FEMA Trailers Making Kids Sick

By Eric on May 28, 2008

We already know how incompetent the Bush Administration’s response to Katrina was, but this is just shameful:

Doctors cannot conclusively link her asthma to the trailer. But they fear she is among tens of thousands of youngsters who may face lifelong health problems because the temporary housing supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency contained formaldehyde fumes up to five times the safe level.

The chemical, used in interior glue, was detected in many of the 143,000 trailers sent to the Gulf Coast in 2006. But a push to get residents out of them, spearheaded by FEMA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not begin until this past February.

Members of Congress and CDC insiders say the agencies’ delay in recognizing the danger is being compounded by studies that will be virtually useless and the lack of a plan to treat children as they grow.
…
Formaldehyde is classified as a probable carcinogen, or cancer-causing substance, by the Environmental Protection Agency. There is no way to measure formaldelhyde in the bloodstream. Respiratory problems are an early sign of exposure.

Young children are at particular risk. Thousands who lived in trailers will be in the prime of life in the 10 to 15 years doctors believe it takes cancer to develop.

Ugh. It took these criminals two whole years after discovering that these trailers contained a toxic chemical to get their act together, and now these children will have to suffer throughout their lives for FEMA’s incompetence. Thanks, assholes.

Brad has a suggestion for Bush’s last day in office.

Incidentally, I’m looking to organize a Million Middle Finger March in Washington, DC next year. The premise is simple: we get a million people to gather in our nation’s capital to flip Bush the bird as he takes off in his helicopter after the new president is sworn in.

Who’s with me?

I’m in.

Tags: FEMA, George W. Bush, Hurricane Katrina, incompetence

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