Did you buy a house during the housing boom?  The drywall in your boom home may contain poisonous Chinese drywall.   Did you furnish that home with new furniture?   That furniture may contain Chinese chemicals that harm your skin!

It looks like the Chinese poison train continues to chug along the United States from coast to coast.  I made a vow to stop buying anything from China a while back and part of that strategy included not purchasing anything from Wal-Mart or anything with a label that reads, “Made in China” no matter how “cheap” the product is and this is the reason for it:

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.

Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people.

Shipping records reviewed by The Associated Press indicate that imports of potentially tainted Chinese building materials exceeded 500 million pounds during a four-year period of soaring home prices. The drywall may have been used in more than 100,000 homes, according to some estimates, including houses rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

“This is a traumatic problem of extraordinary proportions,” said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat who introduced a bill in the House calling for a temporary ban on the Chinese-made imports until more is known about their chemical makeup. Similar legislation has been proposed in the Senate.

The drywall apparently causes a chemical reaction that gives off a rotten-egg stench, which grows worse with heat and humidity.

Click here for full article.

AN unexplained rash could be a sign that your couch is making you sick.

A toxic fungicide in imported furniture is behind an outbreak of chronic dermatitis, skin burns, eye irritation and breathing difficulties across the world. Medical experts here are warning consumers to watch for symptoms.

The international journal Allergy has confirmed what thousands of British and mainland European citizens have known for more than a year: new leather sofas imported from China are a hotbed of allergens.

Click here for full article.

And if you’ll recall, China has sent over poisonous fish, toys, contaminated pet food, and many other items we’ve yet to truly know are poisonous.   Years later, the US government still lets poison through to the consumer from places like China and people don’t understand why their kids get sick or strange illnesses.   This is also part of the reason why I’m growing my own food in limited quantities for now.