Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in National Underwriter, P&C.

The latest government study on Chinese drywall has revealed a "strong association" between the drywall and corrosion in homes that may physically irritate their residents.

Government agencies, collectively called the "Interagency Drywall Task Force," have been studying homes containing Chinese drywall after homeowners reported health problems and structural degradation after living in homes that used Chinese drywall from 2004-2007, when domestic drywall was in short supply.

Drywall building material, also called wallboard, gypsum board and plasterboard, is made of a flat sheet of gypsum covered on both sides with a thin layer of cardboard. It goes by such brand names as Sheetrock, Tablaroca, Gyprock and ToughRock.

A previous government study found no direct linkage between the drywall and the reported health problems and/or degradation.

But the most recent study released today–a 51-home study contracted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and done by Massachusetts-based Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E)–found a linkage between the Chinese drywall, the level of hydrogen sulfide in homes with the drywall, and the corrosion of metal components in the homes.

The report states, "The two preliminary studies of corrosion of metal components, taken from homes containing the problem drywall, found copper sulfide in the initial samples tested, which supports the finding of an association between hydrogen sulfide and the corrosion."

CPSC noted that it has not yet been determined how the hydrogen sulfide gas is being created in homes built with Chinese drywall, but the hydrogen sulfide gas is the essential component that causes copper and silver sulfide corrosion found in the complaint homes.

Regarding health problems reported in the homes, the study states, "While the study of 51 homes detected hydrogen sulfide and formaldehyde in homes containing the problem drywall at concentrations below irritant levels, it is possible that the additive or synergistic effects of these and other compounds in the subject homes could cause irritant effects."

It added that investigations are continuing.

CPSC said that now that the corrosion association has been identified, the Interagency Drywall Task Force "can now move forward to develop protocols that will identify homes with this corrosive environment and can determine the effectiveness of remediation methods."

CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said, "We now have the science that enables the task force to move ahead to the next phase – to develop both a screening process and effective remediation methods. Ongoing studies will examine health and safety effects, but we are now ready to get to work fixing this problem."

At the same time, Louisiana Insurance Commissioner James Donelon held a press conference to announce that the state's insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., will offer a policy to owners of property that has been vacated due to Chinese drywall problems. He said insurers have been non-renewing or cancelling the policies because the property is considered vacant.

Commissioner Donelon said these new policies may not have all the "whistles and bells" that standard homeowner policies might have, but they will offer protection at the same or cheaper rates, and satisfy the requirements of lenders to prevent foreclosures.

Commissioner Donelon also noted that, unique to the state of Louisiana, if a policyholder has been covered by a homeowners insurer for more than three years, the policy can't be non-renewed or cancelled for reporting a problem such as Chinese drywall.

Phil Gusman is associate editor of National Underwriter, part of Summit Business Media's P&C Magazine Group, which includes Claims.

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