Ten babies have died suddenly since January 2007 while living in base housing at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, prompting investigations into materials used to build homes. One home in particular may have been responsible for the deaths of three babies from different families who lived there from 2008 to 2009. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has conducted tests at the house, as well as at another home where an infant died this year of unknown causes.

 

Military investigators visited one of the homes and tested the drywall and carpeting. Results showed the samples contained toxic drywall from China, which is known to emit harmful sulfur gases. However, subsequent testing at the home reportedly found no traces of the imported building material.

 

Picerne Military Housing, a private company, received the contract to renovate housing at Fort Bragg seven years ago and to build new structures. Three of the houses where infants died were newly-built, three were renovated with new drywall and flooring, and three more had cosmetic renovations. Both of the houses visited by the CPSC were built after 2005.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Federal Investigator Testing Bragg Home Where Babies Died (by Mike Hixenbaugh, Fayetteville Observer)

Ft. Bragg Investigates Infant Deaths (by David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times)

Observer Analysis: Baby Deaths in Military Towns Rise (by Mike Hixenbaugh, Fayetteville Observer)