CDC Admits to Long Stall on Toxic Trailers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised concerns a year ago about high levels of formaldehyde in the trailers that were used to house tens of thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Now, the CDC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have finally gotten around to ousting the 38,000 victims still living in the trailers.

Formaldehyde is a common indoor air pollutant that every homeowner should be aware of. It is an ingredient in many conventional household products, notably glues in many manufactured wood products. It is toxic and may be carcinogenic, and in the FEMA trailers, it was in the air at unacceptably high concentrations.

The CDC seemed to place a bureaucratic-style blame on the delay with FEMA, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that as an advisory agency, it can't take action without the invitation of the agency in charge. Congress is taking issue with that defense, as it investigates the re-victimization of these people, who have seen government fail them repeatedly.

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