I wouldn't want them used for human habitation but if they could be used as material storage, there's at least that much.

It never ceases to amaze me what some people will do to make money. Sure, let's pull the Haitians out of the rubble, patch them up and then poison them. That Mississippi Congressman should be ashamed - maybe he'd like to live in one for a while to prove they're safe? Buy the Haitians some tents instead. They're not a free hazardous waste disposal site.

Now, on top of this criminal idea, they have stopped bringing the severely injured to America until Fla. Governor Crist (R) gets an answer of who will pay for their medical care. Meanwhile they are dying.

Opponents of any sort of a Health Care Bill take note, this is what happens when the money is more important than human lives and big business (ie. the Insurance Industry, the Pharmacutical momopolies, etc.) get to control the purse strings..

I see it is time for Obama to bailout his buddies up North in the RV industry. The "free" gift that will cost US taxpayers billions as we rebuild their infrastructure to accommodate the trailers. Contractors charged thousands just to set up a trailer during Katrina. They need to be transported, leveled and permanently set in place. Then they need to be hooked up to electricity, water and sewage. They also require propane. Meanwhile we have yet to provide infrastructure for the Ninth ward and the Mississippi coast

The one good thing about this attempt to unload these known deathtraps on the Haitians, it proves to all their apologists out there that, without doubt, FEMA thinks no more of the Haitians than they did for the people of New Orleans.

I strongly suggest that whoever is making this inhumane and criminal proposal live in the trailers for at least a year! That way, they will have an 'up close and personal' view of trailer life---that is, if the formaldehyde doesn't get them first!

At some point after sitting idle for several years one might presume reasonably that most of the noxious chemicals have outgassed and stabilized to the point that they are not problematic, especially in a warmer tropical climate where the likely occupants cannot afford electricity, hence will keep the windows open . . .

When the only practical alternative is a cardboard box or a grass hut, I think that someone with a bit of scientific training should be able to examine the FEMA trailers to determine whether they now are safe, as well as the specific uses for which they are safe, since as best as I have been able to determine the problems reported in the US with the FEMA trailers all occurred with people who kept the doors and windows closed and sealed all the time . . .

A bit of common sense goes a long way, and if there is electricity available, then perhaps one way to provide a bit of cooling is to install an electric fan like an attic fan that would bring outside air into the FEMA trailer and then exhaust it through an open window (with a suitable screen) . . .

How many poor people in Haiti have central air conditioning and heating?

I have no idea . . .

On the other hand, if the Haitians do not want the FEMA trailers, then we certainly do not need to provide new trailers so long as there is even one homeless American citizen living in a cardboard box underneath a bridge in our great nation . . .

However, if the Haitians could obtain Angela Gossow's underpants and deliver them to the Library of Congress, where they can be kept in a top secret vault, perhaps we could provide a few new trailers, as well as copies of Pat Robertson's best-selling book "Miracles Can Be Yours Today" and the newly added bonus chapter "Messing With Voodoo Is Not The Brightest Idea, Really", which is as fabulous as the Surf Whammy new YouTube music video for their hit song "(I Want) Angela Gossow's Underpants (Ya-Ya-Ya)" . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecAFV-6rQ7Q

Fabulous!

P. S. If I were in Haiti with no place to live, I would be very glad to have a free FEMA trailer, especially if someone in the US who actually has a functional brain and some basic common sense took the time to remove all the carpet and wall coverings and then sprayed the entire inside with at least two coats of oil-based Kilz® Odorless sealing primer, which works like a champ for sealing and eliminating nearly any type of outgassing biological and chemical problem . . .

http://www.kilz.com/pages/default.aspx?NavID=25

There must be at least a few people in the US who like me stayed awake during Biology, Chemistry, and Physics classes, but perhaps not . . .

I'm thinking on the same page with you!

As long as they are not allergic to fermaldehyde.

The gasses are gone, the trailers would have been fine after a period, we just rushed people into them too quickly.

