China's Toxic Harvest: Noxious Chinese Drywall Believed to Contain Smokestack Contaminants
Congressional Desk
June 17, 2009
Washington, DC. Since late 2008, media coverage of problems resulting from toxic drywall imported from China has increased rapidly, with more details unfolding.
This substandard drywall can be found in as many as 250,000 homes in 13 states. As homes sustain corrosion in electrical wiring, HVAC units, and even jewelry, their owners experience a myriad of illnesses and symptoms. The effects are particularly hazardous to children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing respiratory illness.
While Florida's Republican Governor Crist recently joined with Senator Ben Nelson (D-FL) and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) to push both state and federal agencies to aggressively investigate the problem and pursue solutions, his own Lt. Governor, Jeff Kottkamp, moved his family moved out of their home in February as a result of drywall concerns.
According to AAM Senior Analyst Kerri Houston Toloczko, a Florida environmental consulting firm may have solved the mystery of what created toxic conditions in the drywall. "After analyzing the Chinese drywall, Intuitive Environmental Solutions believes that the gypsum used to manufacture the drywall was recycled from use as filtering material inside the smokestacks of China's notoriously polluting coal-based energy facilities," says Toloczko.
"In other words, to save the money required to produce clean drywall, the Chinese manufacturer took contaminated material from inside smokestacks, used it in the manufacture of exported drywall, and sent it over here for Americans to use in their homes."
Toloczko further explains, "When this drywall meets humidity, it emits sulfur dioxide, carbon disulfide and other 'ides' too numerous to mention. These particulates are acidic in nature, and immediately start rotting everything in their path as well as making people ill."
Each week there are new reports of homeowners leaving their homes to live in hotels, rental properties or with family to escape the leaching toxins. Many fear that replacing the drywall, in addition to materials in the home that have become corroded, could be a billion-dollar problem amidst a painful housing slump and a mortgage crisis.
"Homeowners are unsure whether repairs and alternate living arrangements will be covered by insurance. As numerous agencies failed to protect builders, contractors, and homeowners from this dangerous product, in the short term, state and federal agencies should partner to assist these homeowners to find a safe place to live while long term solutions are identified," Toloczko concludes.
This substandard drywall can be found in as many as 250,000 homes in 13 states. As homes sustain corrosion in electrical wiring, HVAC units, and even jewelry, their owners experience a myriad of illnesses and symptoms. The effects are particularly hazardous to children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing respiratory illness.
While Florida's Republican Governor Crist recently joined with Senator Ben Nelson (D-FL) and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) to push both state and federal agencies to aggressively investigate the problem and pursue solutions, his own Lt. Governor, Jeff Kottkamp, moved his family moved out of their home in February as a result of drywall concerns.
According to AAM Senior Analyst Kerri Houston Toloczko, a Florida environmental consulting firm may have solved the mystery of what created toxic conditions in the drywall. "After analyzing the Chinese drywall, Intuitive Environmental Solutions believes that the gypsum used to manufacture the drywall was recycled from use as filtering material inside the smokestacks of China's notoriously polluting coal-based energy facilities," says Toloczko.
"In other words, to save the money required to produce clean drywall, the Chinese manufacturer took contaminated material from inside smokestacks, used it in the manufacture of exported drywall, and sent it over here for Americans to use in their homes."
Toloczko further explains, "When this drywall meets humidity, it emits sulfur dioxide, carbon disulfide and other 'ides' too numerous to mention. These particulates are acidic in nature, and immediately start rotting everything in their path as well as making people ill."
Each week there are new reports of homeowners leaving their homes to live in hotels, rental properties or with family to escape the leaching toxins. Many fear that replacing the drywall, in addition to materials in the home that have become corroded, could be a billion-dollar problem amidst a painful housing slump and a mortgage crisis.
"Homeowners are unsure whether repairs and alternate living arrangements will be covered by insurance. As numerous agencies failed to protect builders, contractors, and homeowners from this dangerous product, in the short term, state and federal agencies should partner to assist these homeowners to find a safe place to live while long term solutions are identified," Toloczko concludes.
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