FEMA plans trailer exodus over chemical
Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:25:40 GMT
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS - After downplaying the risks for months, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday it will rush to move Gulf Coast hurricane victims out of roughly 35,000 government-issued trailers because tests found dangerous levels of formaldehyde fumes.
FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said the agency hopes to get everyone out and into hotels, motels, apartments and other temporary housing by the summer, when the heat and stuffy air could worsen the problem inside the trailers.
"The real issue is not what it will cost but how fast we can move people out," he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fumes from 519 tested trailers and mobile homes in
Louisiana and
Mississippi were, on average, about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes. Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials, can lead to breathing problems and is also believed to cause cancer.
The findings stirred worry and anger across the Gulf Coast, where FEMA is already a dirty word and housing has been scarce since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005.
"Am I angry at FEMA? Of course I am. They should have started moving people out of these trailers once they first started finding problems," said Lynette Hooks, 48. She said that since she began living in her trailer outside her damaged
New Orleans home in October 2006, she has suffered headaches and sinus problems, in addition to the asthma she had before.
The
CDC findings could also have disturbing implications for the safety of other trailers and mobile homes across the country,
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Capitol Hill on Thursday. But the CDC study did not look beyond the FEMA housing.
Paulison vowed that the agency will never again use the flimsy, cramped travel trailers to shelter victims of disasters. Mobile homes are generally roomier than trailers and considered less susceptible to buildups of fumes.
FEMA will press ahead with plans to supply leftover, never-used mobile homes from the twin disasters to victims of last week's tornadoes in the South, Paulison said. But the mobile homes will be opened up, aired out and tested first, he said.
The formaldehyde levels in some trailers were found to be high enough to cause breathing problems in children, the elderly or people who already have respiratory trouble, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said. About 5 percent had levels high enough to cause breathing problems even in people who do not ordinarily have respiratory trouble, she said.
Gerberding said the tests could not draw a direct link between formaldehyde levels and the wide range of ailments reported by trailer occupants. But the CDC urged people to move out as quickly as possible.
As early as 2006, trailer occupants began reporting headaches, nosebleeds and difficulty breathing.
But as recently as last spring, a FEMA spokesman said the agency said no reason to question the safety of its trailers. Just last month, congressional investigators accused FEMA of suppressing and manipulating scientific research to play down the danger — an accusation the agency denied.
"I don't understand why FEMA bought trailers in the first place that were dangerous," said Henry Alexander, 60, who has been living in a trailer since February 2006. "You would hope they would test them for formaldehyde before." He said he was "very angry" that another agency had to step forward and say they were a health risk.
Chertoff said at a Senate committee hearing that the government has trying since last summer to prod people to move out of the trailers, but it has been difficult to get them to do so because the housing shortage means they might have to move far away, and because they are being allowed to live in the trailers rent-free.
Louisiana has 25,162 occupied FEMA trailers and mobile homes, while
Mississippi has 10,362, according to FEMA. Other states also have hundreds of trailers. At one point, FEMA had placed victims of the 2005 hurricanes in more than 144,000 trailers and mobile homes.
Paulison had no estimate of how much it would cost to put people in hotels, apartments and other housing.
Formaldehyde has been classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and a probable carcinogen by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Fumes can cause burning of the eyes and nose, shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and tightness in the chest.
The
CDC examined only FEMA housing and cannot draw any conclusions about the safety of prefab homes elsewhere, Gerberding said. But "I think we're going to learn a lot more in the next year or two," she said after a news conference at FEMA offices in
New Orleans.
"It seems like I have had more respiratory problems since I have been in the trailer," Roger Sheldon, 60, said in
Pascagoula, Miss. But he was not ready to blame formaldehyde "You know you can walk into any new trailer, or house for that matter, and things like new carpet can cause irritation."
"To be honest, I'm thankful to the government," he added. "I don't like the trailer, but it beats the alternative for now."
With housing still in short supply — 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded, the pace of rebuilding has been slow, and rents are out of reach for many — Ernest Penns of the devastated Lower Ninth Ward said he, too, was grateful for his trailer: "I got nowhere else to go."
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Associated Press writers John Moreno Gonzales in New Orleans, Kathy Hanrahan and Emily Wagster-Pettus in Jackson, Miss., Eileen Sullivan in Washington and Mike Stobbe in
Atlanta contributed to this story.
CDC Death count 82 for choking game
Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:30:29 GMT
By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA - At least 82 youths have died from the so-called "choking game," according to the first government count of fatalities from the tragic fad.
In the game, children use dog leashes or bungee cords wrapped around their necks or other means to temporarily cut blood flow to their head. The goal is a dreamlike, floating-in-space feeling when blood rushes back into the brain.
As many as 20 percent of teens and preteens play the game, sometimes in groups, according to estimates based on a few local studies. But nearly all the deaths were youths who played alone, according to the count compiled by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The
CDC started the research after receiving a letter last year from a
Tacoma, Wash., physician who said her 13-year-old son died from playing the game in 2005.
"At the time I had never heard of this," said Dr. Patricia Russell, whose son was found hanging in his closet, but later learned he had talked to a friend about it.
"One thing that really needs to happen — and is starting to happen now — is to get more information about how common this is," she said.
The CDC counted cases from news reports and advocacy organizations in the years 1995 through 2007, totaling 82 fatalities of children ages 6 to 19. They did not include deaths in which it was unclear if the death was from the choking game or if it was a suicide. They also did not include deaths that involved autoerotic asphyxiation, which is self-strangulation during masturbation and is said to be mainly done by teenage boys or men.
The 82 deaths were spread across 31 states. Nearly 90 percent were boys, at an average age of about 13, the CDC found.
Three or fewer deaths were reported from 1995 through 2004. They jumped to 22 in 2005, 35 in 2006 and at least nine in 2007. It's not clear what drove the increase in recent years, investigators said.
The report is being published this week in a
CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
CDC officials urged parents to be aware the fad exists, and to watch for possible warning signs like bloodshot eyes, marks on the neck, frequent and severe headaches, disorientation after spending time alone, and ropes, scarves or belts tied to bedroom furniture or doorknobs or found knotted on the floor.
The authors acknowledged that 82 is probably an undercount. They could not rely on death certificates, which do not differentiate choking-game deaths from other unintentional strangulation deaths. Instead, they relied mainly on a news database that is large but doesn't include all media outlets.
It's likely that there are about 100 U.S. choking game deaths each year, said Dr. Tom Andrew,
New Hampshire's chief medical examiner, who has been studying the phenomenon for several years.
Andrew said many coroners and medical examiners likely label the deaths as suicides because they don't have the time or resources to interview a victim's friends and look for alternate explanations.
Many of the children who died from the choking game were described as bright, athletic students who apparently were intrigued by a method of getting high that doesn't involve drugs or alcohol, he said.
They watch it on
YouTube, or hear about it in school or at summer camp, said Sharron Grant, a Canadian woman who was a founder of an advocacy group called Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play .
Choking game fatalities are not nearly as common as suicide deaths among youths who choose hanging or suffocation. About 5,100 such suicide deaths were reported from 1995 through 2007, and while it's possible some were unrecognized choking game deaths, most were believed to be actual suicides, said Robin Toblin, a
CDC epidemiologist.
The game is also known by names that include "blackout," "space monkey" and "pass out," Toblin and others said.
Variations of the game have been around for decades, but the trend of doing it alone seems to be recent, Andrew said.
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On the Net:
The
CDC publication: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr
