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

Earlier this month, the Associated Press exposed yet another disturbing Chinese trade secret when it reported that some manufacturers in China are making children’s jewelry with the highly toxic metal cadmium. Children’s jewelry now joins the growing list of dangerous and sometimes deadly products pouring into the United States from China – a list that includes toys covered with lead paint, pet food and baby formula tainted with melamine, sulfuric drywall that has ruined thousands of homes, and other poorly made or defective merchandise.

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Toys with lead paint, contaminated food, toxic drywall, defective all-terrain vehicles – these are just some of the Chinese exports that have spawned massive safety recalls and personal injury lawsuits in the last couple of years. In 2007, made-in-China products accounted for more than 82% of all U.S. consumer product recalls. Assuming that U.S.-China trade relations remain normal, what will the future of the American marketplace look like in 5 or 10 years? Will it be rife with all sorts of defective and dangerous imports or will Chinese manufacturers eventually embrace what it means to make a “quality” product?

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The federal government has launched a new section of its web site called the Drywall Information Center. The agency developed the section in an effort to field consumer questions and complaints about the influx of tainted Chinese-made drywall to the U.S. that occurred in 2006 and 2007 when domestic drywall supplies ran low.

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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.

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Congress, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a spectrum of state and consumer agencies are scrambling to unravel the mystery behind tons of toxic drywall that importers brought into the country from China. Enough drywall to build 30,000 homes entered U.S. ports from China in 2006 and 2007. Now, people in as many as 18 states claim that the drywall is making them sick while corroding their homes’ electrical wiring, air conditioning units, and other household systems.

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The June edition of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Safety Review says that the agency has received more than 265 reports from residents in 18 states and Washington D.C. from customers who believe their health and / or their homes have been negatively affected by toxic drywall imported from China. Most of the homes that contain the suspect drywall were built in 2006 and 2007 during an unprecedented construction rush. At that time, contractors and suppliers looked to China for a supply of fresh drywall, which began running scarce after the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons.

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Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich) has introduced a bill that seeks to block the import of substandard building materials into the United States. The bill, H.R. 2155, would give U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the authority to prohibit sub-standard steel, cement, and drywall from entering the country.

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For thousands of Florida homeowners, the Chinese drywall catastrophe couldn’t have hit at a worse time. A contracting economy and a worse-than-stale housing market have already caused home values to plummet. Add to that the likelihood that one’s house might have to be completely gutted before it’s once again safe to live in, and the picture is bleak indeed.

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If it’s not lead in paint or melamine in dog food, then perhaps it’s poisonous drywall? The latest batch of toxic Chinese imports – some 550 million pounds of highly sulfuric drywall – has found its way into homes throughout the U.S. and even Canada. The cheap Chinese drywall flooded into the U.S. during the building boom, beginning in 2004, and peaked as the bustling economy and Hurricane Katrina put a strain on domestically manufactured drywall. Most of the affected homes appear to be in Florida, but newly constructed homes in several states and beyond are also affected.

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Florida homeowners whose walls are made of a defective and toxic brand of Chinese drywall have filed a class action lawsuit. The Florida Department of Health has received a flood of complaints from homeowners who suspect problems with their drywall, prompting Florida senator Bill Nelson to petition the Consumer Products Safety Commission and Environmental Protection Agency for an investigation.

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