Congress wants to hear from companies about formaldehyde in FEMA trailers

4 Jun 2008 // A House investigatory panel has asked four Indiana trailer makers to testify next month about the elevated levels of formaldehyde in trailers purchased by the federal government as temporary homes for hurricane victims.

The makers are Gulf Stream Coach Inc., of Nappanee, Pilgrim International Inc., of Middlebury, Keystone RV Inc., of Goshen, and Forest River Inc., of Elkhart.

Trailers made by those companies were among those found by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to have statistically significantly higher levels of formaldehyde than other travel trailers, according to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Waxman, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent letters to the companies today asking them to testify at a July 10 hearing.

Waxman had previously asked some of those companies to provide various documents to the committee.

The CDC tested about 500 trailers and mobile homes last winter and found most units registered high levels of formaldehyde gas. Emitted from plywood and other construction material, formaldehyde gas has been linked to a number of health problems and is a suspected carcinogen.