Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

In the 1970s, a blockbuster movie popularized the apocalyptic theory that radioactive material from a nuclear meltdown could burn through the earth’s core and resurface on the other side of the world. Today, the words “China Syndrome” could be an accurate description of the influx of dangerous consumer products flooding the U.S. market from overseas and China in particular – products such as toxic Chinese drywall, which builders and suppliers imported during the 2006-2007 building boom and post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction efforts. These products, analysts are coming to understand, threaten to harm more than the American consumer and his wallet.

Customs records indicate that as much as 250,000 tons of plentiful, cheap, and unsafe drywall entered American ports from China during that period, subsequently finding its way into an estimated 100,000 American homes.

Studies of the contaminated drywall have found potentially dangerous levels of strontium sulphide, which releases hydrogen sulphide fumes when exposed to moisture and humidity.

Homeowners affected by the drywall find that it imparts their houses with a constant sulfuric stench, severely corrodes copper wiring, plumbing, and air conditioner coils, and causes a range of ailments such as headache, sore throat, dry or burning eyes, coughing, wheezing, sinus irritations and respiratory infections.

A report by the Los Angeles Times claims that some of the drywall contains phosphogypsum, a radioactive substance that is banned from construction use in the United States but legal in China for nearly a decade.

“Copies of Chinese customs reports obtained by The Times, along with interviews, indicate that drywall made with phosphogypsum was shipped to the U.S. in 2006 by at least four Chinese-based manufacturers and trading firms,” the LA Times report said.

The report also said that construction industry specialists are “troubled” by the widespread use of the contaminated drywall “and the possibility it was exported, especially in light of recent incidents in which other Chinese imports such as pet food, toys and candy were found to be contaminated with toxic or unsafe substances.”

The arrival of so many tons of toxic drywall to the U.S. threatens an already weakened economy and the public health more than one might assume. An excellent report by National Public Radio tells the story of Luis Gonzalez, a Florida police officer whose family is being forced into bankruptcy because toxic Chinese drywall has made their home unlivable, unsellable, and too expensive to repair. Their home, like so many others, has become a toxic asset, a hot potato that neither they nor their bank wants to be left holding.

“We’re going to have hundreds if not thousands of foreclosed homes that have this defective condition,” an attorney for the Gonzalez family told NPR. “The banks don’t want that, the government doesn’t want that, and these victims don’t want that. So, we need to make sure that this safety net is fixed.”

Reports by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission underscore the enormity of the problem Chinese imports present to the health and security of this country. Of the 15,000 different product types under its jurisdiction, the CPSC calculates a 101 percent increase in consumer product imports over the last ten years, with 42 percent of these products arriving from China. The total value of Chinese imports quadrupled from 1998 to 2007.

And, while only 44 percent of all consumer products sold in the U.S. were imports, they accounted for more than 75 percent of the CPSC’s product recalls.

In fiscal year 2007, the agency announced 473 recalls of which 389 (more than 82%) were of Chinese-made products.

At this rate, the CPSC’s regulatory and safety inspection process will have to take stronger measures to ensure that such large quantities of defective and dangerous merchandise never reach our shores in the first place. While recalls are relatively easy for toys and bikes and other transportable items, how can tons of sheetrock that has already been installed, taped, and painted in homes be effectively recalled? And who is going to cover the mortgage on thousands of empty homes while Chinese manufacturers remain unresponsive and unaccountable to the charges of homeowners, builders, and the American judicial system?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 7:05 am and is filed under News, product liability, recalled products, safety, toxic injury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.