Banned Trailers Return for Latest Gulf Disaster

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

VENICE, La. — In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they became a symbol of the government’s inept response to that disaster: the 120,000 or so trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to people who had lost their homes.

The trailers were discovered to have such high levels of formaldehyde that the government banned them from ever being used for long-term housing again.

Some of the trailers, though, are getting a second life amid the latest disaster here — as living quarters for workers involved with the cleanup of the oil spill.

They have been showing up in mobile-home parks, open fields and local boatyards as thousands of cleanup workers have scrambled to find housing.

Ron Mason, owner of a disaster contracting firm, Alpha 1, said that in the past two weeks he had sold more than 20 of the trailers to cleanup workers and the companies that employ them in Venice and Grand Isle, La.

Even though federal regulators have said the trailers are not to be used for housing because of formaldehyde’s health risks, Mr. Mason said some of these workers had bought them so they could be together with their wives and children after work.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/us/01trailers.html

[obxhead]

1. Whats wrong with all the empty hotel rooms?

btw, I called this happening at least 45 days ago.

[Robbien]

2. First they won't let the workers wear respirators

then they stick them in formaldehyde laden trailers.


Oh yeah, this is gonna end well.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. It's time to stop the abuse.

[SoapBox]

3. WTF?

...why the hell weren't these damn death traps scrapped?

This frack'n country is a mess.

[KoKo]

4. OMG...let's hope they've "Gassed Out" after all this time...but NOT GOOD!

[prairierose]

8. It takes 5-7 years for them to finish outgassing....

the same goes for new furniture, carpet, paint and many building materials used.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. Something about "doomed to repeat itself" springs to mind...

big sigh*

[emilyg]

7. Oh Lord - people are just not important.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Katrina trailers revived for Gulf oil disaster

Source: MSNBC- NYT


Katrina trailers revived for Gulf oil disaster
Cleanup crews stay in banned formaldehyde-laden FEMA homes

by Ian Urbina
updated 7/1/2010 3:17:43 AM ET


In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they became a symbol of the government’s inept response to that disaster: the 120,000 or so trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to people who had lost their homes.

The trailers were discovered to have such high levels of formaldehyde that the government banned them from ever being used for long-term housing again. Some of the trailers, though, are getting a second life amid the latest disaster here — as living quarters for workers involved with the cleanup of the oil spill.

Even though federal regulators have said the trailers are not to be used for housing because of formaldehyde’s health risks, Mr. Mason said some of these workers had bought them so they could be together with their wives and children after work.

“These are perfectly good trailers,” Mr. Mason said, adding that he has leased land in and around Venice for 40 more trailers that are being delivered from Texas in the coming weeks. “Look, you know that new car smell? Well, that’s formaldehyde, too. The stuff is in everything. It’s not a big deal.”

Not everyone agreed. “It stunk to high heaven,” said Thomas J. Sparks, a logistics coordinator for the Marine Spill Response Corporation, as he stood in front of the FEMA trailer that was provided to him by a company working with his firm. Mr. Sparks said the fumes in the trailer from formaldehyde, a widely used chemical in building materials like particle board, were so strong that he had asked his employer to provide him with a non-FEMA trailer.

(snip)

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38031419/ns/politics-the_ne... /

---

Why weren't these fucking things destroyed?

The more things change, the more they remain the same. America is a failed state.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Greed Greed Greed....Someone..somewhere has to make money off these trailers!!!

How the hell could this be allowed???!!!

[liberal N proud]

11. It is an example of what the less government will accomplish

Someone makes huge sums of money at the cost of someone else. In this case the health of someone else.

And the conservatives id10ts of this country want more of this shit.

[BrklynLiberal]

17. That is it in a nutshell..and the goobers are convinced by the repukes

to vote for it..even when it means their own personal disaster.

[Javaman]

12. formaldehyde anyone? nt

[BrklynLiberal]

20. I think that those greedy S.O.Bs that have been selling these trailers should be forced to live in

them..with their families, for at least a year. Let's see how they would feel about that..

“These are perfectly good trailers,” Mr. Mason said, adding that he has leased land in and around Venice for 40 more trailers that are being delivered from Texas in the coming weeks. “Look, you know that new car smell? Well, that’s formaldehyde, too. The stuff is in everything. It’s not a big deal.”

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mhmi/mmg111.html

Health Effects

* Formaldehyde is an eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritant. Inhalation of vapors can produce narrowing of the bronchi and an accumulation of fluid in the lungs.
* Children may be more susceptible than adults to the respiratory effects of formaldehyde.
* Formaldehyde solution (formalin) causes corrosive injury to the gastrointestinal tract, especially the pharynx, epiglottis, esophagus, and stomach.
* The systemic effects of formaldehyde are due primarily to its metabolic conversion to formate, and may include metabolic acidosis, circulatory shock, respiratory insufficiency, and acute renal failure.
* Formaldehyde is a potent sensitizer and a probable human carcinogen.

