Page 22 - Summer2011

Beginning in 2001, defective drywall manufactured in China began being imported by the United States. It wasn’t until 2009 that it started becoming public knowledge that this Chinese drywall was in fact defective and causing detrimental health consequences to U.S. home dwellers. Laboratory tests of samples for volatile chemicals found emissions of sulfurous gases carbon disulfide, carbonyl sulfide and hydrogen sulfide. These emissions, which have the odor of rotten eggs, worsen as temperature and humidity levels rise and cause copper surfaces to turn black and powdery, a chemical process indicative of reaction with hydrogen sulfide. Copper pipes, wiring, and air conditioner coils are affected, as well as silver jewelry. Homeowners have reported a variety of symptoms, including difficulty breathing, asthma attacks, chronic coughing, as well as chronic headaches and sinus issues.

Drywall is a common material used in the

construction of buildings and is usually made with a layer of gypsum-based plaster and then set in between two thick sheets of paper, then dried in a kiln. During the construction boom between 2004 and 2007, foreign drywall began being imported by the United States. Importation continued with vigor in Florida between 2004 and 2005, when a series of nine hurricanes hit Florida and caused a demand of imported drywall due to the shortage of American-made drywall. This was also the case with the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast in 2005. Since 2006, an analysis showed that there have been over 550 million pounds of Chinese drywall that have been brought into the United States, enough material to build about 60,000 average-sized homes.