FEMA, CDC blamed for toxic travel trailers

by Frank James

The infamous formaldehyde problems with the FEMA travel trailers weren't the fault of the trailer manufacturers but of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a Republican congressional staff analysis obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

The Tribune obtained the report in advance of a scheduled Wednesday hearing by the House Government Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) in which trailer manufacturers are expected to be blamed by the majority Democrats for providing trailers, whose interiors allegedly released toxic formaldehyde, to the government which used them to house thousands displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

How do we know the manufacturers are likely to come under fire tomorrow? Here's a snippet of Waxman's letter to one of them, Gulf Stream Coach Inc.

FEMA-supplied travel trailers manufactured by Gulf Stream Coach, Inc., were among those tested by CDC that had "statistically significantly higher levels of formaldehyde" than other travel trailers. The results showed that 56% of the tested Gulf Stream travel trailers had levels of formaldehyde higher than 100 parts per billion (Ppb). This is the level at which the Environmental Protection Agency has stated adverse health effects become apparent. And it is significantly above the 16 ppb level recommended by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for exposure to formaldehyde in a workplace over an 8-hour period.

At the hearing, you should be prepared to address this CDC report. You should also be
prepared to testify about why elevated levels of formaldehyde were found in the travel trailers your company manufactured.

The leak of the report was obviously a pre-emptive strike by Republicans to redirect the finger of blame from the trailer manufacturers and to provide them with some cover.

This is from the Republican staff's analysis:

In the absence of government standards, blaming trailer manufacturersf or doing what was expected of them would be misplaced and ineffective. In the 109th Congress, The Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina reported the failure of govemment, at all levels, to prepare and respond to a disaster that devastated people and property. The formaldehyde issue may demonstrate a continued government failure in some respects. For twenty-four years, HUD has set formaldehyde product standard sand indoor air target levels for manufactured housing. Yet, these are now being cnticizedby other federal agencies as being too high, although these same agencies cannot agree on an altemative "safe" and reasonable standard. FEMA has compounded the problem. They reacted hastily by setting procurement requirements which effectively prevent travel trailers from being used for housing after future disasters. Serious oversight and reform efforts should resolve these various difficulties in a way which protects public health, clarifies vague government standards and does not penalize manufacturers and their tens of thousands of hard working employees.