusual and persistent health problems among his patients living in the trailers well before the possible link to formaldehyde exposure surfaced.
“I was seeing kids coming in with respiratory complaints – colds and sinus infections – and they were getting them over and over again,” he said. “…Almost invariably, these families were staying in the FEMA trailers.”
A class-action lawsuit also has been filed in Louisiana, naming the federal government and trailer manufacturers as defendants and alleging that “the temporary housing is unsafe and presents a clear and present danger to the health and well-being of plaintiffs and their families.”
Read previous story: The lowdown on a Katrina icon
Despite the Sierra Club tests – and air quality testing by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in November that detected formaldehyde levels at FEMA trailer holding stations on the Gulf Coast as high as 5.0 parts per million, or 50 times the EPA’s “elevated” level – FEMA says the trailers are safe and there is no need for it to conduct its own air-quality testing.
“FEMA stands confident in using travel trailers for emergency sheltering,” said agency spokesman Aaron Walker. “… To put it in perspective, we have almost 115,000 trailers out right now, and FEMA has received just over 20 complaints total.”
Better ventilation recommended
Walker said those experiencing any adverse reactions to the trailer environment can likely resolve the issue by increasing ventilation.
“We encourage families living in the trailers, if they’re worried, to take steps to air out their trailers,” he said. “… If a family is uncomfortable with their trailer, they’re welcome to call our trailer hot line (and) we can come out and test their trailer and have a look at it.”
Trailer manufacturers contacted by MSNBC.com declined to comment on the issue because of the pending litigation and directed inquiries to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association.
RVIA spokesman Kevin Broom echoed Walker in saying that the gas in the trailers poses no health threat.
“The industry uses low-emitting materials, so formaldehyde has not been an issue for 15 or 20 years at least,” he said.
Broom acknowledged that the high heat and humidity in the Gulf Coast could increase the rate of formaldehyde “outgassing” from wood products trailers, but added that ventilation should quickly take care of any problem.
“You can get it to dissipate very easily if you just ventilate it,” he said. “People may just need to be shown how to open the windows.”
Mary DeVany, an industrial hygienist from Vancouver, Wash., who has studied the formaldehyde issue, agrees that the high heat and humidity in the hurricane-ravaged zone exacerbate the problem. But she believes that the higher-than-usual readings in the FEMA trailers could be the result of the rush to manufacture the trailers in the wake of Katrina.
“Typically with these plywood and particleboard materials … before assembly they’re put in ovens that heat them to 130 degrees,” she said. “This sets and bakes off the formaldehyde in the glues and resins. ... I’m not sure that happened in this case because the trailers were made so fast.”
The RVIA’s Broom disputes that notion, saying such “baking” is performed by the manufacturer to reduce the formaldehyde leakage.
“That’s not something the RV industry would do,” he said of the process. “They would be buying certified low- emission materials.”
A patchwork of standards
Any effort to determine whether the formaldehyde levels present in the trailers pose a health threat is exacerbated by the patchwork of standards in place to regulate exposure to the chemical – none of which apply to travel trailers or recreational vehicles.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development limits the use of formaldehyde-emitting products in manufactured homes -- setting a standard of 0.2 parts per million for plywood and 0.3 parts per million for particleboard materials. But the agency does not regulate travel trailers or motor homes, probably because it was never anticipated that people would spend long periods of time living in them, said the Sierra Club’s Gillette.
The lack of an exposure standard reflects a bigger issue, said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer American Lung Association.
“The real problem is we haven’t done for indoor pollution what we’ve done four outdoor pollution and set national standards,” he said. “There are no indoor air quality air standards and I really think Congress should empower the EPA and NIOSH (the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) to set standards.”
Nor is there agreement on the long-term health risks from exposure to formaldehyde.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classified it as “carcinogenic to humans” in June 2004 after reviewing 40 human studies, including a National Cancer Institute study linking exposure to an elevated risk of rare nasopharyngeal cancer.
California cracking down
The California Air Resources Board has identified formaldehyde as a “toxic air contaminant” after state experts concluded that, based on current research, there is “no safe exposure threshold … to preclude cancer.” The agency is currently developing regulations aimed at sharply reducing the amount of formaldehyde products used in the state by 2010.
But no U.S. health or environmental agencies have followed the IARC in declaring the chemical to be a human carcinogen, saying more research is necessary. And the industry groups have sponsored research that they say shows the potential risk associated with exposure has been overblown.
