Slow Response from FEMA for Toxic Trailers
Updated July 2007: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been accused of refusing to acknowledge high levels of formaldehyde in trailers that were provided to Hurricane Katrina victims, in a House oversight committee on Thursday, July 19. Three people testified that they believe the exposure to formaldehyde caused them a number of different health problems such as sore throats, respiratory problems, and burning eyes.
The administrator of FEMA, R. David Paulison, says that the agency is not completely sure that the resident’s illnesses were caused by the trailers, but that they should have acted more quickly to complaints.
Reports about the formaldehyde trailers started to get around in March 2006, but FEMA chose to remain silent on the issue. One FEMA lawyer allegedly said in an e-mail subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, “Do not initiate any testing until we give the O.K. Once you get results, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them.”
When one man was found dead in his trailer a staff member requested that the death be investigated. Apparently, the man told his neighbor that he was afraid to turn on his air conditioning because he thought it would make the formaldehyde worse. The FEMA office told another employee that the agency did not want to find out if the formaldehyde levels in trailers were unsafe.
There have been problems reported in over 1,200 trailers that FEMA provided. Some residents stated that FEMA was unresponsive when they reported their suspicions that their trailers were making them sick. Mr. Paulison said that the agency has replaced 62 of the 66,000 trailers on account of growing worries over the level of formaldehyde gas in the trailers.