After tens of thousands of families were put into FEMA emergency housing with high levels of formaldehyde—resulting in costly illnesses that made it difficult for people to recover from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita—it is painfully apparent that the U.S. lags far behind in regulations to protect people from formaldehyde emissions from particleboard and other buildings materials. The L.A. Times reports that U.S. companies actually import particleboard from China so high in formaldehyde that its use in China is outlawed.

Sierra Club, 24 other organizations, and 5000 individuals from every state of the union petitioned the EPA to extend the new stronger formaldehyde standards adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to the entire country.  While the EPA denied the specific request, it adopted an alternative approach that leaves open the option of using other rulemaking authorities under the Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA) to better protect against health risks posed by formaldehyde emitted from pressed wood products.

We hope that the EPA will act as quickly as possible because currently there are many products on the market with unsafe levels of formaldehyde. The formaldehyde in some RVs (not just ones sold to FEMA, but also those currently in the marketplace) is so bad that burning eyes make it impossible to read. The EPA should act with urgency to protect our families.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Politics .