The New China Syndrome: Radioactive Drywall

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‘A reporter discovers what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant and finds herself involved in a sinister conspiracy to cover-up the imminent threat of a meltdown.’ The synopsis for The China Syndrome, a film produced in 1979 that won four Oscars.

However, today, the China Syndrome is a completely different ‘meltdown’ scenario; the exportation of toxic and potentially deadly products by unscrupulous Chinese manufacturers such as:
Deadly, defective tires;
Toxic Fish – substituting poisonous puffer fish for monk fish;
Toxic Thomas the Tank Engine toys;
Toxic antifreeze in baby’s milk;
Toxic children’s overalls;
Deadly electrocution hair driers;
Toxic/Neurotoxic lead in children’s toys and jewelry;
Toxic pet food;
Toxic, radioactive drywall; and
The deadly and toxic Chinese product list goes on-and-on.

It seems that the rule of thumb used in the Chinese manufacturing sector is to generate product as cheaply as possible regardless of the risk to the consumer, that is, until they get caught at it. Even if they get caught, it’s no big deal because the contract will be crafted so that the liability for any defects rests with the wholesale distributors and retailers selling the product to the public.

The reality of the situation is that it’s very easy to get around government safety regulations on imports. All a manufacturer or importer has to do is say their product complies with a countries health and safety standards, and maybe if pressured, hand over a dog-eared document from some nonexistent certifying laboratory with a Shanghai, China address.

In fact, most imported products receive no scrutiny from overseeing government agencies. The agencies simply take the manufactures word that their products comply with health and safety standards. Essentially, it is the responsibility of the wholesale distributors and vendors to assure that the products they sell comply with a country’s health and safety standards.

Presently, the Chinese have the dubious distinction as bring the most prolific exporters of dodgy, deadly, and toxic goods in the world.

Well, as an old investigative environmental journalist, I came across an attention grabber, and I caught the distinct aroma of a dead rotting rat emanating from behind Chinese made drywall. My interest was sparked mainly because there appears to be a whitewash of sorts going on with the product in question, and the product is made from no less than a USEPA listed ‘Naturally Occurring Radioactive Waste Product’ that I know quite a bit about.

The product is Chinese drywall (sheetrock/plasterboard) made from waste phosphogypsum.

Phosphogypsum is waste sludge from the production of wet process phosphate fertilizer. In wet process production, they combine concentrated sulfuric acid with phosphate rock slurry to produce phosphoric acid. After the reaction takes place, there is phosphoric acid and the phosphogypsum waste sludge containing sulfides along with other nasty, carcinogenic contaminants such as Uranium, Cadmium, Arsenic, and Radium - all of which are internationally recognized carcinogens.

According to the World Health Organisation, USEPA, and most other relatively responsible governmental health agencies, there is no safe level of exposure to any carcinogens.

The real bad boy in the phosphogypsum waste is Radium because it decays into Radon which is colorless, odorless, water soluble, radioactive gas linked to lung cancer.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, and scientists estimate that approximately 20,000 lung cancer deaths per year are Radon-related.

All phosphate rock contains radioactive elements, and of course, their parent Uranium no matter where in the world it’s mined.

At one time, the phosphate fertilizer industry produced most all the yellow cake uranium used in the production of nuclear arms and for the nuclear power industry from the phosphogypsum waste. Subsequently, there is no doubt about the fact that the waste phosphogypsum is radioactive.

Curiously, the US Consumer Products Safety Commission stated that the toxic Chinese drywall only showed normal background levels of radiation which is very difficult to believe. But the results of testing for radiation levels in the drywall are totally contingent on the testing method, and for some strange reason, no documents were available describing the methodology.xxc

For instance, if they simply ran a detector over the top of the paper sandwiched drywall, it’s highly likely that they would see low radiation levels, especially the Beta radiation emitted by Radon which doesn’t have much penetration power. But if they powdered the drywall, it would be another story; and if they did a spectral analysis on the powdered sample, it would probably light up like Las Vegas on a moonless night.

Cutting through all the eye-glazing scientific jargon about Alpha and Beta emitters, all natural radioactive materials start out as Uranium and go through what scientists call a ‘decay rate process’ until the Uranium becomes stable (non radioactive) Lead. As it goes through the decay process from radioactive element to element, the type of radiation changes alternately from Alpha to Beta emitters.

Unless you ingest or inhale Beta emitters, they don’t pose much of a threat. But a Beta emitter like Radon continues on decaying, and the big problem with Radon before it becomes stable lead, it evolves to Polonium 210 which is the nastiest progeny of Uranium; Polonium 210 emits 5000 times more Alpha radiation (the type responsible for cancer creation) than Radium.

However, Radon poses a long-term risk, and the adverse health consequences of chronic exposure can take thirty or forty years to manifest themselves. Young children are most at risk.

Now, most all the homes with the toxic Chinese drywall were new-build, energy efficient dwellings – essentially, hermetically sealed toxic exposure chambers.

