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FEMA trailers haven't been tested for gas

By Times Wires
Published October 18, 2007

Three months after the Federal Emergency Management Agency halted the sale of travel trailers to survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita over possible risks from formaldehyde and promised a health study, none of the 56,000 occupied units have been tested. Charles Green, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman, said that testing was expected to start at the end of this month or early November. The Environmental Protection Agency lists formaldehyde as a colorless, pungent gas released by building materials and household items that "may cause cancer in humans."

Elsewhere

Guantanamo: All four suicides at the U.S. detention center in Cuba for terror suspects were by hanging, Navy Capt. Patrick McCarthy, the senior lawyer on the prison camps management team, said Wednesday. Three captives died in June 2006 and a fourth in May 2007. Camp officials refuse to discuss the circumstances of another death in May 2006.

Executions: The United States is headed for the fewest executions in a year since the mid 1990s because of concerns over lethal injections and the Supreme Court's pending review of the issue. Fewer than 50 executions are expected this year.

Sex tape: Chester Arthur Stiles, 37, accused of abusing a 3-year-old girl in an explicit sex videotape, was arraigned Wednesday on 23 felony charges that could land him in prison for life. He did not enter pleas in Las Vegas Justice Court.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 01:16:42]