Absurdity, Allegory and China

In the last four days I have posted twice about the toxic drywall problems in southwest Florida, which have been traced back to Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd. And yes, that’s Tianjin, China, Beichen District to be specific. (See here and here or just scroll down the page.) If you’d like to see how this story’s getting some tooth in the States, do a Google News search on “China drywall problem” and you’ll find the beginning of what may be the next product scandal in the making. The gas emitted by the drywall, hydrogen sulfide, is being blamed for the corrosion of metals, including copper, chrome, brass and silver. When you realize how much our homes are full of things made with these metals (electrical wiring, plumbing fixtures, microwaves, computers, on and on), you can begin to get an idea of the possible scale of this thing.

The reason I am banging on this one so hard is not only because the drywall exported to Florida in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma was made in China, but rather I am asking the bigger question of how much of this very same drywall may have been distributed throughout China in the middle of the frenzied building boom. In Florida some have been forced to move out of their homes, and one company has already started replacing drywall in homes they built.

Knauf, founded in 1932, is a large multi-national producer of building materials headquartered in Iphofen, Germany with a worldwide presence in 58 countries and five locations in China. The Australian Chamber of Commerce page reveals that the plant in Tianjin is mainly involved with the production of a variety of wallboards (drywall), as well as drywall finishing materials: joint compound, tape, angle beads, etc. According to the WSJ article

Knauf Tianjin hired experts in 2006 to investigate complaints about an odor and found “no health concerns related to the odor or any emissions in the residences.”
…
Knauf Tianjin said the drywall is made of naturally mined gypsum. After investigating drywall odors, the company said it switched mines and installed a monitoring device to detect gases.

If there were “no health concerns related to the odor” then was switching mines done solely on marketing concerns? Hard to sell board that smells like rotting eggs or, more accurately, hydrogen sulfide. Though another question that needs to be asked is if the smell alone is indicative of a health concern: hydrogen sulfide is a toxic, flammable gas considered to be a broad spectrum poison, meaning that it can effect “several different systems in the body, although the nervous system is most affected. The toxicity of H2S is comparable with that of hydrogen cyanide.”

While the troubles in Florida are, indeed, of great concern, what about here in China? Did Knauf eat the loss and not distribute the toxic board locally, or was it distributed and installed after experts had ruled that there were “ho health concerns?” These are questions that someone should be asking. I am not exaggerating when I say that there are hundreds of thousands of new housing units in Tianjin alone over the last five years. What about Beijing?

There is another aspect to this story that will probably go unreported because it’s impossible to quantify: how much damage was done to workers who handled and installed this damaged board? I know from experience that when drywall contracting crews are handling/installing board, dust masks are often ignored, especially in hot weather, even while the dust is being produced by cutting the sheets to fit. But this falls into the great zone of unknowing. I also imagine that many of the crews who handled this product during installation in the States were minorities and, possibly, undocumented workers, the worldwide ‘expendables.’ We live with this sort of thing here in China, where the unprecedented building boom with very little regulation (when was the last time you saw an inspector on a remodeling project) has destroyed many migrant workers’ lives.

When there are boatloads of money to be made there’s no reason to rock the boat, at least from the profit seekers’ POV. And so we learn to swallow euphemisms like ‘collateral damage,’ which makes victimization appear morally acceptable. But it won’t be addressed here until there is enough uproar raised elsewhere, until someone will be forced to deal with it in China. Are there complaints coming in from homeowners now? Good question.

While Knauf is under the gun in Florida, what are they under here locally or nationally? So, to all those journalists in Beijing who are looking for a story to chase, allow me to give you a nudge: “Just follow the links.”