BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

When the tornados struck Tennessee and Arkansas on Super Tuesday, there was an announcement that FEMA would be on the ground.  Based on FEMA’s response to Katrina and the fake news conferences they staged during the California fires, should we have expected better for Tennessee and Arkansas?

After each of the previous debacles, FEMA has stated that it had learned and would do better in the future.  Well, this is the future, FEMA, and sending the toxic left over trailers from New Orleans to Tennessee and Arkansas leads us to believe you haven’t learned a damned thing… or, you just don’t care.

The AP reported

The formaldehyde levels in some trailers were found to be high enough to cause breathing problems in children, the elderly or people who already have respiratory trouble, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said. About 5 percent had levels high enough to cause breathing problems even in people who do not ordinarily have respiratory trouble, she said.

Gerberding said the tests could not draw a direct link between formaldehyde levels and the wide range of ailments reported by trailer occupants. But the CDC urged people to move out as quickly as possible.

As early as 2006, trailer occupants began reporting headaches, nosebleeds and difficulty breathing.

But as recently as last spring, a FEMA spokesman said the agency said no reason to question the safety of its trailers. Just last month, congressional investigators accused FEMA of suppressing and manipulating scientific research to play down the danger — an accusation the agency denied.

“I don’t understand why FEMA bought trailers in the first place that were dangerous,” said Henry Alexander, 60, who has been living in a trailer since February 2006. “You would hope they would test them for formaldehyde before. I’m very angry that another agency had to step forward and say they were a health risk.”

FEMA knew the trailers were cheaply built and dangerous.  In fact, FEMA workers, according to Mary Landrieu (D-La), were told not to enter the trailers although none of the residents of those in use were told to evacuate until now.

The real issue is not what it will cost but how fast we can move people out,” he [Paulison] said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fumes from 519 tested trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were, on average, about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes. Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials, can lead to breathing problems and is also believed to cause cancer.

The Director of FEMA, David Paulison, said that until today they did not know that the trailers were contaminated.  Well, why did you tell your FEMA workers not to go into them?

So, that brings me back to my home state, Tennessee.  The area that was hardest hit by the tornados of February 4th is a rural area, probably a middle to low income area.  I mentioned in a post when FEMA said they were coming to Tennessee, that we should not expect too much.  After all, the Bush administration cares about Wall Street, not Main Street, Elm Street or Bourbon Street. 

It’s one thing to do nothing.  It’s another thing to take action that will potentially cause more long term harm, especially with full knowledge that what is being done is bordering on criminal.

There was a national outcry when China sent lead tainted toys to America.  There was a national outcry when our cats and dogs started dying from kidney failure from tainted cat and dog food made in foreign countries.  There was talk about placing inspectors in the factories to make certain that our standards were met.  Yet, in our own country we can’t control the quality of manufactured living facilities for those who have been displaced by an act of God. 

It is insane, totally insane, to remove the tainted trailers from the Gulf states and send them to Arkansas and Tennessee.  They won’t be any less tainted here.  They will be no safer for habitation just because they are moved across state lines.  And, this time FEMA knows that the trailers are unsafe.  They have no excuses left.  These facilities are unsafe for human habitation, per FEMA’s own admission.  So, why send them to Tennessee and Arkansas?  With present knowledge of contamination, the act is criminal. 

Formaldehyde has been classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Fumes can cause burning of the eyes and nose, shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and tightness in the chest.

If these trailers are deadly in Louisiana, they will be deadly in Tennessee.  And, don’t even try to tell us that by airing them out, they will be suitable.  That explanation is nothing short of a weak cover-up for the total inadequacy of FEMA to do the right thing. 

Today there are over 35,000 people still living in the FEMA trailers throughout the South.  Some people have been in these time bombs since 2006.  Now, FEMA wants to “air out” their new left over trailers and move them to Tennessee and Arkansas.

Bottom line:  FEMA could end up killing more people over the long term than Katrina and the tornados put together.