Acute Exposure

Formaldehyde vapor produces immediate local irritation in mucous membranes, including eyes, nose, and upper respiratory tract. Ingestion of formalin causes severe injury to the gastrointestinal tract. The exact mechanism of action of formaldehyde toxicity is not clear, but it is known that it can interact with molecules on cell membranes and in body tissues and fluids (e.g., proteins and DNA) and disrupt cellular functions. High concentrations cause precipitation of proteins, which results in cell death. Absorption from the respiratory tract is very rapid; absorption from the gastrointestinal tract is also rapid, but may be delayed by ingestion with food. Once absorbed, formaldehyde is metabolized to formic acid, which may cause acid-base imbalance and a number of other systemic effects.

Children do not always respond to chemicals in the same way that adults do. Different protocols for managing their care may be needed.
CNS

Malaise, headache, sleeping disturbances, irritability, and impairment of dexterity, memory, and equilibrium may result from a single, high level, exposure to formaldehyde.
Respiratory

Even fairly low concentrations of formaldehyde can produce rapid onset of nose and throat irritation, causing cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, and wheezing. Higher exposures can cause significant inflammation of the lower respiratory tract, resulting in swelling of the throat, inflammation of the windpipe and bronchi, narrowing of the bronchi, inflammation of the lungs, and accumulation of fluid in the lungs. Pulmonary injury may continue to worsen for 12 hours or more after exposure.

Previously sensitized individuals can develop severe narrowing of the bronchi at very low concentrations (e.g., 0.3 ppm). Bronchial narrowing may begin immediately or can be delayed for 3 to 4 hours; effects may worsen for up to 20 hours after exposure and can persist for several days.

Exposure to certain chemical irritants can lead to Reactive Airway Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS), a chemically- or irritant-induced type of asthma.

Children may be more vulnerable to corrosive agents than adults because of the relatively smaller diameter of their airways.

Children may be more vulnerable because of relatively increased minute ventilation per kg and failure to evacuate an area promptly when exposed.
Metabolic

Accumulation of formic acid can cause an anion-gap acid-base imbalance. If formalin is ingested, absorption of the methanol stabilizer may contribute to the imbalance and can result in an osmolal gap, as well as an anion gap.
Immunologic

In persons who have been previously sensitized, inhalation and skin contact may cause various skin disorders, asthma-like symptoms, anaphylactic reactions and, rarely, hemolysis. The immune system in children continues to develop after birth, and thus, children may be more susceptible to certain chemicals.
Gastrointestinal

Ingestion of aqueous solutions of formaldehyde can result in severe corrosive injury to the esophagus and stomach. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, inflammation of the stomach, and ulceration and perforation of the oropharynx, epiglottis, esophagus, and stomach may occur. Both formaldehyde and the methanol stabilizer are easily absorbed and can contribute to systemic toxicity.
Ocular

Exposure to low concentrations of formaldehyde vapor can cause eye irritation, which abates within minutes after exposure has ended. Formalin splashed in the eyes can result in corneal ulceration or cloudiness of the eye surface, death of eye surface cells, perforation, and permanent loss of vision; these effects may be delayed for 12 hours or more.
Dermal

Exposure to formaldehyde vapor or to formalin solutions can cause skin irritation and burns. In sensitized persons, contact dermatitis may develop at very low exposure levels.
Potential Sequelae

In survivors of inhalation injury, pulmonary function usually returns to normal. Eye exposure to high concentrations of formaldehyde vapor or formalin can eventually cause blindness. Narrowing of the esophagus and severe corrosive damage to the stomach lining can result from ingesting formalin.
Chronic Exposure

The major concerns of repeated formaldehyde exposure are sensitization and cancer. In sensitized persons, formaldehyde can cause asthma and contact dermatitis. In persons who are not sensitized, prolonged inhalation of formaldehyde at low levels is unlikely to result in chronic pulmonary injury. Adverse effects on the central nervous system such as increased prevalence of headache, depression, mood changes, insomnia, irritability, attention deficit, and impairment of dexterity, memory, and equilibrium have been reported to result from long-term exposure. Chronic exposure may be more serious for children because of their potential longer latency period.
Carcinogenicity

The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that formaldehyde may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen. In humans, formaldehyde exposure has been weakly associated with increased risk of nasal cancer and nasal tumors were observed in rats chronically inhaling formaldehyde.
Reproductive and Developmental Effects

There is limited evidence that formaldehyde causes adverse reproductive effects. The TERIS database states that the risk of developmental defects to the exposed fetus ranges from none to minimal. Formaldehyde is not included in Reproductive and Developmental Toxicants, a 1991 report published by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) that lists 30 chemicals widely acknowledged to have reproductive and developmental consequences.

There have been reports of menstrual disorders in women occupationally exposed to formaldehyde, but they are controversial. Studies in experimental animals have reported some effects on spermatogenesis. Formaldehyde has not been proven to be teratogenic in animals and is probably not a human teratogen at occupationally permissible levels. Formaldehyde has been shown to have genotoxic properties in human and laboratory animal studies producing sister chromatid exchange and chromosomal aberrations.

Special consideration regarding the exposure of pregnant women is warranted, since formaldehyde has been shown to be a genotoxin; thus, medical counseling is recommended for the acutely exposed pregnant woman.

