Report slams FEMA on health hazard in emergency housing

In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was slow to address early signs of formaldehyde problems in emergency housing and overstated actions it was taking to address the problem, according to a report released Thursday by a federal inspector general. The highly critical 80-page report paints the picture of an agency that was overly concerned with its image to the detriment of the public. FEMA, the report says, reacted to the formaldehyde health threat only after media attention "grew to disturbing levels" and once delayed testing so the agency could "develop a public communications strategy" for the public and the media. Although federal tests found formaldehyde in emergency housing in October of 2005, just two months after Katrina, most of the tests weren't done until two years later, during winter when formaldehyde levels are lowest, the report says. "Because of the delays, the test results may have underestimated the extent of formaldehyde exposure that residents had experienced," it says.