FEMA Halts Trailer Donations and Sales
Updated August 2007: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has stopped trailer donations and sales while explores claims that the trailers are making the Katrina and Rita victims sick from over-exposure to formaldehyde.
Federal health scientists are investigating how safe the FEMA trailers are, and have been asked to classify an acceptable amount of formaldehyde that can be in the air. Formaldehyde is frequently used in construction materials, but the carcinogen is known to cause respiratory problems if persons are exposed to the chemical too long.
FEMA provided trailers to over 120,000 victims in 2005, after the hurricanes destroyed their homes. Since then there have been over 86,000 families who have experienced health problems from the formaldehyde contaminated trailers.
In a House oversight meeting in mid-July, 2007, it was revealed that FEMA lawyers did not want the agency to investigate the illnesses arising from the trailers. An e-mail written by the lawyers read, “Do not initiate any testing until we give the O.K. Once you get the results, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them.”
FEMA announced that “out of abundance of caution,” the agency will be suspending sales and donations of the trailers until the results of the formaldehyde study come back. The study will be taking into account the relative humidity, the design of the trailer, and how long the trailers are lived in.