Absurdity, Allegory and China

The Chinese drywall problem in Florida (USA) not only refuses to go away (and I suspect that it won’t any time soon, since it continues to generate lawsuits), but it has just gotten a bit more convoluted. The latest twist has two US drywall manufacturers being included in upcoming suits. The National Law Journal (NLJ) just reported that a home built for George and Brenda Brinku in Fort Myers, FL is presenting the same problems as many other homes in the state, though the Brinkus’ home doesn’t have Chinese drywall. Or at least they were told that it didn’t. Their drywall came from National Gypsum. The Brinkus plan to file their suit tomorrow, and USG, another major US manufacturer of drywall, is said to be included in a class action suit that has yet to be filed.

Though there will, no doubt, be many questions asked concerning the US drywall, currently the speculation is that these companies may have bought Chinese drywall and relabeled it as their own. Both USG and National Gypsum deny that this happened. According to the article in the NLJ

George Brincku got confirmation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that drywall was causing the problems in his home. He sent a drywall sample, a corroded brass corner from a jewelry box, a penny which had been placed in a wall for several days and other objects to Thomas W. Eagar, an MIT metallurgy professor.

The conclusion wasn’t pretty. Eagar found evidence that gases created an acidic condition. The analysis of the Brinckus’ wallboard indicated a composition of half gypsum and half cellulose. An exemplar wallboard should be 100 percent gypsum.

Curiously, back in early January when I started blogging on this story, Adam Minter from Shanghai Scrap left the following comment:

I’m aware that in some parts of south China the environmental authorities have signed off on the use of plastic e-waste as a constituent in drywall. Now, there’s no reason to believe – prima facie – that there’s anything hazardous about plastic e-waste (basically, fiberglass), but one wonders about how the waste is transformed in the drywall manufacturing process. In any event, I’m guessing that the drywall plant isn’t ISO 9000.

It continues …
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For the trail on this story, go here.