Toxic Chinese Drywall Accused for Health Problems in Canada, U.S.

[otohara]

VANCOUVER — Homeowners from several communities in B.C.'s Lower Mainland have joined the flood of callers to a U.S. consumer group investigating Chinese drywall that has allegedly begun to sicken North Americans.

Thomas Martin, president of America's Watchdog, says that in the past two weeks about a dozen Lower Mainland callers have all reported experiencing the same nose bleeds, breathing problems and allergy-type symptoms that have affected homeowners across the U.S.

Continued exposure could result in severe health problems, the group says.

"This type of drywall was produced with materials that emit toxic hydrogen sulphide gas and other sulphide gases," says a copy of one home inspection report obtained Canwest News Service on an affected Florida home where Chinese drywall was installed. "These sulphide gases are also alleged to cause serious health conditions and illnesses, such as shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches, fatigue, insomnia, eye irritations and respiratory difficulties."

"It's scary, it's a nightmare. We think we are looking at the worst case of sick houses in U.S. history," Martin said.

"I'd liken it to the problems you find in a meth house (where an illegal lab has been operating)," he said. "If you have had any experience with a meth house, you know it will have to be bulldozed. Like in a meth house, the emissions permeate everything, the two-by-fours, the trusses, the fabric in your furniture, your clothes."http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Toxic+Chinese+drywall+accused+health+problems/1377648/story.html

[Webster Green]

1. China sucks.

We need to stop importing their crap, and start making stuff here. :wtf:

[OhioChick]

3. Agreed. n/t

[havocmom]

4. Corporations wanting profit over safe product suck

China is just responding to market.

[D-Lee]

9. No, China is being China

Just look at a few of the things we know:

- dog food, baby food, farmed fish contaminated and dangerous

- herbal remedies contaminated with drugs, trash ingredients, etc., many dangerous

- counterfeit health supplies marketed as the real thing (among many intellectual property violations)

- even dumplings stuffed with cardboard picked up from the street

Not to mention, remember the slavery found in those tile factories?

Read your history. It will take a long time to bring consumerism and public health responsibility to China.

It is likely to turn around sooner or later, so I wouldn't write China off as being incapable of improvement.

[havocmom]

11. brought to America by CORPORATIONS wanting extra profit

board room boys are complicit. They get what they paid very little for and they are happy to pocket the coin

[jmowreader]

24. You know the cardboard-bun story was falsified?

The reporter made up the story to get ratings. His family probably got a bill for the bullet used in his Monday Night Rehabilitation.

http://laovoices.com/2007/07/19/china-reporter-held-over-cardboard-in-buns-story/

The rest of the things you mentioned--all true. But we all got took over the cardboard-buns story.

[MadMaddie]

2. Anyone surprised?

We still haven't seen the worst of it.

[bkkyosemite]

5. China is running out of resources. We are getting our apple juice (except two that I know of)

many of our frozen vegetables from China....They would love to see us gone what a lovely country for them to inhabit.

[eleny]

7. Which apple juice is not from China?

[bkkyosemite]

16. Martinelli's in CA and OR I don't about other places and Florida's Natural which they also have

the OJ with the American Flag on it and their apple juice in refrigerated. Not all stores carry it.

[eleny]

19. We get both brands in Colorado, thanks!

[bkkyosemite]

23. Welcome. 80% of apple juice concentrate comes from China. Disgusting!

One of the most polluted places in the world and our food is being grown there because of cheap labor. I want my food grown in the USA so I better have a handle on it if I need to complain to a company. Those greedy Corporate sluts fooling around with our food supply and medicines, etc.

[Deja Q]

21. Illogical. They're bringing over toxic products. To safely dispose of all that would cost a lot.

Would they really spend, or continue to do it on the cheap? People blame the US for polluting, but few are batting eyelids over China's pollution, which seems to be rather worse and it's clear they're not doing anything about it.

If they told the CEOs they would rather raise standards... good luck.

[eleny]

6. Is this the only kind of drywall available now, I wonder?

We're going to be replacing two ceilings and I hope we can find some drywall that's safe.

[jmowreader]

8. Look for National Gypsum brand

The two main players in the US drywall market are USG and National Gypsum. USG was bringing drywall in from China during the building boom a few years back. National Gypsum had enough capacity in its plants to meet demand, so they didn't import any.

I think any drywall you run into today will be safe. This is a product that really isn't economically feasible to ship. It's huge and cheap.

[eleny]

13. thanks!

[John Q. Citizen]

10. My guess is you will be able to.

[eleny]

14. thx, jqc

[ddeclue]

12. Is the labor cost in producing drywall REALLY that great

that it justifies shipping it 10,000 miles from China to the USA?

I just don't see how the labor costs offset the fuel costs.

:eyes:

[TahitiNut]

15. It's NOT just labor costs. Never has been. It's also OSHA, EPA, and other regulations ...

... that "businessmen" (i.e. predatory capitalists) regard as avoidable (evadable), even though they protect people (not just the workers) from being killed. Some call it "externalization of costs" ... the factory can cost less but the 'cost' comes out in lost lives, lifelong disabilities, and poisons in the environment. The Exxon Valdez was an example of "cost externalization." The Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal was an example of "cost externalization."

[jmowreader]

18. In this case, it was a capacity problem

All that Chinese drywall came in during the 2001-2007 McMansion boom. A drywall plant can only make so much drywall, and all the drywall plants in the US were designed around the idea that houses have 8-foot flat ceilings, not 12-foot cathedrals. If your plant can produce 1 million sf of drywall per day at maximum capacity and you're selling 1.5 million, you need to get the extra from somewhere--and, unfortunately, the "somewhere" is China.

I don't know how they made it. I did some numbers, and it turns out that if a sheet of 12-foot Chinese drywall cost $10 at the lumberyard, after paying for the ocean shipment you'd be left with somewhere around three dollars a sheet to pay EVERYTHING from the cost of the board in China to the trucks that carried the board from the port to the distribution center and from there to the lumberyard. Unless the Chinese have figured out a way to make drywall for 25 cents per sheet, you're looking at a net loss.

[dkofos]

22. It doesn't.

[upi402]

17. That stuff is cheap, plentiful here, and heavy to ship

wtf?
Thanks god for America's Watchdog!

[Deja Q]

20. Another great example of this new 'empire' the media hyped about, it seems.

China needs to do a lot more than add in evil things like REGULATIONS to improve their standing. Saying it's all about CEOs and corporate greed doesn't fly when they, for all their hatred of anything Western, try to otherwise say they are part of the world community and everything else.

I obviously don't understand.