Toxic Trailers

So, it turns out FEMA knew for some time that their trailers -- 120,000 of which were distributed to Gulf Coast residents after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- were making people sick.

Levels of the toxic carcinogen formaldehyde in the trailers were found to be as high as what a professional embalmer would be exposed to in the workplace. The dangers of formaldehyde exposure are serious: from skin and respiratory problems to death. Might seem surviving the hurricane was the "easy" part when your temporary housing can kill you before you figure out what's going on. And over half of those original 120,000 trailers are still being lived in by families all along the Gulf Coast...

Praises go to the Mississippi Sierra Club for keeping up the pressure to expose FEMA.

Why did FEMA keep all this formaldehyde stuff under wraps? Because admitting there might be a problem would obligate FEMA to do something. Better to keep your mouth shut. . . . So what if a few people, like Gulf Coast resident Hilda Nelson, die?

And that just . . . well . . . that just makes me sick.