Breaking an Anvil
By David Glenn Cox
There are products that are exquisitely difficult to design and manufacture; then there are others that are literally hard to screw up. I had a friend who worked at a plant that made those to-go boxes. You drop the pellets in one side of the machine and hit Start. The boxes stacked themselves on the other side of the machine. When the counter reached fifty you put the stacked boxes in a plastic bag and sealed it with a twist tie.
To make sheet rock, also called wallboard and drywall, gypsum slurry is poured between two sheets of heavy paper which is then heated and pressed. The completed product is sealed and stacked. What could be simpler?
Just as, last year, we found out that Chinese wheat gluten used to make pet foods exterminated nearly a million family pets, now there is another scandal on the horizon from Chinese-made wallboard. Since 2006 the US has imported 550 million pounds of drywall. It makes you stop and scratch your head and wonder why. Wallboard is cheap to purchase as a building material; it is easy to work with and easy to finish. I could understand importing products that are expensive, but drywall?
Since the beginning there have been complaints of headaches and nosebleeds. Already there are 360 law suits consolidated into ten class action lawsuits involving drywall from China. They were then consolidated into one class action suit before a federal Judge in New Orleans. There are also sixty cases outside of the class action suits that indicate that this just might be the tip of the iceberg.
Several Chinese companies have been named along with ownership interests from Germany. The Chinese companies named have promised to investigate the charges and the Chinese government has promised to investigate the charges as well.
Specifically the complaints include: structural effects on homes, unexplained nosebleeds, asthma and skin irritation. Even more troubling are reports of metal corrosion in air-conditioning units, copper pipes and electrical wiring.
Dr Patricia Williams is a leading toxicologist and president of Louisiana-based Environmental Toxicology Experts LLC who has studied the issue of Chinese wallboard. "Chinese drywall generates a continuous release of particles. Residents complain of copious amounts of dust that when removed from surfaces reappears in a few hours. Smoke alarms are set off frequently in the same houses due to the dust particles that circulate in the ambient air," said Williams.
"Chinese drywall has a filler that contains concentrated heavy metals from a coal source. Analytical chemists are evaluating the filler and possible coal sources are coal-mining wastes and/or coal fly ash. These heavy metals are toxic and when inhaled can concentrate in the body. Strontium is one of the concentrated heavy metals.
"Strontium is believed to be responsible for the release of the sulfurous gas emissions. The most commonly detected sulfur compounds that are emitted include: carbon disulfide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. The concentration of strontium is two-10 times greater in Chinese drywall samples that have been tested by our analytical chemist than in US drywall," added Williams. "US drywall is free of sulfur compounds and does not emit these gases."
In a classic case of slamming the barn door after the horses escape, four US Senators have written to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and "directed" the CPSC "to expedite its investigation and testing "of the drywall products in question ... and to carry out the Chinese drywall investigation without delay". Silly me, without any government experience I would have directed that investigation a little earlier. Perhaps 550 million pounds earlier? I don’t blame the CPSC, as they are overwhelmed with toxic toys and baby food and such. This disaster belongs at the feet of all those so-called free traders, Republican and Democrats alike.
Remember, free trade creates jobs! Lawyers, judges, law clerks, doctors, nurses, building contractors, and it gets even better. The estimated cost of repair to remove the toxic Chinese drywall and replace it is around $75,000 per home. That cost doesn’t include replacing corroded pipes, degraded wiring or contaminated air conditioners from literally tens of thousands of homes.
Williams added, "The general public as well as some of the residents in the houses with the drywall do not understand the acute and chronic health effects of the gases and particles released by the drywall as well as the safety risks of the sulfurous erosion of electrical wiring. The health effects range from acute exposure irritation effects to chronic exposure systemic effects such as asthma and neurological damage, Parkinson disease, lung damage, stroke and much more."
A Louisiana state legislator commented that what is unfolding here is tantamount to Chinese companies dumping "toxic waste" between two sheets of paper and exporting it to the US as drywall. All this from a product that is simple to manufacture and inexpensive to purchase. The "whoops, we didn’t know" defense won’t cut any mustard this time because this isn’t the first, second or third time toxic Chinese products have injured American consumers.
We had a saying when I lived in Alabama to describe someone who was a real screw up, "That boy could break an anvil with a rubber hammer." Our Congress, who is sworn to protect us, has sold us out and they then feign righteous indignation for the courts and cameras long after the campaign contribution checks have cleared. Indeed, they could break an anvil with a rubber hammer.
The lawyers scratch their pointy little heads and ask the $64,000 question: can these large overseas companies actually be made to pay damages to American consumers? Sadly they answer, "probably not."