That "new home smell" is chemical fumes that are real. Various formulations of synthetic carpet were proven to give off harmful chemical fumes in the 1990s and the chemical fumes present in at least some of the FEMA trailers were real. Not all people are sensitive in the same degree, and some people are healther than others, so naturally effects are going to vary.

Don't call concepts you don't understand "media hype" and invoke the political party you personally dislike. Go get educated.

You're not actually a doctor, are you, doctorsteph?

yes I am, you obviously are not. Please reread the post- and quit believing tripe.

Dr. of Divinity? Dr. of Historical Fiction?

neither, doctor of medicine double boarded. I'm sure I know what Ip doesn't stand for.

Because they aren't harmful or problematic. The people are the problem. Smoking in a small enclosed space all day- when the trailers said to keep windows open at least an hour a day- AND do not put down Bennie Thompson!! He is one of the hardest working empathetic men in DC, and was my congressman for years!! Bennie knows they are fine for temporary housing in Haiti, but again, the hurricanes are a bigger issue.

Physician heal thyself! "Do no harm" remember all that? No self-respecting Doctor would say these things out loud even if his sorry a-- thought it...

sorry- but you are wrong- the trailers are not the problem - AS USUAL it was the people using them in an inappropriate manner.

Kinda like gas pedals that stick? If the people didn't press on them, then they wouldn't stick...

Think of it logically. Put 5+ people in a small space, then give all the adults cigarrettes and let them sit on their a$$e$ all day and smoke and drink- then see what happens.

And the gas pedals caught in the floor mats-

re: Toyota gas pedals. Catch up on the news.

The repair involves installing a steel shim a couple of millimeters thick in the pedal assembly, behind the top of the gas pedal, to eliminate excess friction between two pieces of the accelerator mechanism. In rare cases, Toyota says, that friction can cause the pedal to become stuck in the depressed position.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35178932/ns/business-autos/ns/business-autos/

Thanx curious- you are, of course, correct. When they are no longer needed they can be put into a new reef structure.

They're toxic waste (which is exactly why they haven't been disposed of already - nobody wants to foot the bill.) You certainly can't dump them in the ocean - much less make a "reef" out of them. 560ppb formaldehyde will kill the Hatian coastline and then they won't even have fish to eat. Brilliant, "doc".

I'm appalled at the arguments that "those people are so desperate they'll live in whatever toxic hell-hole we send them and be grateful for it." As usual, greed trumps any sense of humanity. (Quick, free hazardous waste disposal!) Our military lives in tents all over the world for extended periods of time - send the Haitians some of their spares.

How will it leach?? It will not dissolve into the water- if it is released it will be as a gas. Exactly what do you think will happen if we do nothing??

The trailers are sitting in HOPE AR and are still in use in the gulf coast-

but thanx- "real"

You may be very sensitive- I had a friend who was a nurse who was literally allergic to formaldehyde- and it is not pretty. Even normal ink has FMH in it. BUT it is rare. Trailers that are opened up, and families who leave the trailers for most of the day had no problems.

that may be one of the better ideas- you are right- the shipping would be huge. But I still think we should take Haiti as a protectorate and help them rebuild and put a huge resort there.

why the hell are we worried about putting Hatians to work and ignoring our own unemployed. Did you drink the Obama coolaid??

I am unemployed and close to forclosure, but I believe we should help Haiti. We are a global society. We should help other nations that are suffering from natural disaster. We will need help someday, and we can only get what we are willing to give. Haiti did not ask for this...lack of building codes or not. We have codes, but nothing will keep us from the same fate when the San Andreas Fault decides to go. After all, our government built a university that serves 20,000+ people right on the fault. We look out our classroom windows to view it everyday wondering when we will suffer our own tragedies and wondering who will make it over the pass to dig us out. If it were you, would you want someone to look at their unemployment rate before they looked at your mortality rate?

Cori28again - You comment shows true compassion. Take care of yourself I will try to give a little more. Good luck to you.

