Formaldehyde Makes Me Sick
By DANA NELSEN
Well, I’ve been the editor of RV Trade Digest for exactly three months, which means I have exactly 10 blogs under my belt now. That’s right; I’ve hit the 10 mile marker. This means exactly 10 times now, I’ve sat and considered bringing the formaldehyde issue up. I have had tons and tons of requests from all of you to discuss formaldehyde. Each time I think about it, it makes me a little queasy.
Here is why. Drawing undo attention to the subject may actually magnify the problem and make consumers less likely to enjoy the RV lifestyle. This blog, like all the other RV trade blog sites, are Internet searchable. Consumers and news organizations can read what is posted on any of these sites by simply using Google or some other Internet search engine. For that reason, we must make sure what is said in this and any other blogs you participate in on other industry Web sites are responsible comments.
That said, after much thought I think we can have an intelligent and responsible conversation about this subject. I remember when I worked at RV PRO magazine and the formaldehyde issue first came up. I went to the publisher to find out what reporting we could and should do on the subject. He informed me that we would not report on it at all. It involved controversy and reporting on it could hurt the magazine with its advertiser customers. Essentially, we stuck our head in the sand and pretended the biggest issue to hit our industry in the last 10 years didn’t exist.
Since that very beginning, I’ve silently watched as numerous national news stories have come out. None of them have been overly positive for our industry. We’ve read in the news that FEMA trailers are being sold at $0.40 on the dollar directly to consumers. We watched as Mike Molino went to our capitol to ask our government to instead sell trailers to dealers so the market would not be flooded with cheap products. We watched RVIA say that formaldehyde isn’t an issue. Then we saw RVIA adopt new formaldehyde standards even though it had already determined “it wasn’t an issue.” We’ve heard from various biased and unbiased sources that this trailer made by “X manufacturer” measured so many parts of formaldehyde per million. Some reports have said the trailers were toxic beyond belief causing all sorts of ailments nobody in their right mind would possibly want. Other reports have shown that high formaldehyde levels in FEMA trailers were hogwash.
After all this time and everyone involved, I still don’t feel I have an answer to a very simple question: Are any of the trailers bad? Nobody seems to want to answer that question. I’ve watched smoke and mirrors for two years now. Some would rather talk about the definition of “bad.” Others want to talk about “bad according to whom.” (Do you mean according to the Sierra Club, the person living in the trailer, the manufacturer, the Center for Disease Control, lawyers?) Who exactly? Others point to other factors like, “Well, if you smoke a cigarette in the trailer…” or, “If you live in the trailer long term…” or all sorts of other ridiculous (in my opinion) unrelated statements to whether the trailers are bad or not.
I’ll bet many in the industry would like this whole issue to just disappear. It seems that much like me, all those months ago at my former magazine, many in the industry have opted for the “Stick your head in the sand approach.” I’ve been reluctant for a long time to discuss this, but many of you who’ve sent me e-mails have convinced me that you really want to talk about this subject. I guess deep down I did too. It almost makes me angry when I think about it. The journalist in me screams, “I want answers dammit!” while another wonders about the wisdom of even bringing it up and how much political fallout may occur for broaching the subject and insisting on a simple answer. If RVDA’s plan to convince FEMA to only sell dealers the FEMA trailers worked, and I was a dealer who had bought and is now in turn selling a FEMA trailer to consumers, I think I would want to know if I was selling a product that was potentially toxic.
The greatest thing about associations is also one of the biggest downfalls of associations. Associations work for their members and therefore always do what is in the best interest of its members. What this means is that since RVIA works for its manufacturer members, it is really their job to protect their manufacturer members. If FEMA trailer manufacturers cut corners to get those FEMA units made quickly, and they did something wrong in the manufacturing process with formaldehyde, it will take an act of God for RVIA to openly and in a straight-forward manner admit it. Why? Because it would hurt their members –that is unless sacrificing the few benefits the many. The public relations department’s job is to minimize the damage, redirect attention until it’s a non-issue and if possible, put a positive spin on it. If none of that can be done, a sacrificial goat must be found. That is the association’s job. Huge amounts of money are wrapped up in this issue, which means that we will probably never learn the truth. Even if the law suits end decisively one way or the other, really the only questions answered will be who gets the money and who has to pay for it. If people really did get sick, I doubt even if they win, they will find the compensation adequate.
