Sulphur Drywall from China--USA Today story

[trish2]

More inferior products from China.  Seems they've been shipping batches of drywall that have a lot of sulfur in them.  The drywall is damaging  pipes in the walls  and creating a lot of other problems.   The full story is located in the Money section of USA Today, March 17, 2009  Below is the link, but if the link doesn't work you can get to it via USAtoday.com homepage.


http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-03-16-chinese-drywall-sulfur_N.htm

[bayview]

   We are getting close for drywall . . . Tahnks for the tip . . .

[Windpower]

If it corroding copper and turning it black is is probably a sufide

sulfides are very toxic (Hydrogen sulfide is about as poisonous as Cyanide gas)

Won't be long before all the nails or dry wall screws start popping either

[MountainDon]

I read about the problems in FL some time ago.

Another reason to buy American. Luckily we have a drywall pant right here with a mountain of gypsum nearby.


I wonder if the air samples were taken from the enclosed air spaces in the walls or in the rooms themselves?

[pagan]

In China they must not worry so much about the long term health effects if this sheetrock because they're eating poisoned food so they're probably not expected to live long enough to show any adverse health issues.

Sarcasm aside, this is just another example of a Chinese company trying to cut costs by using inferior and dangerous products. The Chinese government will most likely investigate this and then gain the confessions of a few company officers, who will then be taken out back and shot, and then the Chinese government will smile and claim this was an isolated case. Just like the lead paint on toys, and the baby formula that had absolutely no nutritional value, and the pet food that was poisoned. All of these were, I'm sure according to the Chinese government, isolated cases and have nothing in common.

[Redoverfarm]

Trish I saw this a couple months ago and posted in reference to that. I think the article was mainly in the FL area and probably should have been eliminated by now.  I think it is labled "Made in China"

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=6217.0

[glenn kangiser]

I talked to a professor in China about a year ago.  He said that the American companies are coming to China and partnering with them for a few years then they can operate on their own.  Same thing happened in Taiwan years ago.  No telling if it is real Chinese companies or our corporations trying to fatten their bottom line in some cases.

[pagan]

Glenn,

Is it even possible to figure out if the Chinese company making this drywall is partnered with an American company?

[glenn kangiser]

I don't know about that - possibly if the name brand was known.  It may be an entirely Chinese company but I just wanted to bring the point up that our corporations who lovingly take our jobs overseas are doing this.  Hopefully we can bail some of them out too.

[river place]

While it's easy to blame the Chinese not all companies make bad products.  The real problem comes down to importanting companies not developing real detailed requirements and eliminating test processes to reduce costs.

This has now led(not lead) to companies pushing through a law to eliminate lead in all products which is basically stopping all sales of ATV's for youngsters.  I'm sorry but my mom taught me not to eat bike parts.  Mattel imported products with no testing so now they help push through a law instead of fixing the problem by testing the products and developing requirements.

These harmful products came from the lowest contract manufacturer.  If you're going to move manufacturing overseas to reduce cost you better make sure the product is comparable.  Obviously a lesson lost on the bean counter managment.

[Redoverfarm]

Glenn,

Is it even possible to figure out if the Chinese company making this drywall is partnered with an American company?

From what I read in the article it was not just finished drywall products but also the import of the drywall material to drywall manufacturers in the US to make their drywall product.   

[pagan]

So if American companies are using imported materials that very well may be of inferior quality and outright dangerous, how do we know what we're getting is safe? Personally I see this as a result of executives trying to run their companies to make Wall Street bankers happy. It's all about the bottom line, increasing profits and market share at the cost of quality and safety for the consumers.

[fishing_guy]

For the most part, if it's made in America, there are various quality control tests run on it, so the companies know exactly what they are getting.
That was my job befor I got laid off.

You can bet USG is adding tests to determine the % sulpher in their raw materials as we speak.

[pagan]

True enough, they're all testing away like mad little monkeys now. But what about all of the sheetrock made over the last five or ten years?

[river place]

I bet they are testing now.  My point was that if the lowest bidding manufacturer is in the US or outside the US it's the responsibility of the importing company to make sure it's safe.  It's all too easy to blame off shore manufacturers.  When China labor become too expensive it'll move somewhere else but the problem remains.

RoHS is being required by a lot of companies in Europe and the US.  In the US this is not a requirement of the government but a requirement of some resellers to help insure the contents of a product are non toxic.  Some companies from China and elsewhere meet this requirement so it's not that they can't, it's up to the company selling the final product to require it.

As mentioned it can be like Wall St.  Go for the cheapest (most profit) without understanding the ramifications.