Or..come to the deep reservation- its right here at home!!

You are so right on, midwest. We are reading handwringing complaints every single day about how slowly help and aid is arriving in Haiti, but it's been since 2005 when Katrina hit New Orleans, and they're STILL left alone and waiting, ending up raped by the insurance companies and immoral businesses, having to fend for themselves! Maybe it's just the difference in the morality of the different administrations that was/is in power at the time, but we always seem to move mountains to help other nations while little to nothing is done for our own people here at home. Or maybe there are just more PR points in making a big show on the international stage. Can't decide.

REALLY?? Obama has had a year and THREE spending bills what has he done for LA except pay Landrieau millions for her vote? The LA government does not help its own people, and that includes Jindahl. Maybe they can get some lessons from Barbour.

Instead of using the forum to take political potshots for your favorite President, doctorsteph, read and consider the entire post.

we always seem to move mountains to help other nations while little to nothing is done for our own people here at home. Or maybe there are just more PR points in making a big show on the international stage.

This always seems to happen no matter what party is in power.

I am not taking pot shots- though I could. I did read the entire post, and I do not think who was in power makes a difference at this point, so don't take pot shots at YOUR favorite president. LA is the problem. They let the levees deteriorate. The hurricane hit MS, NOT LA. LA has received more money than MS, and yet MS has rebuilt and is a going concern. There will be challenges for years, that is true, but LA is a case study in bad government, and so is HAITI. US should take it over as a protectorate and build it into a beautiful resort community with a great education, including college.

You still continue to miss the point doc. LA has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm saying. I'm talking national!!!! FEMA is FEDERAL!!! It is FEDERAL money that is pouring into Haiti (which I AM happy to see, because I care) not LA money. What I am not happy to see is the absolute bungling by FEMA to help our own people here at home. FEMA is supposed to be there when states CAN'T cope with their disasters. Whether LA COULD cope but DIDN'T is your particular axe to grind and has nothing to do with this axe I'm grinding. By the way, though, it is the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (FEDERAL) who bears responsibility for the levees around New Orleans. And if Katrina ONLY hit MS and not LA (obviously, it didn't, as most sensible people know) there would have been no damage to New Orleans at all. Obviously MS is okay now, it didn't have a major city drown under the ocean, duh!

And as far as your asinine comment about Obama somehow being obligated to correct Bush's bungling mistakes from three years BEFORE he became President (which would be like saying I was responsible for something during WWII when it was over five years before I was born) Obama has had his hands quite full his first year in office trying to fix the pretty serious mess that's been snowballed onto the country from the entire previous eight years of your pal GWB.

Also, as many here have already told you far above, you're spouting idiotic conspiracy theories spun against the Dems rather than medical 'knowledge' when it comes to the formaldehyde in the trailers. I used to build the kitchen cabinets that go in trailers like these. They didn't hurt us in the shop, but they hurt several of our installers who were putting them in the trailers. One got sick, one broke out in an all-over itchy rash, and one had to go to a small nearby clinic with breathing problems. It's from the type of glue used to make the particle board used in their construction. Unless someone is super sensitive to it, it doesn't normally bother people in houses, because houses breath, just like our shop did. But in a trailer with its windows closed, it's like being sealed in a tin can with the stuff. I would have expected a competent 'doctor' to know that.

(Steve) please explain to me the difference between nation money and FEDERAL MONEY. Dont they both come out of the us treasury. Dr.Steph Maybe you could turn around and talk tho the wall for a more inteligent conversation that stevey. So stevey Where is the proof that these houses are dangerous.DOC IS RIGHT. WHY THE HELL ARE WE WORRIED ABOUT HAITI???

Someone who doesn't know that Federal money and national money are the same thing is too uneducated to bother talking to. At least one can read doctorsteph's posts and see that she is educated.

Never, but I have been an expert witness for injured parties and I have never taken a dime. And I have time off, not that it is ANY of your business "real", and it is HER salary UIU.