By now many of you have heard of the recent mass tortsinvolving drywall from China. It seems that a very large batch--enough for66,000 homes offgasses a variety of sulfur containing compunds includingcarbonyl sulfide, carbon disulfide and hydrogen sufide to name a few. Thealleged result is corroded copper tubing and, pssibly, wire, and a variety ofhealth complaints (not yet connected scientifically to the drywall.)I justspoke with an old friend who is Florida's state toxicologist. Florida is theepicenter of the issue. These matters are frought with confusion anduncertainty. For one thing, one cannot readily test drywall to identify itspedigree. Bulk testing doesn't do it. Chamber testing for emmissions might, buteven that is uncertain since local drywall kept in proximity to its offgassingcousin appears to adsorb chemicals which can lead to false positive tests.Finally, and quite importantly, levels of any chemicals actually found in homesknown to contain this drywall are quite low making valid health issues quiteunlikely. If anyone would like further information about this, I'd be pleasedto discuss it more fully.
