Around Washington DC right now there are some politicians floating the idea of sending all those left over FEMA trailers to Haiti for the devastated homeless Haitian families to live in. That would be disasterous.
As US Rep. Bennie Thompason (D-Miss) correctly pointed out [here at Homeland Security Insight website: http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/11845/128/] the formaldehyde levels in those trailers is "unhealthy" to put it mildly and foisting them on anyone else would be stupid and politically dangerous.
The US is generously helping out in every way possible right now. The last thing the US needs is for the health effects those unsold trailers pose to arise from the rubble of Haiti several years from now.
"However, given the potential for adverse health affects when used as more than short-term shelter, I would be gravely concerned about distributing these units to the people of Haiti for use as housing. This country's immediate response to help in this humanitarian crisis should not be blemished by later concerns over adverse health consequences precipitated by our efforts," Thompson warned in the HSToday article online.
While Thompson and others have asked FEMA to stop auctioning off the unhealthy and dangerous trailers, FEMA has not done so yet, even those both FEMA and the Center for Disease Control released a study completed in February 2008 that declared the units to contain unhealthy levels of formaldehyde.
Those trailers shouldn't even be given away. They look good, sure, and they might even make you feel comfortable for the time being. But, like cigarettes, the harm comes in the long term that they don't tell you about.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.