Formaldehyde in Trailers and Other Things You Thought Were Taken Care of Years Ago

It’s been a bit of a surprise to hear about this issue of refugees from Hurricane Katrina being exposed to formaldehyde emissions from the wood paneling in their trailers. Not because of the fact that thousands of people are still living in emergency trailers two years after the disaster; indifference and sometimes callous behavior, especially directed at the most vulnerable members of society, is a calling card of the Bush Administration. Not because FEMA’s lawyers advised not performing air sampling because it would imply FEMA ownership of the problem; I’ve seen lawyers give that kind of advice before. But that 20 years after this problem had first been discussed, we’re still having the problem of people breathing formaldehyde emitted from pressed-wood products. The IARC has concluded there is sufficient evidence both in humans and laboratory animals that formaldehyde is carcinogenic.

Air monitoring sponsored by the Sierra Club has shown that 83 percent of the trailers tested in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama have concentrations of formaldehyde in air above 0.1 ppm. This study reported formaldehyde concentrations as high as 0.34 ppm, which is higher than the ACGIH short-term exposure limit (it is recommended that worker exposure to the short-term exposure limit be held to 15 minutes, with no more than four excursions per day). NIOSH recommends a short-term exposure limit of 0.1 ppm. These are worker exposure limits, intended for use by industrial hygienists for controlling workplace exposures, and not for use with the general public. For the public, ATSDR has developed Minimal Risk Levels for different durations of exposure. The MRL for “intermediate” duration exposure (from 14 to 365 days) is 0.03 ppm, while a MRL for “chronic” duration exposure (365 days or greater) is 0.008 ppm.

According to testimony given yesterday at the House Oversight Committee hearing, what FEMA was using as a level of concern was 0.3 ppm. Now, there isn’t any statement describing what action is taken if that level was achieved, but one hopes it was to relocate the residents to safer housing. However, there is a whiff that FEMA’s response was to largely study the problem to death, and figure out methods for mitigation. However, some of what they came up with for mitigation was laughable, including increasing ventilation with outside air, while keeping indoor temperatures and humidity low – a bit of a challenge under Gulf Coast conditions. The industrial hygienist who testified yesterday hit on the solution, being that FEMA should focus attention on getting residents into permanent housing, and out of the trailers for good.

In demonstration of the power of the Intertubes, someone has started a blog focusing on the issues of indoor air quality in “temporary” trailers.