Chris Whitfield believed this was a fresh start after losing his home to Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish neighborhood—he had a brand new home for his wife and their two kids. But he couldn’t understand why his brand-new appliances were corroding in his new Picayune, Mississippi, home. Metal picture frames were turning black along with bathroom fixtures, the coils in the air conditioning, and other metal knickknacks throughout the home. Even worse, the home has an egg-like stench that Chris had no idea what impact it would have on his families’ long-term health or their home and all their belongings.
The problem is believed to be caused by the drywall in the home, manufactured in China containing sulfur at higher amounts then the standard drywall found in most U.S. homes. The “Chinese drywall” is now being linked to as many as 36,000 homes in Florida and 100,000 nationwide in as many as 18 states.
Now the Whitfield family faces another uncertain future with their new home, a home that is essentially worthless. What is worse, Chris still has very few answers as to what to do and where to turn.
The first cases of dangerous Chinese drywall were reported in the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida close to six months ago. Each week we hear more states are finding the product in homes, apartment buildings, and public places like churches, yet reaction by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been slow.
Testing seems to be the key, and recently Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA) have led the charge for more funding for CPSC and EPA testing. The Florida Department of Health just completed three days of air-quality testing in one Florida home. They estimate it will take several months to get the results. Previous tests showed the drywall contains large amounts of sulfur, nothing has confirmed the drywall poses a health risk. Meanwhile, some residents are moving out of their homes, paying rent and their mortgages on their “drywall” homes. Other families that cannot afford to move are living with the sulfur smell and corrosion, hoping there are not long-term health effects.
Yet the questions remain: is removing the drywall enough? If you remove the drywall, is it safe to put in landfills? Have the sulfur gasses caused long-term harm to the material possessions in the home—the furniture, the clothing, the plywood holding the home together?
Then, what are the health effects? Residents of the homes have complained about nose bleeds, asthma, and other respiratory problems. Pets in the affected homes are suffering. Senator Nelson and federal workers who have spent just a few minutes examining the homes have reported symptoms. Florida homeowner Kristin Culliton moved out of her home, not knowing what the impact would have been on her unborn child.
In the next few days there will likely be a ruling on the status of the Multidistrict Litigation, a consolidation of the drywall litigation to a single judge, to simplify proceedings and eliminate possible conflicting outcomes from different jurisdictions. It is likely the litigation will end up in Florida or Louisiana, but pursuing litigation against a foreign manufacturer is very difficult. Even once you translate the documents and serve the proper manufacturer in the foreign country, many foreign producers argue they are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and even if a judgment is awarded, it is very difficult to collect.
And now there are reports drywall supplied by Georgia Pacific, U.S. manufactured drywall, may be causing the same harmful health problems and corrosion in the homes. A recent case filed against Georgia Pacific details how the emissions from coal burning power plants are extracted to create a byproduct that is used to create synthetic gypsum, a newer type of drywall on the market. According to the court filing, this drywall seems to contain sulfur pollutants at a much higher level than that found in naturally-occurring gypsum.
To date there has been no drywall recalled by the CPSC, and it could still be in the marketplace. CPSC needs to look at adopting a federal standard for drywall. To date, there are no product safety standards regulating drywall or other gypsum building products to date.
The bottom line is we don’t know more than we know. What we do know is we need some answers.
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