Are any of these trailers bad? I don’t know the answer to that. Do you? I’ll tell you one thing though, regardless of price, you won’t see my family in one of those FEMA trailers.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
I have been involved in this industry since 1964, that is 44 years. I have experienced the formaldehyde smell for all of those years, but I have also smelled it in new houses & in old houses that get new carpet. Carpet has Formaldehyde!!
This is not something new in the world!!! Pressed wood has formaldehyde, Oriented Strand Board, (OSB), has formaldehyde & probably plywood does too. But Pressed Wood & OSB has more than plywood. All of the cabinets in RV’s except the high end, use pressed wood & cover it with vinyl. All Panelling has formaldehyde in it. How else do they glue it together????
90% of the New units manufactured today, use OSB for the floors & the roof decking! Very few companies use plywood, because OSB is cheaper than plywood. Come on people!!! It’s in all the cheap furniture too that you buy at Walmart, K-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Menards, Lowes, & Furniture Stores around the United States. If it’s not solid wood, it is particle board & it is glued together!!!
But like others have stated, when the dealers gets the new trailers, we open the windows, we open the doors, we air them out! We let the glues dry & we eliminate the odor!!!
All of the units that FEMA bought from the RV DEalers, should have been aired out, but the ones that came directly from the factories, would not have been aired out, so yes, you stick them down in 90+ Degrees & keep the doors & windows closed & DUH, they are going to stink!!!
Who does everyone think the Federal Government is, it’s us dummies! We are the ones who are paying for all this!! Not the President, not the Senators, Not the Congressmen, Not the State Representatives, it’s us dummies!!!
Wake up & grow up & quit blaming FEMA!!!
FEMA is another Governemnt Agency that our Governemnt has set up to help the unfortunate!! Quit giving these people ideas that someone did something wrong & now the Government should pay!! WE the people, are the Government!!
Those Manufacturer’s that manufacture the cheap trailers are going to have more formaldehyde in them! DUH!!! Like a man named Brad wrote in his response — You close up a car or a house in that kind of heat that is down in the Southern States & they are going to stink too!!!
The only way around the formaldehyde is to build with solid wood & we all know that isn’t going to happen! Nobody would be able to afford this wonderful lifestyle & if it’s a towable unit, no one would be able to pull it around because it would be too heavy!!
So you have to wake up & smell the roses & air out those new units!!! A few weeks with the windows & doors open, & the smell will be gone! It is that simple!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I just dug out a copy of a 1991 Pace Arrow Owner’s Manual. The page after the Warranty and the required steps an owner must take to get satisfaction, is the formaldehyde warning page. This is before the table of contents.
Anyone who thinks this is a new issue for this industry is fooling themselves. The language of the warning speaks volumes. The first line is, “Our forest product suppliers have advised that urea-formaldehyde is used in the production of particle board, hardwood plywood or paneling which they supply us and which we utilize in our finished product. These suppliers have requested that we communicate this to our customers.
Which way did they go? Who’s on first? Who was last seen with the stuff? Who’s at fault? For an industry who has so successfully kept the Fed out of their business, this issue may be what the ‘green team’ reformers need to bust down the back door and come looking for all the dirt.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:21 am
While I agree that everyone wanted a piece of the pie, I challenge anyone who thinks the trailers they sell provide safe, clean accomodatios, to go inside one on a 90 degree+ day and close the door for more than a minute. We have to keep our 5 brands open during the days in the summer to keep them aired out so they don’t burn customer eyes. I could walk in any product we carry blindfolded, not just trailers, and identify the brand name by the smell and taste in my mouth. Yuk.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Dear Dana
PLEASE change your web site so that it is easier to read. The green back ground with back print is very hard to read .Black on white is always the best.
