USA: Bush administration provided toxic trailers to Katrina victims

This video from the USA is called Reports of Toxic Chemicals in Hurricane Katrina Trailers.

By Andre Damon:

FEMA covered up toxic danger in trailers given to Katrina victims

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) systematically suppressed reports of high toxicity levels in trailers provided to victims of Hurricane Katrina, according to the findings of a congressional committee hearing Thursday.

Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, concluded that FEMA deliberately neglected to investigate reports of high formaldehyde levels in the trailers so as “to bolster the agency’s litigation position” in case people affected by its negligence were to sue.

The hearing coincided with the release of 5,000 pages of documents implicating FEMA in a protracted and systematic cover-up dating from the first deployment of the trailers in May of 2006.

FEMA delivered 120,000 trailers to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita throughout the Gulf Coast in 2006. In March of that year, the agency began receiving complaints of formaldehyde odors and possible health problems arising from exposure, at which point the agency dispatched a worker to test gas levels. The investigation discovered formaldehyde levels 75 times greater than the maximum safe threshold for workplaces. In fact, according to an internal agency email, the “tester himself developed eye-watering symptoms of exposure.” Despite the findings, FEMA released a statement concluding that it had “evaluated the small number of cases where odors of Formaldehyde have been reported and we are confident that there is no ongoing risk.”