Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) have filed legislation aimed at initiating a recall of tainted drywall from China. The senators represent states where tons of the drywall has been used. In Florida an estimated 36,000 homes are believed to contain Chinese-made drywall.  And in Louisiana the drywall was used in post-Hurricane Katrina construction. It’s believed that between 60,000 and 100,000 homes nationwide may contain tainted drywall.

As we wrote earlier, homeowners have complained that the drywall emits a foul odor and that it causes appliances and electronics to become corroded and fail. Homeowners have also complained of headaches and respiratory problems.

The proposed legislation would press the Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall the Chinese-made drywall and asks the CPSC to work with federal testing labs and the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the level of hazard posed by certain chemicals and as yet unidentified organic compounds in the drywall. It also calls on the CPSC to issue an interim ban on such imports until it can create a federal drywall safety standard.

“This Chinese drywall represents an attack on our homeowners, a defrauding of our home builders and another obstacle on our road to recovery,”  Landrieu said in a printed statement.  “The Consumer Product Safety Commission should have been the first line of defense in preventing this inferior product from entering the U.S. market in the first place."

“Anytime you have mounting evidence of potentially toxic goods you have an obligation to act quickly to protect consumers,” Nelson added.