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This article is a long time in the coming, and I'm gratified that the collusion between the CDC and FEMA is finally coming to light and getting the notoriety that it deserves.
In my Congressional testimony last July 19, 2007, I stated before the Federal Agency Oversight Committee, Chaired by Congressman Henry Waxman, that the CDC had misapplied the science and toxicology of formaldehyde from its own agency's interpretation published by the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry -- a branch of the CDC).
I had been requested to explain to Congress the health effects of formaldehyde, how formaldehyde got into the temporary housing units, what the various exposure limits of different agencies mean, and to give advice to Congress on follow-up actions to reduce formaldehyde exposures to the residents in these trailers.
I have excerpted that section (section 10) of my testimony below.
"10. FEMA Formaldehyde Sampling of Travel Trailers
In July 2006, FEMA developed and implemented an air monitoring and sampling plan to establish and verify methods to reduce the presence of formaldehyde fumes in travel trailers. The sampling was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the data were analyzed by the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Register), which is affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control, at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The results of this study showed high levels of formaldehyde in nearly all of the trailers, whether they were continuously ventilated or were kept cool through air conditioning.
Without giving any explanation, although the ATSDR has an exposure limit of 0.008 ppm for exposures of 365 or more days, rather than use this limit when analyzing EPA’s air sampling of FEMA’s trailers, the ATSDR arbitrarily chose a limit of 0.3 ppm as their “level of concern” and applied this high level to the results as if it were a safe and applicable exposure limit.
This level is nearly 40 times the ATSDR’s limit for people exposed more than 365 days, as the hurricane victims living in travel trailers are, and resulted in a bizarre skewing of the sampling results interpretation. However, even applying this “level of concern,” the average sampling results were even higher than this very elevated level.
This misapplication and skewing of scientific results is at best unethical and grossly misrepresents and attempts to minimize the adverse health effects being experienced by thousands of travel trailer residents."