“All of the available and still-emerging human health research data is demonstrating that if formaldehyde exposure is kept below levels that produce chronic irritation and overt target tissue damage, the risk of cancer is essentially zero,” according to the Formaldehyde Council, an industry group.
The debate is far from academic for Katrina survivors who are nearing their one-year anniversary living in the trailers.
DeVany, the industrial hygienist, said that children and the elderly are most at risk, the former because they have higher respiration rates than adults and the latter because they are likely to be exposed to the fumes more than those who work and only return to their trailers at night.
“A year from now, the formaldehyde will be gone, but the permanent and lasting effects from these exposures will not,” she said.
Fumes forced couple to flee
Sounding a similar warning, though one born from personal experience, are Paul and Melody Stewart of Bay St. Louis, who say formaldehyde forced them out of their FEMA trailer and into their truck.
The couple said that even though they had a friend air out the Cavalier trailer and run the heater before they arrived, the smell when they walked in was overpowering. And Melody said she had a nosebleed the first night they stayed in it.
“(The smell) was really bad, but we went and ahead and went to bed,” she said. “Within hours, I woke up to the smell – it was that strong – and I was gasping for fresh air. I ran to the window.”
The couple continued to ventilate the trailer and also tried removing composite wood panels from beneath the bed and table bench and replacing them with solid wood, but nothing seemed to help.
Finally, when their pet cockatiel took ill, they decided they had to do something.
“We got up one morning and the cockatiel was lethargic, wouldn’t move, was losing its balance,” said Paul, a police officer in neighboring Waveland. “… (Later), the vet told us unequivocally, ‘Look, you either get the bird out of that environment or he’s going to die.’”
The Stewarts complained to FEMA and received two replacement trailers – the first of which also smelled of formaldehyde and a second that had swathes of mold and a stove top that looked like it had been “used at a Waffle House,” Paul said.
Fed up, they called FEMA and told the agency to come take the trailer away, then spent five days living in their truck before using their last $50,000 in savings to buy a “fifth-wheel” trailer devoid of any formaldehyde odor.
“We took what resources we had left, and what we really should have used to rebuild our house, and went out and bought our own camper,” Paul said.
Since then, the Stewarts have granted numerous media interviews, intent on spreading word of the possible hazards.
“We’re here because there are so many people at risk (and) they’re in the shadows,” Melody said. “You’ve got Christians, hard-working people that have lost their jobs and retired people who have paid their dues to society, and we’re putting them at risk by letting them stay in these campers.”
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What a load of garbage. Thanks, MSNBC, for falling to the lowest grade of reporting. I suppose the "Do Bras Cause Cancer?" article is next. You get the "F" for journalism award.
Anthony Laporte (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:06:12 AM)
It kills me that all we do is complain. Yes, it is a horrible shame that people are getting sick, but if those trailers had not shown up the screaming would have continued even louder. This was a catastrophic event that no one could prepare for. People on both sides are trying their best, but too many folks refuse to see that. Is this another issue to address? Yes, but enough of the finger pointing. I've been there. I've walked through town where nothing was left and seen the destruction. It's horrible and it will take time to rebuild. This is what brings this country down. Two sides of an issue where no one will say, ok we have a problem. Let's address it without getting nasty and get things done.
Niki, Colorado (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:09:34 AM)
"Those who can, do and those who can't, (sierra club), criticize.
L. D. Gooch (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:13:02 AM)
I live in a mobile home park so hope that my place is safe.
Gwenne
Gwenne Lefkowitz, Chatsworth, CA (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:18:30 AM)
Blame it all on George Bush -- isn't that really why you wrote the article ---- How much money did Clinton get to store the 10,000 trailers FEMA has not used and are in Hope Ak ---- funny that town ring a bell ( or cash register ). Where is that story?????
Stuart --Boston (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:19:45 AM)
Chris Eldrige's idea is worthwhile,, unless your home,(already on stilts goes under 32 feet of water). Also the FEMA trailer issue is correct, I was lucky enough to get an older one. A friend of mine got a newer one, and when I walked inside,, I was almost overcome by the fumes. These things were rushed into manufacture, and as a result, haven't had time to "age". If they are going to keep making these things,,someone needs to find different manufacturing techniques.
David Blackmon Pass Christian, MS (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:20:45 AM)
Any attack on Sierra Club, the bashing of "these ungrateful Katrina victims" is a rather typical demagogical attempt to distract the reader from the main points of the article, which are:
1) Peoples' lives are in immediate danger. What makes your bird fall into coma can't be good for your own health, plain and simple.
