Group believes buildings built with tainted drywall

A watchdog group claims that homes all over the country, including thousands in Phoenix and Tucson, may have been built with tainted drywall.

"America's Watchdog" says the drywall may contain gypsum mined near Chinese toxic waste dumps.

"We think the drywall is made of gypsum, which is a naturally occurring product mined in China," said Thomas Martin with the group. "But unlike U.S. manufacturers, the Chinese never cleanse the gypsum."

Martin says the contamination isn't limited to only residential homes. Most of the houses were built after 2001.

"Some of the mid to high-rise buildings that have been built during the real estate boom I think we're discovering now also have this very problematic dry wall in it," said Martin.

There are three signs that indicate a property might have used the tainted drywall: A rotten egg (or sulfuric) smell, degraded air conditioner coils and electrical wires that have turned black or corroded.

Air conditioner coils generally last 15 to 20 years, but in the case of contaminated buildings, they can go bad within six months.

People living in homes in Florida and other states have complained of nosebleeds and upper respiratory conditions.

The group will be sending environmental teams to Phoenix next week after it received similar complaints from homeowners.

Martin believes the homes will need to be bulldozed.

"It's going to rip apart people's lives, cost billions and billions and billions of dollars to fix, and our biggest concern right now are the health issues."

The Central Arizona Homebuilders Association and the Arizona Health Department have not returned calls for comment. Two weeks ago, the health department said they'd not heard of any cases here.

On the Net:

• americaswatchdog.com