New Chinese drywall worry: Radiation

The latest concerns about Chinese drywall focus on reports that radioactive substances may have been included in the imported product. The Los Angeles Times ran an investigative story Tuesday, revealing that phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of phosphate fertilizer production, is commonly used in some Chinese-made drywall. Phosphogypsum is found in abundance in Florida, where the bulk of Chinese drywall complaints have been logged. A white powdery substance, it is piled along the highways of Central Florida’s Bone Valley-Fort Meade area, where fertilizer is made. It is different from normal gypsum, a mineral-like substance that can come from mines or as a residue from coal-fired power plant air pollution scrubbers. But, phosphogypsum is banned as a building product in drywall in the U.S. So far, limited tests by state and federal authorities have not found it in any problem drywall.

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