Update on FEMA Campers

FEMA is going to do its own testing for formaldehyde in its trailers. I had somehow missed that before. This comes after the Sierra Club issued a report of finding unacceptable levels of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers tested in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. It also comes after dozens of complaints from the residents themselves.

In the previous article that I linked to, there was a story about a couple that bought their own camper rather than continue to live in a FEMA camper after their pet bird became ill:

“We got up one morning and the cockatiel was lethargic, wouldn’t move, was losing its balance,” said Paul, a police officer in neighboring Waveland. “… (Later), the vet told us unequivocally, ‘Look, you either get the bird out of that environment or he’s going to die.’”

I've heard other stories of pets suffering respiratory problems in Pearlington. Those could either be cause by the toxins in the soil or in the trailers--or both. Everyone I've met in Pearlington has pets, and they all love their pets as part of the family. When you talk to someone about who they lost in the storm, they never fail to mention pets. I lost a brother, a nephew, and a dog, they'll say. The dogs always make the list of hardest losses.

Now many of those families are reunited with their pets, but the pets can't take the toxic environments of the FEMA trailers for long. Neither can the children. What we really have to be concerned about here are the potential life-long health problems the Katrina children are developing.

If anyone has any ideas about what to do to help, please share them.