According to a story in today’s Miami Herald, a Miami distributor of drywall knew that it had received defective Chinese drywall four years ago. After contractors complained to Banner Supply of Miami, the Chinese drywall manufacturer agreed to replace the contaminated drywall with American made product. However, Banner never disclosed the defect allowing contractors to continue to use the drywall unaware of the hazardous defect in the Chinese drywall. The agreement between Chinese drywall company and Banner remain under court seal and are not available to the public.
Federal agencies have confirmed that the tainted drywall does indeed cause corrosion of electrical fixtures and household appliances. Human health dangers are still under investigation.
According to Scott Wolfson of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, such safety hazards in building materials must be disclosed to the public.
“That reporting obligation becomes effective when you have a violation of a safety standard — information that the product could or does pose a substantial product hazard or that a consumer would face an unreasonable risk of injury from the product,” Wolfson said.