Studies show that indoor air pollution in energy efficient homes can be five to eight times greater than ambient outdoor air pollution. When it comes to pollutants like hydrogen sulfide and radon gases released from the toxic Chinese drywall, they simply accumulate and permeate the air and everything that will absorb the pollutants in the energy efficient dwelling thus exposing the occupants to high concentrations of airborne toxicants.

Basically, it’s the same method scientific researchers use to perform experiments with Sprague Dawley rats to determine the concentration of a toxic air pollutant the rats can tolerate before they develop malignant lung tumors or produce three headed offspring.

It’s highly possible that in the near future, the remediation of toxic Chinese drywall is going to be as costly as remediation of old homes painted with lead based paint and containing asbestos insulation. Also, in the near future, it’s highly possible that the toxic Chinese drywall will have to be disposed of in a landfill that accepts low-level radioactive waste.

Even today, many landfills will not accept any gypsum drywall.

As far as adverse health effects go, the serious problems will probably start popping up in the next five to ten years, and it will give researchers a chance to grab government grants to find out what went wrong and exterminate thousands more Sprague Dawley rats.

Interestingly, concerns over the potential long-term adverse health consequences of phosphogypsum waste prompted the Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to ban it from use in construction in 1989. However, while USEPA banned the use of domestic phosphogypsum waste, there are no regulations against importing the product into the United States as a construction material.

According to law firms handling Toxic Chinese Drywall tort litigation, upward to 80% of Chinese drywall firms make the product with radioactive phosphogypsum waste.

Initially the problem with the toxic Chinese drywall came to light because of the noxious smell due to the high sulfur content. When sulfur comes in contact with ambient moisture in the air, it forms sulfuric acid and/or toxic hydrogen sulfide among other sulfur compounds. The people in homes where the contractors used the toxic Chinese drywall soon experienced the odor of rotten eggs (indicating poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas), and as time went on, problems with electrical wiring and switches manifested themselves because of corrosive fumes. Some people reported electrical shocks and arcing when they flipped on appliance and light switches.

Today, there is a mass of class action lawsuits against the companies and contractors that supplied the toxic Chinese drywall, but the Chinese manufactures walked away with a bundle of cash and without any liability leaving distributors and contractors holding the bag.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Department of Housing and Urban Development said some Chinese drywall samples emitted hydrogen sulfide at rates 100 times that of non-Chinese samples. The drywall problem is so serious, both agencies recommended that homes with the toxic Chinese drywall should be “Gutted,” and to remove or replace:
All possible problem drywall;
All fire alarm safety devices, including smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms;
All electrical components and wiring, including outlets, switches and circuit breakers;
All gas service piping and fire suppression sprinkler systems.

Curiously, in the US Centers for Disease Control (USCDC) remediation guidelines, there is no mention of any radioactive contaminant danger to either the workers or residents. However, they do say in the mild-mannered remediation guidelines:

The Task Force is aware that some parties who are remediating homes with problem drywall take certain actions aimed at cleaning the structure during remediation such as the use of HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) vacuums and the ventilation of the home for a period between removal and replacement of drywall.

So, in reality, if you are living in a home lined with sandwiched Chinese radioactive toxic waste, you’re living in a toxic time bomb, and once again, the government is doing everything it can to minimize the potential, long-term health risks.

Well, if all that isn’t bad enough, the Chinese are fastly becoming the primary supplier of fluoride chemicals to fluoridate American drinking water – they supply over 50% of the chemicals used to fluoridate America’s drinking water. The decisions to purchase Chinese fluoridation chemicals are strictly economic, and the Chinese supply the cheapest available products.

Chinese suppliers have to ship the chemicals across the Pacific Ocean and across the United States and still manage to underbid US suppliers!

To an old investigative journalist, there is the overwhelming stench of a dead rat emanating from the water tap.

And yes, once again, the ‘New China Syndrome’ comes into play and my suspicions confirmed. March 10, 2010, WCVT in Massachusetts reported, “Mystery Substance Found in Chinese Fluoride Added to Massachusetts Water.”

Although many cities around the United States have reported similar problems with the cheap Chinese fluoride, USCDC dentists say that no one should worry about the quality because, ‘it’s certified and manufactured to exacting quality standards set forth by the American Water Works Association.’ But a perplexed Amesbury, Massachusetts public works director said the following about the cheap Chinese fluoride, “I don’t know what it is. It’s not soluble, and it doesn’t appear to be sodium fluoride. So we are not quite sure what it is.”

How naïve can a person get, after all, it’s a cheap Chinese import, and no doubt, it’s the dirtiest and probably deadliest product in the world used to fluoridate the American public drinking water – but it’s cheap and also a waste stream product from the manufacture of phosphate fertilizer.

As for the Chinese manufacturer, poisoning the 25% of the American population is not a problem, because it not his obligation to insure the quality of the product and accepts no liability on the contract; consequently, he walks away with a pocket full of cash and no responsibility because the liability rests on the shoulders of cities and water companies fluoridating the drinking water.

If you think anyone is watching out for your health and safety when it comes to Chinese imports, think again.