U.S. officials press Chinese on drywall problems

August 18, 2009

SHANGHAI - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson made no bones about it during his recently concluded meetings with Chinese officials in Shanghai.  Toxic drywall and lead-tainted toys have badly shaken American consumers’ confidence in imports from China, the Florida Democrat said.

Nelson’s remarks and trip came immediately before a separate journey to China this week by a delegation of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which at Nelson’s request is investigating hundreds of complaints from homeowners in Florida and elsewhere about the ill-effects of drywall made in China. 

The two trips on the heels of each other send perhaps the strongest signal yet that the U.S. is serious about China taking responsibility for some the problems caused by its drywall.  In fact, Nelson intends to insist that drywall be on the agenda for planned meetings this fall between President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Recent tests by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency found that Chinese-made drywall contained sulfur that wasn’t in U.S.-made wallboard, strontium at levels ten times as high as in American drywall and two other organic compounds generally found in acrylic paint that were not detected in the U.S. product.

Hundreds of homeowners across Florida and in a handful of other states have complained that Chinese drywall in their newer or rebuilt homes smells like rotten eggs and is causing corrosion of copper wiring and household appliances.  In addition, they are reporting health problems such as asthma, coughing, headaches and insomnia.    

While in Shanghai last week, Nelson met with Wang Zhiyong, deputy director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the Chinese government’s consumer product safety agency. 

During the meeting, Nelson told Chinese officials that they need to step up their cooperation with the CPSC and help U.S. homeowners hurt by the defective drywall.   “I told them that we wouldn’t back down.  A product from their country is damaging the homes and lives of too many people for them not to take this seriously,” Nelson said in a statement issued today.

In February, Nelson called on the CPSC for an investigation of problems in homes constructed with the imported drywall, and for an interim ban on the product.  He and Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana then filed legislation aimed at initiating a recall in addition to a ban - as more and more people around the country were reporting problems in their homes built with imported drywall.  Most of the complaints have come from Florida and Louisiana – two states hard hit by hurricanes and subsequent rebuilding in recent years.

Nelson’s China stop was part of a twelve-day trip as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  Aside from his meetings with Chinese officials about the drywall mess, he’s also been in Indonesia mainly about the recent terrorist bombings at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.   It’s the first time in four years a group linked to al-Qaeda has struck there, and, in this case, hit U.S. businesses. 

Nelson returns early Saturday and beginning Monday plans to spend the next two weeks in Florida, where he’s scheduled to speak to several Chambers of Commerce, teach a history class to kids in Lakeland and appear before at least one Tiger Bay political club that specializes in asking elected officials tough questions.

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