Tuesday, June 09, 2015

Chinese drywall melts metal? OMG. What does it do to lungs?

NEW ORLEANS (AP) " Thomas Stone (click here) says Chinese drywall has ruined his life, repeatedly corroding fixtures and appliances in the house he bought and rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina. A hearing Tuesday will decide how much money he and 3,000 other homeowners can get to replace the drywall made by Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd.

About 1,000 more cases will be tried individually, said Arnold Levin, one of many plaintiffs' attorneys in the case.

"People have lost their homes. Some were put in bankruptcy. Some are living in tents. They can't go into their house and they're living in tents outside," he said.
For some time, Taishan refused to respond to the lawsuits. U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon tried a group of seven cases without the company, ordering it in 2012 to pay $2.7 million to seven Virginia homeowners and their lawyers. Taishan paid up " including about $500,000 in interest " in March, about eight months after Fallon found it in contempt of court.

Another manufacturer, German-owned Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co., and four companies it supplied agreed in 2010 to pay for home repairs. That settlement is expected to total $1.1 billion, attorneys have said....

There is no warranty on Chinese products. This is typical of "The South;" substandar building materials are welcome. It is a cultural thing in the USA South; cheat your way to wealth.  See, the impoverished can't afford quality, so why bother

There is a reason The South receives large amounts of FEDERAL Medicaid money every year.
 
A sample of the Chinese-made drywall ripped out of the Chalmette home of Thomas and Lauren Stone in June 2009. The Stones are in the long process of replacing it all by themselves (Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune archive)

October 9. 2013
By Katherine Sayre

The future of thousands (click here) of homeowners' damage claims against a major supplier of Chinese drywall will be argued Wednesday morning (Oct. 9) in a federal appellate court in New Orleans. 

Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. -- one of two major manufacturers accused of supplying toxic drywall -- made and shipped 1.8 million sheets of the building material to the U.S. between 2005 and 2009. Taishan has argued that U.S. courts don't have jurisdiction over the company.
As many as 20,000 property owners in Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia installed the material during frenzied building after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and a nation-wide housing boom.... 

This has been going on since 2006 and evidently new trade laws are going to demand more of the same.

Sulfurous? Sulfurous? What kind of conditions are these homeowners suffering from? There air quality was laced with acid. What is going on with the children?

April 11, 2011
By Bruce Nolan

...In federal class-action suits (click here) in federal court in New Orleans, they described how sulfurous Chinese drywall emitted vapors that corroded electrical wiring; ruined the circuitry of air conditioners, appliances, computers and televisions; tarnished jewelry and other metals; pitted mirrors and sometimes made their homes stink of rotten eggs.

Among them were middle-class families pushed into bankruptcy, and in a few cases, notable names including Saints coach Sean Payton, whose expansive Mandeville home had to be torn apart.

But it also turns out that volunteers who came to New Orleans during their spring and winter breaks unknowingly installed toxic drywall in the homes of the poorest and most vulnerable families as well.

As a result, Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Charities’ Operation Helping Hands and Rebuilding Together New Orleans have all launched programs to identify tainted homes, move homeowners out, sustain them for months and make the houses safe for occupancy....

The company should have already been banned from any trade in the USA. What is the BCC certification? 

BCC Certification is "Board Certified Coach?" What the hell is this? A coach? Fraud. Lots and lots of fraud surrounds Chinese products. BCC should be a co-defendant to the lawsuits. 

Taishan Gypsum Co., Ltd (click here) is one of the key enterprises . The headquarters is located in Tai’an Shandong province, the south of the famous Mt. Tai, near to the ancient Dawenkou culture Ruins and very convenient for transportation.

 It is abundant in raw gypsum resources. The products “Taishan” series gypsum board can be used as partition and ceiling material and have advantages: fire-proof, sound insulation, heat preservation, quakeproof and good for health. “Taishan” series steel frame for gypsum board is made of high quality zinc-covered steel belt through advanced technique. The full set of steel frame, with varies specifications and well-fitted, is your first choice for decorations.


The Chinese businesses are being taken for the same ride as the consumers of their products.

The Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE) (click here) created the Board Certified Coach (BCC) credential as a means to independently verify that applicants have met professional coaching competency standards established by CCE and subject matter experts. These standards reflect the common knowledge, skills and abilities of a professional coach.

There are little to no quality assurances with these imports. This wall board is dangerous and will DEFINITELY affect the health of the consumers. This is serious. Very serious. 

There needs to be strong opposition to any trade deal. The opposition will have to be based in QUALITY REASSURANCES. The cost of these products are far higher than their purchase price. Enough. We don't want them. Local economies have to be backed by educated Mayor and Council to set up QUALITY ASSURANCES. 

Quality Assurance standards have to include all products that could come into the city or town. Local ordinance has to become sophisticated quickly. This is the type of service local authority now has to take on, there used to be federal regulations that guaranteed quality to Americans. HERE WE GO AGAIN !!!!!!!!

If there were unions involved in supplying labor with these products their health has to be assessed. This wall board will cause health impacts from it's first contact by workers.