Children in Katrina trailers may face lifelong ailments

"A CDC study released May 8 examined records of 144 Mississippi children, some of whom lived in trailers and others who did not. But the study was confined to children who had at least one doctor's visit for respiratory illness before Katrina. It was largely inconclusive, finding children who went to doctors before the August 2005 storm were still visiting them two years after."

My opinion is the trailers were poisoned of course... this sounds like another "oops" situation... "oops we didn't know that Formaldehyde was poisonous ... how'd that get in there?!?...."oops we didn't know the levees would break".... too bad we have to relocate all of you and then sell your property to developers for profit....Fema Again

The government isn't out to get everybody. Instead of blaming everything on the government, how about you give the companies who produced the trailers a ring? Nappanee-based Gulf Stream & Elkhart-based Forest River are the companies who should be catching all the slack for it.

Formaldehyde is a common ingredient in glue, but it was well known long before the FEMA trailers that Formaldehyde was hazardous. The safety (MSDS) data says inhaling it is very toxic, that it is a suspected carcinogen, and that it is destructive to the mucus membranes of the upper respiratory tract, eyes, and skin.

Nothing can excuse the fact that cheap formaldehyde glue is used. But you can't just sit and complain about the government handing out crappy trailers. At least they handed them out. If the trailer is so bad, feel free not to live in it. The US government is the only government on the planet that gives aid to its people to this extent after a natural disaster. If you think the US is so bad at providing aid, you should take a trip to Myanmar or been in any of the countries on the coast of the Indian Ocean after the 2004 earthquake.

The US, relative to the rest of the world, does a damn good job at providing aid to its citizens. All this BS about the US being slow to respond to the disaster is absolutely ignorant. The day after the hurricane the National Guard was showing up with food and water. Myself, along with a thousands of other EMTs, Nurses, MDs, and police were there the day after as well. The real problem was Mayor Nagin.

Now I'm getting fussy. I didn't mean to rant. Kinda a hot button issue being that so many people talk about Katrina like they know what the situation was. It was bad, but we were doing all we could.

Sorry about that

Anyway, the point is the trailers didn't have to be provided. Of course, the glue shouldn't have been cheap, but people weren't expected to stay in these trailers for years. Both parties, the people and the government, should have been more responsible. The government should have made sure there were no hazards to living in one for an extended amount of time, but those in the trailers should have moved out when they found that the glue was toxic.