Children in Katrina trailers may face lifelong ailments

This is just one of the horrid elements of the idiot's legacy.

Appointing incompetents always has predictable, unfortunate consequences.

The anguish of Hurricane Katrina should have ended for Gina Bouffanie and her daughter when they left their FEMA trailer. But with each hospital visit and each labored breath her child takes, the young mother fears it has just begun.

"It's just the sickness. I can't get rid of it. It just keeps coming back," said Bouffanie, 27, who was pregnant with her now 15-month-old daughter, Lexi, while living in the trailer. "I'm just like, 'Oh God, I wish like this would stop.' If I had known it would get her sick, I wouldn't have stayed in the trailer for so long."

The girl, diagnosed with severe asthma, must inhale medicine from a breathing device.

Doctors cannot conclusively link her asthma to the trailer. But they fear she is among tens of thousands of youngsters who may face lifelong health problems because the temporary housing supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency contained formaldehyde fumes up to five times the safe level.

Note: Headline links to source.

Lawmakers Criticize FEMA's Handling of Hazards Posed by Trailers

Three things come immediately to mind:

1. Its always a good idea to let people die to avoid liability.

2. Will the offensive treatment of Katrina victims ever end?

3. I'm really becoming quite the fan of Henry Waxman. Why are there so few like him?

Nearly four months after the Federal Emergency Management Agency promised to study the risk of formaldehyde in trailers provided to Hurricane Katrina survivors, none of 52,000 occupied units have been tested, and FEMA has warned its employees for their own safety to stay out of 70,000 similar trailers in storage.

"This double-standard is wholly unacceptable," Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said in a written statement, accusing FEMA of hiding the extent of trailer contamination and leaving "American disaster victims exposed to a whole new nightmare."

"The foot-dragging continues," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), whose House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in July disclosed documents indicating that FEMA had suppressed warnings about the health problems and had resisted testing since March 2006, in part because of fears over legal liability.

Via WaPo.

Don't forget Katrina

Jesus H Christ with balloons, will these peeps ever get a fucking break?