Yesterday members of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance met to discuss what to do about the hundreds of thousands of US homes poisoned by Chinese drywall. In the midst of a domestic drywall shortage in 2005, drywall imported from China to fill the gap turned out to full of toxic sulfur and magnesium particles which emit deadly gasses when exposed to humidity. One Florida environmental assessment company believes that the drywall particulates come from screens used to remove toxic pollutants from inside industrial chimneys in China that were “recycled” into its drywall. According to a report by the McClatchy Newspapers, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, a state with a huge number of now inhabitable homes, led the hearing that included representatives from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Office of Health Services. Homeowners in sixteen states have now reported a pervasive rotten egg smell, corroding wires, pipes and furniture, and serious health problems for the inhabitants. Fixing the problem requires stripping walls down to the studs and replacing not just the drywall, but other materials that the drywall has destroyed. Each repair is likely to cost upward of hundreds of thousands of dollars, not including the human health cost. Compounding the nightmare, many homeowners have had to abandon their homes and find other living arrangements. Most homeowners cannot afford two “homes” and are having to make the difficult choice of whether to discontinue mortgage payments on a toxic home and take the hit on their credit reports. Senator Nelson is calling for a total ban on Chinese drywall (if you can figure out why this hasn’t already happened, raise your hand) and federal assistance for repairs and alternative living arragnements. Congress should also consider legislation that would protect homeowners from negative credit reports if they were forced to abandon their homes – the value of which according to some homeowners – is zero. China recently told the Washington Zoo that it would like its Panda back. I suggest we give them the Panda just as soon as they pay for the damage caused by their toxic drywall.