The Sierra Club says thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi and Louisiana may be living in unsafe conditions after tests it conducted showed dangerous levels of formaldehyde in 30 out of 32 FEMA trailers it tested.
"We started doing this testing because people were getting sick, having nosebleeds and having constant coughs," said Mississippi Sierra Club spokeswoman Becky Gillette.
Formaldehyde is a widely used industrial chemical. The colorless, pungent gas can irritate eyes, nose and throat, and cause difficulty breathing and nausea at levels above .1 part per million in the air, officials say. Formaldehyde is also known to cause cancer in the upper throat, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Formaldehyde concentrations in the trailers were reported within a range of 0.06 to 0.34 parts per million in the air.
FEMA responded: "FEMA is steadfastly committed to serving disaster victims and continuing to help Gulf states communities get back on their feet...FEMA and industry experts are monitoring the small number of cases where odors of formaldehyde have been reported, and we are confident that there is no ongoing risk."
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