Other wise it;s fine.
Thanks Paul
March 19th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Your Kidding?
Everyone wanted a piece of the Disaster Pie!! The “Battle Cry” was find whatever cheap, leftover, scrap material you could find!! “Give us your Obsolete” was heard threw out the RV land. Mass produced Clone trailers
with as little true Rv features was the norm. To say that all Rv’s are built this way would be foolish, but for
quick responce piles of junk to line our pockets with some Goverment green is a different story. This hurt’s the industry, especially when we try to sale the Fema coaches back to the general public at very low rates. We should just have one nice cook out(bonfire) with them and leave this all behind us.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:05 am
California Guy made a valuable point using the Tylenol analogy. What i feel our slightly-behind-the-times industry will find as that many manufacturers need salaried risk managers to assist in such issues.
I know for an absolute fact that this issue is being exagerrated by the media considerably, but some warranted remidies will be necessary to correct this downward-spiraling issue.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Dana:
Thanks for bringing this issue up. Finally, someone had the guts!
What the trailer industry has done by stonewalling and sticking their head in the sand is to severely damage a huge new market of people/families that might have bought an RV someday in the future. All these once-potential buyers know is that a lot of trailers were made that hurt people with large levels of harmful formaldehyde. (Was it 5%, 20%, 50% of the trailers made? Who knows. The people don’t care - they don’t want to gamble their health and that of their kids.) And this was a time when the country was reaching out to help people who were now homeless and beaten down by the floods. How many millions did taxpayers spend to help these poor families — only to line the coffers of some shady trailer makers.
But rather than the RV industry identifying the problem (bad manufacturers, slip-shod processes, improper glues), the RV makers banded together and said “what problem?”
Well the news is out and it isn’t good. The new image of the RV industry is that Forest River and Airstream and Jayco and Thor and Holiday Rambler are as suspect as those crooks who provided bad trailers to make some easy money.
Rather than embrace the problem and solve it (does anyone remember the Tylenol poisoning issue and how quickly they recovered by aggressively dealing with the situation?), the RV makers (and RV news publications) have done us a grave and damaging disservice.
The lack of effort by the RV industry makes me even wonder if my trailer is unsafe.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Sorry, unrelated question: Am I the only one who thinks it is easier to read a blog from earliest to last post and that the later posts would be more likely relative to those that had posted before. Maybe turn it upside down?
Fleetwood and other Mobilehome mfgs in the early 80s dealt with this in the Seattle area and the University of Washington was,as I remember, involved in testing and evaluating. Court cases settled or dropped may still be available to some old fashioned journalistic research. Either absolute facts or the possibility that facts support conflicting viewpoints should be accumulated and presented. Marketing efforts and disclosures and/or warnings could then be guided in a way where products would be available without having to rehash this in each generation. Those lawyers that may have made their money previously are likely to pass this down to their sons or daughters so they can take another run at a particulary socially valuable industry (i.e. housing,recreation,etc.)
What has been bantered about and maybe proven is that Formaldehyde is evident to some extent from humans gathered in a room to various if not all glues while they cure. If the bonding agents aren’t used at all, seals are not secure; water or air polution intrudes and there would certainly be sickness from mold or critters or some other dastardly agents. GET ALL FACTS, PUBLISH, and DON’T SELL OUT! We can operate our businesses efficiently with facts much better than if we have to worry about whose opinion or agenda will control us.
March 18th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
HELLO - I STARTED AS AN RV DEALER IN 1973 & IT WAS AROUND THEN–SOLD GO-TAG-ALONG-,WILDERNESS, LAYTON & MANY ,MANY, OTHERS THAT HAVE GONE BY THE WAYSIDE-ITS BEEN AROUND FOREVER- SO WHAT S THE BIG DEAL NOW ?
