I. Overview
This update describes new developments in the ongoing investigation
of imported
drywall and supplements the July 2009 status report provided to the
Committee.
Since the July report, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”)
has
received an additional 202 incident reports related to drywall, raising
the total number of
incident reports to 810. We also had reports from two new States,
Pennsylvania and
South Carolina, making it a total of 23 States and the District of
Columbia, where
problem drywall has been reported. The majority of the reports continue
to be from
Florida, Louisiana, and Virginia.
The focus of the federal drywall team has remained on both pursuing
the scientific
bases of this problem through the studies outlined in the July report
and tracing the chain
of commerce of the drywall. Highlights this past month include:
• Start of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory chamber
testing of
various drywall samples to isolate specific emissions.
• Start of the 50 home indoor air sampling program.
• Site visit to a Florida synthetic drywall manufacturing facility.
• The posting of summaries of 44 incident investigations conducted
by CPSC
on the Drywall Information Center Website.
• Completion of testing for radioactive phosphogypsum contamination
in
drywall through our State and federal partners.
II. Federal and State Coordination
Regular coordination and information sharing continues among the federal
drywall
team and our State partners. The CPSC is using new authority provided
in the Consumer
Product Safety Improvement Act to enter into agreements to share confidential
information with these State and federal partners.
CPSC hosted a call among attorneys general of impacted States to coordinate
and
exchange information about State-level efforts.
CPSC coordinated sampling and testing for radioactive phosphogypsum
contamination in drywall with the Florida Department of Health and
the EPA National
Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory.
The Drywall Information Center Website was updated to include summaries
of 44
consumer incident investigations that describe health and corrosion
concerns. For those
consumers who do not have access to the Internet, the CPSC also takes
consumer calls
regarding drywall on its Hotline and handled 128 such calls during
the month of July.
III. International Efforts
CPSC has received approval from the Chinese for a visit to China
and CPSC staff is
working with the Chinese government to arrange an investigative visit
beginning August
17, 2009. We have asked to visit several sites that we believe to
be of interest.
IV. Progress in the Investigation
A. Investigation Into Scope of Affected Homes and Chain of Commerce
CPSC continues to analyze the information received from consumers,
builders,
importers, manufacturers and suppliers of drywall to determine how
much imported
drywall is affected and where that drywall has been installed. To
date, CPSC staff has
confirmed 6,211,200 sheets of Chinese drywall were imported into the
U.S., plus 28,778
sheets imported into Guam, Saipan, and American Samoa during 2006.
The staff is
continuing to verify more shipments. CPSC is hiring temporary support
personnel to
bring more resources to bear on this aspect of the investigation and
we are researching
technology to map affected properties and the chain of commerce.
B. Technical Investigation
Engineering, health and safety analyses continue as planned and discussed
in the
July status report. CPSC engineering staff has visited seven homes
in Florida, Louisiana
and Virginia, including three homes in July, to harvest samples of
electrical, plumbing
and safety systems. For example, to date, we have gathered 80 electrical
receptacles, 19
switches, 22 smoke alarms, and 18 samples of copper piping, among
other such
components. We continue to have no confirmed fire incidents involving
Chinese drywall.
EPA is conducting elemental analyses of 15 drywall samples, including
the 14
samples mentioned in our July report and another sent to them on July
16, 2009. EPA has
set a tentative date for completing its analyses of drywall samples
by late August. We
anticipate that after approximately 30 days of analysis, review and
interpretation of the
data, the interagency group will have findings by the end of September.
In July, we became aware of allegations of the use of radioactive
phosphogypsum
in some imported drywall. Radioactive materials are outside of the
CPSC’s authorities
under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, and as such are also outside
of our
expertise. CPSC staff immediately arranged for testing in the radiation
labs of our partner
agencies in the State of Florida and with the EPA, and provided samples
to these
laboratories for analysis. The data from these tests is under scientific
review by the
interagency technical committee. The federal drywall team hopes to
report the results of
this work in the coming days.
The chamber studies at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to isolate
drywall
emissions, as described in the July report, have begun and will continue
as planned.
Similarly, the in-home indoor air sampling study by the contractor,
Environmental Health
and Engineering, has begun and is expected to be completed by early
September 2009.
The evaluation of the results is expected to be complete by late September
2009.
Do I Have A Chinese Drywall Case?
Reports are indicating Chinese drywall emits a sulfur compound that
corrodes wiring, air conditioning coils and other metals and may cause
health problems from chronic exposure. Chinese Drywall News
online Resources
-
About Our Law Firm
At Schlesinger Law Offices we take the time to listen to our clients and understand their problems. We believe the best chinese drywall lawyers truly care about their clients, and fully appreciate their clients' concerns and needs. For more information about our firm visit SchlesingerLawOffices.com -
Your Story
Email us your Chinese drywall horror story and we will post them on our Web site. Maybe the steps that you've taken may help out another consumer with the same issue. Also if you have a Chinese drywall success story we want to hear from you too.