FEMA Knew of Toxic Trailers for Over a Year, Didn’t Tell Residents

By Anastacia Mott Austin

During dramatic and shocking testimony Thursday at a hearing by the U.S. House of Representatives, it was revealed that the emergency trailers provided by FEMA for victims of Hurricane Katrina were potentially causing serious health problems for people living in them. What is worse, FEMA knew of the dangers for at least a year and didn’t warn residents.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed emails and other documents from FEMA officials, revealing the agency was aware of the possible health dangers of the trailers but wanted to avoid responsibility.

In early 2006, some tenants in the trailers began to complain of respiratory problems such as asthma, persistent coughing, and frequent nosebleeds. When formaldehyde toxicity emerged as a potential cause, FEMA only tested one trailer after the pregnant woman living in it complained. They found formaldehyde levels over 75 times the recommended limit for humans, and the trailer had been ventilated for four days prior to the testing.

After testing the one trailer, FEMA stopped investigating all trailers for formaldehyde levels. When their field officials repeatedly recommended testing, higher-ranking FEMA representatives denied their requests.

One of the emails from a FEMA lawyer stated, in June of 2006, "Do not initiate testing until we give the okay…once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them."

Another memo sent the next day reported on the advice "…that we do not do testing, which would imply FEMA’s ownership of the issue."

However, in response to complaints from trailer residents, one agency did step forward to offer testing for formaldehyde in the trailers. The Sierra Club performed air quality testing in 32 FEMA trailers during the spring of 2006; 30 of the 32 had formaldehyde levels many times the recommended limit for humans, some as high as 400 times normal.

House Representatives from both parties shared harsh criticism for the cover-up. The subpoenaed documents "expose an official policy of premeditated ignorance," said Henry Waxman (D-Calif), the committee’s chairman, adding, "…senior officials in Washington didn’t want to now what they already knew, because they didn’t want the legal and moral responsibility to do what they knew had to be done."

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends formaldehyde exposure be no higher than .016 parts per million, with a 15-minute ceiling limit of .1 parts per million. This May, when finally pressured into testing newer trailers, FEMA reported that some trailers contained formaldehyde levels as high as 1.2 ppm, but that the levels had dropped to .3 ppm after four days of ventilation.

Occupational health and safety engineer Mary C. DeVany, who consulted with the Sierra Club while they were testing the trailers, told the Washington Post that an exposure of .3 ppm is 400 times higher than the long-term limit set by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Residents who have long complained of adverse health effects were understandably upset as they testified at the hearing. The House heard from three families who had suffered dramatic ill health that they say was caused by living in the trailers. They told of asthma, breathing difficulties, frequent nosebleeds, and mouth tumors that had appeared after they began living in FEMA trailers.

Pediatrician Dr. Scott Needle, whose practice is in Mississippi, testified at the hearing that certain symptoms started emerging in his young patients.

He told the panel, "In spring [of] 2006, certain patterns of illness emerged amongst some of my patients. Many children returned repeatedly to my office with symptoms that would not go away or would clear up and then promptly reoccur. Sinus infections, ear infections, colds, and a variety of other respiratory symptoms."

"In talking to these families, I found that they shared two common characteristics. First, they were all living in travel trailers provided by FEMA. Second, the families reported that these symptoms started not long after moving into these trailers."

After criticism from the House Committee, FEMA Director David Paulison said that the agency would now warn all of the residents currently living in FEMA trailers of the potential dangers of toxic levels of formaldehyde.

More than 75,000 people still live in temporary FEMA trailers, almost two years after Hurricane Katrina. And many may have been living in dangerously unhealthy conditions while FEMA was aware of the problem, for at least a year.

Dr. Needle hopes it isn’t too late for some of his young patients. He told reporters, "It’s the long-term carcinogen issue that really concerns me."