March 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Thanks Dana for finally putting this “stinky” issue on the table. While I agree with the a majority of the thoughts of the previous contributors, no person who is involved with the RV Industry can not (and should not) attempt to minimize the problem that formaldehyde-based compounds can have on the population. Also, the reality is that formaldehyde-based compounds are found in a majority of common solvents, glues, and resins that are used in the home building and RV Industries.
Having had some personal involvement with folks who lost their homes due to Katrina, I can relate from that experience that the folks who were placed in Travel Trailers that were obtained from local RV Dealers (i.e - used RVs) did not have any of the reactions as the folks who were placed in FEMA travel trailers experienced. The reason should be obvious to the reader.
It is commonly accepted that the RV Industry is one of the major customers of the building materials that contain formaldehyde-based glues and resins. Yet, for some probably very good reasons, some RV Manufacturers apparently have found ways to either fully eliminate, or significantly reduce, the use of these contaminating and irritating compounds. If you don’t believe this, just check out a high-end Motorhome and I recently had the pleasure of doing. The unit, newly delivered, had virtually no hint eye, nose, or throat irritation.
What this suggests is that if some RV Manufacturers can bring a product to the Marketplace that features an acceptable level of irritants, then why can’t all RV Manufacturers do the same? After all, what one can do, all can do if they have the motivation.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Formaldehyde didn’t just become an issue for our industry with the advent of FEMA trailers. I have been in this industry for over 40 years and can tell you that Formadehyde has been a topic of discussion for most of those years.
I’ve got to believe that somewhere, someone in this industry, perhaps RVIA, has established an acceptable level of Formadehyde in a new unit. If some of the manufacturers who rushed to the FEMA call to provide emergency housing for those poor, displaced,irresponsible idiots in Louisiana, knowingly used cheeper materials that exceeded that “acceptable” level in order to reap excessive profits, they should be punished to the full extent of the law!
On the other hand, it is a sad commentary of our time that because of our litigious society, the innocent are going to suffer with the guilty and an industry that rushed to the aid of those suffering from the damage caused by Katrina, will suffer damage from which, unlike Katrina, they may not be able to ever recover.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I have been around RV’s for 30 plus years and understand that everything we breathe, eat, drink and touch in this world is contaminated with all kinds of chemicals and no one really knows the long term effects of it all. I am a cancer survivor and no one can tell me how I got cancer or what caused it, nor am I looking to blame anyone or anything. Anyone who has been around new RV’s has had the experience of walking into a sealed up unit on a hot day and quickly become dizzy, eyes burning and throat hurting from the formaldehyde. I am no chemist but you have to believe that can not be good for you. On the other hand I knew enough to open the vents, windows and doors to ventilate it and after awhile it goes away. What can be done about it? I guess better materials, however like it has been said then the cost goes up and with today’s economy and fuel prices do we really need more cost!
March 18th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Brad exhibits reason, wisdom, and realism. It is an unfortunate reality that very few affected by this issue, be it individual, politician, or lawyer, will possess these same qualities.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
There are no more caustic or potentially harmful substances in new RVs than there are in new cars, new boats, new homes, or new appliances. The formaldehye issue, although relevant to an extent, has been completely blown out of proportion. To say without offending or appearing as a bigot of some sort, the complaints with FEMA coaches are coming from some of the least credible sources to begin with. What would happen if you closed up a house for months on end in ridiculous heat and humidity for months and months on end? Car? Hell, anything?
When you cram a whole house in a 30′ x 8′ box and expect it to cost $15000, inferior materials will obviously be used. But such should be taken into consideration and understood with an educated mind. Formaldehyde exists in nearly all commodities due to the use of petroleum-based products and avoiding it altogether is virtually impossible. But, living a lifestyle that ultimately leads to the reliance of shelter in a government-provided RV due to tragedy and a lack of preparedness exposes you to inferior materials that could (in the most miniscule of ways) be harmful should repeat exposure occur.
Essentially, yes, the industry should try and use less caustic materials. However, the market should realize the issue is completely exagerrated in this case, and the cost of RVs will certainly elevate a fair amount due to its replacement with more eco-friendly materials.