WASHINGTON -- The federal government plans to release preliminary results of a study on tainted Chinese drywall used to build thousands of American homes, primarily in the Southeast.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and others have been analyzing how the drywall entered the country, where it was used, what was in it and whether it presents health hazards. The report was set for release Thursday.
Building materials were in short supply during the height of the U.S. housing boom, so U.S. construction companies imported millions of pounds of cheap and abundant Chinese-made drywall.
Homeowners now complain that fumes from the wallboard that smell like rotten eggs are destroying properties and even making them ill.
It's estimated Chinese drywall may be in as many as 100,000 homes in the U.S. Florida's Department of Health has received 36,000 complaints about it.
