CPSC Press Conference October 29 Recap

I was able to listen in to the press conference call held by the CPSC and related agencies today. It was a long call with participants from the CPSC, CDC, HUD, EPA and Florida DOH. Below is a recap of the conversation.

The bottom line, they still are looking for what they call the “nexus” or the pointer or marker to what is causing the defective sheetrock to continue to off gas corrosively. They have now received the results from the 50 home sampling and are analyzing them and plan to release additional findings next month.

They wanted the American public to know that while they continue to find the search for what is causing the off gassing perplexing, they are optimistic. They will continue to look for the scientific causes, which they feel is imperative, in order to find a remediation program that is specifically directed to clean up the cause of the corrosive off gassing.

They have found higher levels of strontium and sulfide in tainted drywall. They are looking at elevated volatile sulfur compounds as part of their continuing research but at this time they still cannot find what is causing the medical effects. They have noticed in houses that do not have air conditioning running that there is a higher than normal level of formaldehyde present. However, they are also quick to point out that when the houses are conditioned, what is being found in the air in relation to formaldehyde is typical to what is found in new homes and within tolerances of what is considered tolerable. (The presence of formaldehyde and other VOC’s in newer homes is not surprising due to more synthetic materials being used and higher energy efficiency that allows for less air leakage or fresh air intake in new homes with more efficient exchanges.) They are sympathetic to homeowners reporting health concerns and are continuing efforts to look at the problem in relation to medical impacts from a short and a long term point of view (acute and chronic).

HUD’s spokesperson stated that he urges homeowners to look at HUD resources for foreclosure counseling to seek help and that some communities with HUD grants might choose to allocate additional resources to lower and middle income homeowners through existing block grants if they are available and the community has high incidence of impact. Again, they also need the scientific analysis to continue until they can make further recommendations.

The CPSC is continuing to follow the chain of custody for drywall and have located warehouses where potentially defective sheetrock is still stored and notifying the suppliers of their awareness. If it is distributed the warehouses are required to notify the CPSC. That does not mean that the suppliers are prohibited from selling it; there is no code or act that would currently stop that. They did state that no imports were received this year so what is in the warehouses is stockpiled from previous years.

They stated that as far as they are concerned, all options for remediation, funding, recall, etc are still on the table and that there are ongoing discussions with the White House and with Congress. They also gave us a heads up that unless the manufacturers choose to issue the recall, then the CPSC can do it but only if they can make a case to do so. Hence again, the importance of continuing their scientific work.

They are also looking at this as being a synergistic problem in the drywall or in homes. Perhaps there is more than one factor causing the off gassing such as interaction of a couple of different compounds. If that is the case, there is not a simple way to determine and isolate what is causing the corrosive off gassing and it will take more time. It is important they try to isolate what is causing the corrosive off gassing because the remediation will need to be pointed directly to cleaning that up. They are hopeful that once they find that, then perhaps the current process of tearing everything out at high expense might not be needed, but they need to continue their analysis to say that for sure.

They were asked if the Chinese were going to pay for this and their response was hedged and directed back to Ms. Tennenbaum’s recent discussions with the Chinese. They stated that the Chinese are assisting with the technical aspects.

They have spent over 3.5 million in research and assured the journalists on the call that they are dedicated to continuing all efforts to try and help homeowners, some of whom they even named by name, to try and find out what is happening and help.

They also stressed that it is imperative they hear from ALL homeowners and for homeowners to please call them as well as their local departments of health.

The results of the testing and the press conference is posted in .pdf format under “release of current study” at: www.drywallresource.com or at http://www.cpsc.gov/info/drywall/index.html

The number to call them to report tainted sheetrock is 800-638-2772

You can view the results of the testing to date at the above website. I am sure, based on who was on the call and the questions they were asking, we will have extensive reporting and analysis of this in the media also.

I know some of you are going to be disappointed they were not forthcoming on what is causing the corrosive off gassing and they knew you would be also. They asked the members of the press to make sure that homeowners are aware that they are really working on this full force. However, they want to be certain they nail what is causing the corrosive off gassing because so much hangs upon them getting it right.