By Phil Taylor.
From Great Wall to drywall – China has been making headlines in the US for the wrong reasons recently. Around 18 months ago, court cases involving an apparently defective building material began to appear across the US, and the litigation shows no sign of slowing down. The subject of the cases is drywall – a material used all over the world to construct interior walls, and also known as plasterboard, wallboard or Sheetrock – and more specifically, drywall imported from China.
US litigation started after people who had built new homes, or renovated existing houses, began noticing problems including foul smells and corrosion of metal fixtures and electrical wiring. Many of the new houses were built after Hurricane Katrina hit the southern part of the US, creating very high demand for building materials. US suppliers were then forced to import drywall from China.
Accounts of what caused the problems with...
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