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Date: April 10, 2009 Reported by: Les Trent There's something lurking in the walls of thousands of beautiful new homes and it stinks. So what's causing the stench? It's the walls themselves. The drywall, also known as plasterboard, was imported from China. Some health officials suspect the drywall from China is contaminated with dangerous chemicals. When exposed to heat and humidity, it emits sulfur gases. It causes plugs to turn black, wires to corrode, and appliances and lights to stop working and nearly every ounce of copper in the home turns black. The inside of air conditioners from homes that have the drywall from China can get covered with black soot. According to Jennifer Hilderbrand of Cape Coral, Florida, even her gold and silver jewelry turned black soon after she moved in. "My jewelry all looks destroyed to me. It's ruined," she says. Hilderbrand also just bought new silverware, she says, because her old set turned black. The situation got so bad for Jessica Gesele and her family, they abandoned their house in Miami. Looking at a black soot-covered silver ice bucket the family owns, Gesele says the drywall destroyed it. "It was beautiful. Never tarnished the seven years we had it, until we brought it here." Much worse though, is what she says the drywall is doing to her family's health. "It's just been a nightmare," she says. Her daughter has just been diagnosed with emphysema, a disease that usually afflicts long time smokers, and she's just 5-years-old. In tears, Gesele says, "You could replace my house. You could replace everything in it, but you can't replace your daughter." Attorney Jeremy Alters represents the family. "For the most part, I think the home has to be completely torn apart. Every piece of furniture you see in [the Gesele] house is contaminated with this gas. It has to be destroyed and thrown out." 20% of the Chinese drywall came from a company called Knauf. Ken Haldin, a spokesman for the company, insists it's safe. "Our independent tests have shown that there is no health risk." The company's assurances are little comfort to new mom, Jennifer Hilderbrand. Her 4-month-old daughter Olivia has had health problems almost since birth. Olivia's grandparents gave her a brand new silver music box when she was born, but since then it's turned almost completely black. The thought that the drywall might be causing her daughter's health problems is almost too much for Hilderbrand to bear. "It gives me anxiety and it makes me feel sometimes like maybe I'm not a good mother because we should be getting out of this house," says the emotional mom. "I'm not sure how to feel." Enough drywall has been imported from China since 2006 to build about 60,000 homes. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has launched an investigation.
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