2) FEMA used taxpayers', YOUR, money to distribute faulty trailers. I wouldn't be surprised if after a little digging it would turn out that a contract was granted to some buddies of FEMA officials to help them get rid of defective production at Katrina victims' expense.
I'd bet that 99.9% of the bloggers here who say "take it or leave it" are sitting in the comfort of their own homes, without the walls slowly suffocating them and without a bright perspective to develop cancer few years down the road.
Michael K, Toronto, Ontario (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:23:09 AM)
The Sierra Club is trying to call attention to a problem that FEMA refuses to discuss. Note that OSHA also performed testing and found very high formaldehyde levels where these trailers were being stored.
It's hard to propose a solution without knowing the full scope of the problem. The Sierra Club wants more information. Why is that such a bad thing?
K Morris, Washington DC (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:25:32 AM)
Mike,
Clearly, these trailers pose a health hazard. I personally think a cockatiel in a FEMA trailer is an excellent analogy to a canary in a coal mine, in as much as it is an indication that air quality is below normal, and even below acceptable. I experienced how miserable these "homes" were on a public health mission to the region a few months ago.
True, it seems like there were few options for housing in the wake of Katrina. If these trailers were indeed a "short-term evil," maybe we could look the other way, and do a better job with ventilation and whatnot.
However, the fact of life in this region is that rebuilding has proved to be a slow, arduous task, thanks to an utterly disgraceful lack of support from our government. Between the pitiful initial response to this disaster, and the horrendous financial mismanagement that has plagued the recovery (as reported by The Washington Post as well as the GAO), I can not be more embarrassed to call this government my own.
People will undoubtedly be living in these trailers and subjected to these toxins for months to come. This is no "short-term" exposure. Perhaps if our government took the initiative to construct a committee to oversee the financial management of this recovery, we could better channel our resources into the rebuilding, and get these people out of these "toxic tin cans" sooner.
In fact, such a committee was proposed by Congressman Henry Waxman and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in a bill called "The Hurricane Katrina Accountability and Contracting Reform Act" (H.R. 3838). Unfortunately for the Gulf, Congress stuck this bill in committee where it has been sitting with no action taken since September, 2005.
Now, if you can live with poisoning our own fellow citizens with toxins from trailers paid for by our own tax dollars, more power to you.
Meanwhile, I'll be on the phone with Congress and the President demanding that they get their heads out of their you-know-whats and start providing some real help to these people.
Morgan, Carrboro, NC (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:29:38 AM)
I think this is just another shining example of how spoiled and complacent our society has become. These folks had a tragic loss, yes. I am not sure that many of us know how to cope with such things anymore. I do know that I and 21 other members of my my depratment were ready to go help keep law and order in the hurricane ravaged area. I know that while in the military I spent many days, nights and hollidays in far worse conditions. I have seen devastation in other countries, and they live far worse already. The one thing they know how to do is survive. They help themselves. Maybe we have forgotten how to do that. Maybe because we have so much, we have forgotten what our fathers and grandfathers taught us about when they had so little. Maybe we are to reliant on handouts and free lunches to remember that what made our country successful in the past was hard work and self-reliance. Too many people look for the easy way out. They look to sue industry and Govt. to get a check handed to them. Then as was said previously, they will rebuild in the same spot, and it will happen again someday. A vicious cycle no doubt. Vicious for the many who continue to take care of these problems for those who refuse to see the light and do for themselves. Now, this does not apply to all who have seen devastation. There are many that are out there working hard to rebuild and move on without looking for handouts and free rides. However, it those few who are never satisfied that overshadow and bring about negative light on them all.
Ken Howard, Clarksville, Tn (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:29:48 AM)
I have had personal experience with living in a trailer. We bought one back in 1979 and lived in Texas. Slowly but surely I started having headaches, sore throats, and sinus problems. My daughter was always having nosebleeds. Three years later I was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitives which left me allergic to smoke, perfume, fabric softener etc. We moved out of the mobile home in 1984. In 1989 I was diagnosed with Intra Ductal Carcinoma/breast cancer and I had no family history of any type of cancer.
I read this article and I feel so sorry for these people. What might show up now as minor problems could show up later as a life threatening illness.
