Formaldehyde in Carriage Cameos?

TXiceman wrote:
A 7 year old trailer should be totally out-gassed by now.

Ken

You would think so...but I have a friend who became ill when she moved into a 13 year old trailer, from formaldehyde. Some people are much more susceptible...such as those who have multiple chemical sensitivities.

When I researched, this was one of the very few references that I could find. These people actually MEASURED the formaldehyde levels. So, I was wondering if any changes may have been made by Carriage in their choice of materials SINCE those earlier days.

Copied and pasted:

"1999 5th wheel tests over the limit for formaldehyde

My husband and I purchased a 1999 Cameo Carriage 5th wheel last summer. We noticed a pungent odor when we first stepped into the coach but dismissed it as a "new camper smell" even though the RV was six years old. We soon found out that this odor permeated sealed food and anything that was in the camper for more than a few hours. We opened a new bag of chips that had been in the pantry overnight and it tasted like this strange odor. The smell would not come out of Tupperware when run through a dishwasher on the hottest level.

In the meantime, my "allergies" went into overdrive. Burning eyes and throat, sneezing, and wheezing. Not horrible, but annoying. I decided to call the Carriage company, and the customer service agent flatly denied ever using formaldehyde in any of their coaches. We couldn't believe that the odor was anything else, so we tested for formaldehyde and the level was .11 ppm. Not that high, but high enough to cause problems.

I called Carriage back and informed the same representative of the test results, and he told me to pursue it if I want to but there is nothing more to be said or done on their end.

For now, I am going to re-test for formaldehyde to double check the results. I am also letting a dry water bottle sit for a couple of days in the RV, capping it, and sending it to Advanced Chemicals, where the formaldehyde test kit was received.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has had similar problems. I spoke with an RV dealer for another company and he basically said, "Get over it. They're all made with formaldehyde. Just open your windows." Now, isn't that a nice solution? *sigh*"