FEMA Trailers -- Test Them Yourself, Then Go Screw Yourself

A couple of weeks ago, when I blogged on the long-delayed Centers For Disease Control tests of formaldehyde levels in Gulf Coast FEMA trailers, a persistent commenter opined to the effect that the people in New Orleans should have just tested the trailers themselves. Armed with the results, the commenter suggested repeatedly, the Feds would have had to respond.

This Week's Gambit Weekly puts the lie to that assertion, the latest in the seemingly unending series of "why don't you folks pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" recommendations from people elsewhere. The gist of the report: a volunteer for the local Sierra Club was in fact testing, as soon as she heard reports of symptoms from the toxic gas, and the Feds -- guess what? -- ignored her reports.

The unreported story: how FEMA managed to delay asking the CDC to do the testing until just this last December. Another Gambit story has some tantalizing details, but there's much more to be discovered, uncovered, covered.