Penni Pitre, Cave Creek, Arizona (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:31:50 AM)
How about moving some people into these closed Air Base Housing? Have the people w/o any income or jobs work to bring them up to code while being housed in their free houses, feed them in the chow halls already built. Just an idea to use what tax payers already own. In Texas they are selling Base Houses and moving them into neighborhoods and making nice starter homes.
Texas Bubba (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:34:33 AM)
This is one of the oldest stories in the book, the manufactured housing industry has been litigating it for years and has proven the science to be of junk quality. I think it's curious that you didn't check this out before running this piece, call one of the big manufacturors and they will fill you in.
rob, dallas, tx (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:35:16 AM)
There are alternative and better options out there. Working through the red tape that is FEMA has prevented manufacturers from providing their products to the displaced families.
Paul Davisson
Royal Concrete Concepts
Paul Davisson West Palm Beach Florida (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:39:36 AM)
The Sierra Club should shut up until they have a solution? Burying your head in the sand isn't going to make any issue go away. The idea that you can't bring up a problem until you have a solution is simply silly, the Sierra Club aren't medical experts but that can't discount what appears to be a link work exploring between health and these trailers.
Chris Morgan, Worcester, MA (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:41:10 AM)
My sympathies if this is legitimate but I smell a rat. If this is that big a problem, why are the only examples cited a single couple and one doctor's patients? I'm curious to know how many of these people are a part of the class action suit and am particularly suspicious of the "industrial hygenist" from Vancouver. Somebody's paying her and it would be a much more complete story if we knew who that was.
JM, Colorado (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:42:32 AM)
This issue of the formaldehyde is just one of the problems that causes all of us to ovelook the fundamantal issue. That being... what is the best amd most appropriate "temporary" or "emergency" shelter than can be provided to disaster victims.
In Indonesia people are lucky to get ground blankets when their homes are washed away. In Pakistan, those victims, if lucky, might get a cheap tent with no thermal protection from sub zero temperatures in the high mountain regions. Most have received no help at all to this day.
In Katrina, we handed out expensive(and yes, maybe toxic) mobile homes. These mobile homes are NOT temporary shelter by any means. The wide use of trailers and mobile homes have created new types of "slums" complete with the perfect conditions for violence, drug and alcohol problems, as well as utter discomfort.
We need to re-define what constitutes an effective and safe emergency shelter and find out what does temporary mean? Since, in most of the world's refugee camps and settlements, "temporary" has turned out to be in some cases 10 (ten) years!
Tents have beens used since Cro-Magnon man crawled from the cave. Tents rot, absorb moisture and decompose, are excellent hosts for germs, viruses and molds. It is time to look at this business and find the right solutions irregardless if the victims are Americans, Serbs, Indonesians, sub-Saharans or Pakistanis.
We can do better......
Providing mobile homes was a dumb and expensive idea. That was not a tempoary solution.
We need to find the right product(s) and solutions to solve this problem, provide the medical and psychological support to get these people back on their feet, and get them motivated and placed back into real housing.
Doesn't FEMA understand "temporary" and the science of "emergency relief"?
Stan Jasek, Muskegon Michigan (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:44:07 AM)
Great... just what us honest tax paying citizens need - another reason for Katrina "victims" to sap more money from us. Just wait until the class-action and indivudual lawsuits start! Our Gov't, specifically FEMA, should only have provided guidelines, funds, total disclaimer for anything provided to these persons. Many new construction materials contain formaldehyde - when was the testing done? Has retesting been performed? Please, spare us from future issues. Make everyone who lives in flood prone areas sign disclaimers freeing the Gov't from helping them when they know this could happen to them. They made choices to live there - now let them suffer. I live in New York where hundreds of homes were recently flooded and ripped from there foundations - I don't see claims of racism, no Gov't fraud, no fraud to welfare and support systems in the area, etc. President Bush just signed a bill clearing Billions of dollars for Hurricane Katrina funds. What about homeowners insurance and business insurance... isn't that a risk one takes by not getting either?! Stop whining Sierra Club... put on your boots and help rebuild with your own large cashbox.
Larry Litmore, Middletown, NY (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:45:15 AM)
It was the Sierra Club who sued the Army Corps of Enginners about ten years ago to stop them from raising and fortifying the Mississippi River levees. It was the Sierra Club who relentlessly opposed Bush and his administration's flood-control efforts with lawsuit after lawsuit. How do they have the nerve to even comment on the recovery from a disaster they fought to ensure?
