ABC News Quote " "
The Sierra Club — the environmental group that blew the whistle on FEMA when Hurricane Katrina victims were given toxic RV trailers to live in — has warned that some mobile homes en route to victims of the California wildfires have the same excessive formaldehyde levels that sickened some Katrina victims.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has confirmed that 50 new mobile homes from a Hope, Ark., storage facility are already on their way to Southern California as part of the federal relief effort for thousands who lost their homes to fires in October.
"We have started the transition," said James McIntyre, a spokesman for FEMA, which has been phasing out its use of "travel trailers" in favor of mobile homes.
FEMA claims that its mobile homes are safe, but concedes it has not tested these units, which were manufactured with materials similar to those in the toxic RV trailers.
But Sierra Club says random tests of FEMA mobile homes found at least three had formaldehyde levels over the Environmental Protection Agency limit of .10 parts per million.
Previous Sierra Club testing showed that 83 percent of FEMA homes tested in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama had levels of formaldehyde above the recommended limit.
"We have reason to question the safety of emergency homes going to California," said Sierra spokesman Oliver Bernstein. "FEMA had a grand solution not to give out the trailers and to give out mobile homes, and they think they have done their homework."
Formaldehyde is a toxic chemical most often used for embalming, but it is also commonly used as a glue in building materials, like particle board for cabinets in mobile homes. It can "out-gas," or leak into the air, under hot, humid conditions.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has confirmed that 50 new mobile homes from a Hope, Ark., storage facility are already on their way to Southern California as part of the federal relief effort for thousands who lost their homes to fires in October.
"We have started the transition," said James McIntyre, a spokesman for FEMA, which has been phasing out its use of "travel trailers" in favor of mobile homes.
FEMA claims that its mobile homes are safe, but concedes it has not tested these units, which were manufactured with materials similar to those in the toxic RV trailers.
But Sierra Club says random tests of FEMA mobile homes found at least three had formaldehyde levels over the Environmental Protection Agency limit of .10 parts per million.
Previous Sierra Club testing showed that 83 percent of FEMA homes tested in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama had levels of formaldehyde above the recommended limit.
"We have reason to question the safety of emergency homes going to California," said Sierra spokesman Oliver Bernstein. "FEMA had a grand solution not to give out the trailers and to give out mobile homes, and they think they have done their homework."
Formaldehyde is a toxic chemical most often used for embalming, but it is also commonly used as a glue in building materials, like particle board for cabinets in mobile homes. It can "out-gas," or leak into the air, under hot, humid conditions.
