Bush's FEMA blames the victims for formaldehyde

Oh really, how unusual. So countless studies and judges have faulted FEMA for formaldehyde problems in other mobile homes but the trailers distributed in Iowa for flood victims were just fine. In fact, FEMA goes beyond that and blames the high levels of formaldehyde on the "lifestyles" of the victims including dry-cleaning items left inside. OK, so let's go with the FEMA list of "smoking, cooking and dry-cleaning" as the primary sources of the problem. What did FEMA expect people to do? People cook, smoke and have dry-cleaning laying around so how could FEMA not envision such problems? Were they supposed to cook outside even if it's raining or a cold Iowa winter? If smoking and dry-cleaning were known problems, why not alert people to the problems ahead of time so they could smoke outside?

In a conference call with reporters, three FEMA officials questioned KGAN's testing methods and the validity of the findings.

"Only mobile homes and only park models that fell below (the state's formaldehyde threshold) and validated through that testing were provided to the state of Iowa," said FEMA Assistant Administrator David Garratt. "FEMA stands behind those tests."

Gov. Chet Culver has asked FEMA Administrator David Paulison for retesting of the trailers, and Garratt said the agency was discussing it. Phone calls to FEMA later Tuesday were not returned.

Garratt said FEMA tests trailers before people move in so the air sample is consistent. He said cooking, smoking and storing dry-cleaning products can elevate levels of formaldehyde.

"It's not unusual that the levels in a mobile home will rise and fall as different variables are introduced into that," Garratt said. "From FEMA's perspective, the mobile homes and park models that we have deployed into Iowa are probably the most safe in terms of formaldehyde levels in the state of Iowa."

Capt. Merritt Lake, the director of forest health protection and wellness with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Health Affairs, said the survey didn't fit government-approved methods for testing for formaldehyde.

See. There they go again, talking as though the Bush administration, stripped down "approved" method if testing is meaningful. Republicans have stripped down safety testing across the board, so claiming "government standards" means nothing today. The GOP always likes to fall back on this kind of talk when they hit a problem but their word is meaningless. That is what it's come to these days.