WARNING: If your home was built or renovated between 2004 and 2007, it may contain a defective and dangerous product known as Chinese Drywall.

WHY IT’S DANGEROUS:
Chinese Drywall emits toxins that may pose serious health threats to homeowners, including respiratory problems, headaches, and nose bleeds. The toxins also corrode metal within a home causing severe damage to electronic equipment, wires, pipes and air conditioning systems.

Chinese drywall concerns in Newport News subdivision
By Patrick Terpstra, 13News NEWPORT NEWS – Nearly 70 homes in a Newport News neighborhood could be checked after Chinese drywall was found in one house. …
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Estero home tested for Chinese drywall lawsuits
NBC2 News
ESTERO: A federal judge has ordered 30 homes across the country be tested for Chinese drywall, to set a standard for all of the federal lawsuits surrounding …
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Editorial: Let’s see more action on drywall
The News-Press
That’s at least some help for people whose recently built or remodeled homes have been damaged or ruined by Chinese drywall, which smells like rotten eggs …
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The Harrells’ complaint alleges that defective drywall from China contained high amounts of sulfur, which caused breathing problems and headaches, corroded the coils of their air conditioner and filled their home with a chemical smell. The suit indicates that conditions caused by the defective drywall forced them to move out of their new home, which was built only three years ago.

Thousands of homes across the United States have experienced similar problems from Chinese drywall imported into the country between 2004 and 2007. The drywall was made with fly ash residue from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants, and has been found to contain high amounts of sulfur compounds. Some estimates suggest that the drywall may have been used to build as many as 300,000 homes throughout the country.

The high levels of sulfur in the drywall have been found to cause “rotten egg” smells and the gases emitted by the drywall corrode copper wiring and appliances, such as air conditioner units. There have also been concerns that the drywall is causing health problems such as headaches, breathing difficulties, insomnia and nosebleeds.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) ordered that all Chinese drywall lawsuits filed in federal courts throughout the country will be consolidated and centralized in the Eastern District of Louisiana for pretrial litigation. The cases will be handled in a coordinated manner to avoid duplicative discovery and inconsistent pretrial rulings. However, no case management order has been issued for the federal lawsuits and it is not anticipated that the first trial date will be scheduled before the end of next year.

While the Chinese drywall suits are proceeding through the court system, lawmakers are seeking several avenues for home owner relief. House and Senate Democrats are currently investigating whether Chinese drywall problems will qualify home owners for special tax deductions under casualty loss tax code laws, and Senators Bill Nelson and Mary Landrieu have called for a Chinese drywall recall.

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/chinese-drywall-suit-scheduled-for-trial-4623/

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which consolidates similar cases filed in different federal courts before a single judge, has assigned the case to U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon, the paper reported.

Attorneys in South Florida argued that Miami would be a better location, because a majority of Chinese drywall problems and lawsuits have occurred there. The problems first cropped up in southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast cities. The drywall was imported following hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005, after the housing boom and rebuilding efforts created a material shortage among domestic suppliers.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2009/06/15/daily14.html

 BATON ROUGE, La. — The Senate diverted legislation dealing with Chinese-made building materials, which has been implicated in health problems, to a second committee hearing.

Several federal and state agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are investigating complaints that Chinese drywall is causing health problems. There also are reports that fumes from the drywall corrode metal and cause a rotten-egg stench in homes.

Sen. Julie Quinn’s bill originally would have allowed homeowners who used the drywall in their houses to sue the makers, distributors and sellers of the material for damages and attorney fees.

With the measure up for a Senate floor vote on Tuesday, Quinn had it rewritten to delete the litigation provisions. She instead proposed that homeowners with the drywall be reimbursed by the state, with tax credits for the cost of the drywall.

Senate President Joel Chaisson, D-Destrehan, ordered the amended bill to the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee, which considers all tax bills. The measure previously won approval from a Senate judiciary committee chaired by Quinn, R-Metairie.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the U.S. imported roughly 309 million square feet of drywall from China during the housing boom from 2004 to 2007. The material reportedly emits sulfur fumes that produce a “rotten eggs” odor and cause metals, such as air conditioning coils, to corrode. The fumes have also been associated with respiratory and sinus problems in some residents. In some homes, the drywall problems have been so severe that families have had to move, and some builders have begun gutting and replacing drywall in the buildings.

http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/6000

Florida Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, is recommending a statewide plan he believes will protect homeowners from problems with Chinese drywall, as well as create a uniform standard to restore and repair affected homes.

Aronberg, who announced the plan on Friday with the Consumer Federation of the Southeast, said he would send a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, asking him to appoint a special task force.

The task force, he said, should include health experts, representatives of the homebuilding industry, consumer advocates, scientists and representatives of drywall manufacturers. The focus would be on making recommendations for removing and replacing drywall, and for what new laws or regulations might be needed, Aronberg said.

“Expensive and lengthy litigation is not the answer,” he said. “We need consumer protection laws.”

If the state government doesn’t act, Aronberg said it is possible that local government will enact ordinances that could be conflicting or confusing,

“There’s a lot of concern — and it’s justified — but we need to make sure we’re not going to have a wave of hysteria,” he said.

The defective, high-sulfur drywall gives off fumes, resulting in a “rotten egg” odor and metal corrosion, especially in air conditioners. The Florida Department of Health has received 265 complaints about Chinese drywall since January. It has set up a Web site for consumers with pictures to determine if their home has Chinese drywall.

Most of the complaints have come from South or Southwest Florida, including 26 from Palm Beach County, 24 from Broward, and 20 from Miami-Dade.

In mid-February, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said it was investigating the problem. In March, the University of Florida’s Rinker School of Building Construction said it was starting a preliminary study of its own.

Several builders have acknowledged that the problem drywall was installed in their homes. Miami-based Lennar Corp. has a program to remove the drywall.

Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a division of the Knauf Group in Germany, has acknowledged some of its drywall imported to the U.S. in 2006 is associated with complaints of odors and metal corrosion, but the company has said the problem was tied to gypsum from one natural gypsum mine in Tianjin, China, which is no longer used.