WASHINGTON – When Donald Dukes decided to remodel his Little Rock home, the contractor never imagined he’d have to do the work twice.
Shortly after completing the remodel, the circuit breaker for his bedroom began tripping off.
“I kept throwing breakers and I knew the circuit wasn’t overloaded,” he said.
Dukes later learned that the drywall he used, which had been imported from China, was laced with sulfur and sulfide gasses that caused the wires in his bedroom to corrode.
An investigation by ProPublica.org, a non-profit investigative journalism website, found thousands of homes – mostly in the Gulf region – experienced similar problems. Dukes’ home was the only Arkansas house identified in their database.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I had to rip out the drywall,” Dukes said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who chairs a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, held a hearing Wednesday to review health and product safety issues associated with the tainted drywall. The panel last examined the issue in May 2009 learning about the scope of the problem from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Centers for Disease Control and Environmental Protection Administration.
The drywall had been used extensively in homes damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita but CPSC has logged claims of health problems and metal corrosion in 42 states.
“Progress has been made but unfortunately, too many consumers are left with costly repairs, uninhabitable homes, or health problems thought to be caused by problem drywall,” Pryor said at Wednesday’s hearing.
Dukes said he spent an additional $2,000 to remodel his home. He replaced about 10 sheets of drywall with paneling and tile, and rewired the bedroom. Dukes said that the federal government should require testing of drywall to insure that manufactures don’t use toxic materials.
At the hearing, Pryor said that Congress should pass the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act, which he co-sponsored.
“One of the basic starting points on this is that Chinese manufacturers should have to register just like domestic corporations and European corporations, for service and process,” he said at the hearing.
While Dukes was not at the hearing, the panel did hear from a Florida homeowner who offered several ideas to provide relief to consumers. Brenda Brincku of Alva, Fla., said that federal agencies working on this problem for over four years have failed her and other victims.
She said the Consumer Product Safety Commission should be required to create standards for drywall content and clarify remediation guidelines.
Brincku said Congress should also provide low or no interest loans to homeowners wishing to remediate.