[Javaman]

22. Like the Post-modern saying goes: Formaldehyde workes great!...if you're dead. nt

[formercia]

16. The trailers were probably sold as scrap with the intent of them being destroyed.

A minor oversight.

[BrklynLiberal]

19. Nope. the Bushites were looking to make money off them from the getgo.

The article says they were stored..and finally sold in 2006....instead of being destroyed. SOMEONE was looking to put money in their own pockets out of this... Over 100,000 of those trailers were sold to an unsuspecting public since then.

[davidinalameda]

13. the republicans are going to take this and run

Obama is showing himself to be worse than Bush

this has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever seen

[Doctor_J]

14. This is hard to describe

He seems to WANT to serve only one term

[liberal N proud]

15. How is this on Obama associated?

Where in this story can the President be connected to trailers that were banned. The story is about greedy people ignoring federal mandates.

[BrklynLiberal]

18. I believe they were sold to private parties...with the caveat that they were NOT for

for living quarters. The PRIVATE OWNERS who bought them from the BUSH govt are the ones putting them out there for the cleanup companies to buy and use for housing for their employees.

Do not see the Obama administration in there at all.

It is the BUSH administration that should have had them destroyed...not sold them so that "someone" -with connections to the repukes, I would bet - could still make a profit off them..

Read the entire article and you will see that this is not on Obama..even tho the repukes will try to make it seem that way.
The TRUTH is that it is on BUSH, HIS FEMA, and all those crooks who bought the trailers knowing they were dangerous and then sold them to unsuspecting buyers.

<snip>
The trailers were discovered to have such high levels of formaldehyde that the government banned them from ever being used for long-term housing again.

Some of the trailers, though, are getting a second life amid the latest disaster here — as living quarters for workers involved with the cleanup of the oil spill.

They have been showing up in mobile-home parks, open fields and local boatyards as thousands of cleanup workers have scrambled to find housing.

Ron Mason, owner of a disaster contracting firm, Alpha 1, said that in the past two weeks he had sold more than 20 of the trailers to cleanup workers and the companies that employ them in Venice and Grand Isle, La.

Even though federal regulators have said the trailers are not to be used for housing because of formaldehyde’s health risks, Mr. Mason said some of these workers had bought them so they could be together with their wives and children after work.

“These are perfectly good trailers,” Mr. Mason said, adding that he has leased land in and around Venice for 40 more trailers that are being delivered from Texas in the coming weeks. “Look, you know that new car smell? Well, that’s formaldehyde, too. The stuff is in everything. It’s not a big deal.”

Not everyone agreed. “It stunk to high heaven,” said Thomas J. Sparks, a logistics coordinator for the Marine Spill Response Corporation, as he stood in front of the FEMA trailer that was provided to him by a company working with his firm. Mr. Sparks said the fumes in the trailer from formaldehyde, a widely used chemical in building materials like particle board, were so strong that he had asked his employer to provide him with a non-FEMA trailer.

<snip>

But federal officials have struggled to figure out what to do with the contaminated trailers, which have cost nearly $130 million a year to store and maintain, according to federal records. As a result, the government decided to sell the trailers in 2006.

The trailers have found a ready market in the gulf.

“The price was right,” said Buddy Fuzzell, an executive with Cahaba Disaster Recovery, a contracting firm that bought 15 trailers for about 45 cleanup workers.

Several buyers said in interviews that they were unaware of any prohibition on using the trailers for housing.

<snip>

In an April hearing, members of the House Energy Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection raised concerns that the trailers would end up being used for housing. More than 100,000 trailers have been sold so far in public auctions.

The trailers are “not intended to be used as housing,” said David Garratt, FEMA’s associate administrator for mission support. “Subsequent owners must continue to similarly inform subsequent buyers for the life of the unit.”

These rules are not being followed in many cases, however. Officials with the inspector general’s office of the General Services Administration said Wednesday that they had opened at least seven cases concerning buyers who might not have posted the certification and formaldehyde warnings on trailers they sold.

Federal records indicate that of the hundreds of companies and individuals who have bought the trailers, dozens are in Louisiana. They include Henderson Auctions, which bought 23,636 units for $18 million, and Kite Brothers RV, which bought 6,511 mobile homes and travel trailers for $16 million.

<snip>

One of Mr. Mason’s trailers, shown to a reporter, had an overpowering smell of formaldehyde inside and none of the required placards on the outside or inside indicating the formaldehyde risk or that it was not supposed to be used for housing. The trailer did, however, have a note taped inside to call FEMA.

Mr. Mason, who is based in Texarkana, Tex., added that all of his customers have been happy and that he planned to lease land for 50 more trailers that he would rent out to workers.

“Bottom line,” he said, “I’m providing a service.”

ANY BETS ON WHETHER MR. MASON IS A DEMOCRAT OR A REPUBLICAN????????

[snooper2]

21. not going to respond eh?

nt

[davidinalameda]

23. its his EPA that's allowing them to be used

they can step in and say no

the republicans are going to use this to show that Obama is not doing anything to help with the spill