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rawstory.com
I moved to the Austin area from a small Southeast Texas town called Orange the very weekend Hurricane Ike came ashore in the town where I grew up. There are several in that area, family and friends of mine included, who are still dealing with the devastation caused by Ike over a year ago.
Recently, I came across some information about a particular type of Chinese dry wall that, according to an article at The Raw Story Web site, "was used in rebuilding in southern states after damage from hurricanes."
CNN reported in an article published Nov. 23:
The drywall in question was imported from 2005 through 2007, when a housing boom and two active hurricane seasons created a shortage of building materials in the southern United States. Since then, the product safety agency has received nearly 2,100 reports from 32 states -- but mostly from Florida, Louisiana and Virginia -- of homeowners complaining of a rotten-egg smell, sickness, failed appliances, and corroded wires and pipes. Many have moved out of their homes. In some cases, insurers have refused to reimburse them.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) addressed the issue in a press statement, saying, "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and numerous state departments of health have been working together to investigate and analyze how Chinese made drywall entered into the country."
All of the agencies listed, with all the resources available to them, are apparently having trouble figuring out how and when enormous amounts of Chinese drywall made it into this country. Someone had to ship it here. Someone had to receive it and distribute it here. How does a large shipment of drywall from China - perhaps even several shipments - not leave a paper trail?
The CPSC's statement also reveals that Strontium, an element extremely dangerous to one's health when radiated, is present in the problematic drywall, but adds that the Strontium found in Chinese drywall "does not pose a radiological risk." The statement goes on to declare that the drywall in question "emits volatile sulfur compounds at a higher rate than the U.S. made drywall."
To learn more about what the very walls of your home may be emitting into the air you breath, read the CPSC Press Statement available at the CPSC Web site.
| ChineseDryWall.com |
| New York Times |
| MSNBC |
| The Raw Story |
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