Ron (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:48:43 AM)
I have a travel trailer and have lived in it for long
periods. I had no problems, yes I opened windows and
let fresh air in. These poor folks can always switch to the old Tarzan and Jane method of living. If it's to hot in the kitchen then, wait wait don't get out, turn on the VENT fan over the stove, WOW what an idea!
IT's the small knob on the hood over the stove....
Jack Kelly, Aromas, California (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:51:46 AM)
$50,000 would have nearly paid for a new home to be built. It may not have been a luxury mansion but it wouldn't have had wheels under it either. It has been a year now. Why are people still living in travel trailers? I think its because the brand new travel trailers they were given are probably nicer than what they were living in before the storm. This situation has nothing to do with the government. They didn't make any of those people live in an area that EVERYONE knows is below sea level. I felt terrible for the people who lost everything in the hurricane. TERRIBLE! But now...seriously, it has been a year. Quit living off the gov't and fix your own problems. If they don't like the FREE trailers that they are given, then move out of them. Nobody is making them stay.
Tired of UNGRATEFUL, GREEDY people (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:51:55 AM)
They should do something before those fumes put them in tombs!
Ned Flanders, Springfield, ?? (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:53:51 AM)
One would think people would be grateful that some government organizations stepped up to the plate and provided thousands of families with shelter and money(not to mention all the private donations). We as a nation watched as the storm washed away so much of so many lives. Many reached into their hearts and wallets to help, some opened their homes to complete strangers. So many from my area packed up at a moments notice to "go help in the relief effort". People did what they could. Now is the time to accept responsibility for yourselves. Yes, the heat is uncomfortable, been there done that. Can do that again, if needed. Open the windows, air the mobile home out, visit Wal-Mart, come back. The point is, We do what we have to do to survive!! We don't whine about it,(that takes too much energy better devoted to getting the job done.) Be grateful for the assistance you have gotten, it could have been worse. If you can do better on your own, DO IT!! Someone else may benefit from the mobile home you vacate.
Donna Harris, Waynesburg,Kentucky (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:55:25 AM)
I took a task force of 30 officers to Katrina and lived in a tent eating Mres and coping with the 100 degree heat and 100 percent humidity, mosquitos snakes gators looters etc. etc.We worked 18-20 hour days doing anything and everything to help.
My point is, I was there, (more than once) and therefore am entitled to voice my opinion. My opinion is that the FEMA trailers were supposed to be a TEMPORARY solution to a emergency, not permanent housing! People should be standing on their own two feet by now!!!
Darryl Askew Tuscumbia Alabama (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:55:45 AM)
In response to Jack Hand; I can tell you from personal experience that mobile homes are produced with the same formaldehyde-laced building products as FEMA trailers, and that the formaldehyde smell is still very strong on these homes that have gone through the "baking" process. They are sold to the public with this smell, and you sign a waiver that you know there is formaldehyde used in the construction and you release the manufacturer from liability from any problems that may arise from its use. It gradually goes away but not for months or years. And if the baking process only involves bringing the trailers up to 130 degrees, that can be done in a single afternoon in South Mississippi- just turn off the AC and open the windows. Go shopping or take in a movie for the afternoon. I recently re-insulated the attic of my home and the attic temp in the afternoon was over 140 degrees.
I don't have a vested interest in FEMA trailers either, Mr Gifford. My only interest is in seeing them gone from my community as soon as possible. My point is, having to live in a FEMA trailer is not an ideal situation but it is considerably better than any other alternative available to the people who must live in them. Many of my friends and family have to live in them. For the purpose for which they were originally intended, a SHORT-TERM solution to get people out of tents or their cars or their damaged homes, they have worked for the vast majority. I live here, sir, and KNOW and SAW firsthand what this community was going through before the FEMA trailers began to arrive and be set up for use. And they were a godsend when they first arrived to most people who received one who were finally able to take a hot shower, watch TV, or sleep in a bed, with air conditioning, for the first time since that was all taken away from them by the storm. No solution works perfectly well for 100% of the people 100% of the time, but 20 complaints out of 115,000 is pretty damn good. I'll bet that # is going to go up now, thanks to the Sierra Club's Little Boy Who Cried Wolf mentality. I can hear the lawyer commercials already!!- "...If you or your loved one was FORCED by the gov't to live in a FEMA trailer as a result of a hurricane, you may be eligible for a CASH SETTLEMENT AWARD!!! contact Dewey, Cheatham and Howe at once and see how much we can get for YOU!!!"
Mike Scheid, Long Beach, Mississippi (Sent Jul 24, 2006 11:57:02 AM)
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