Stand and Seal Health Problems

[Bill Vincent]

Here's the link:


cbs4denver.com - CBS4 Investigates Issues With Tile Grout Sealant

[HeresJohnny]

Bill

This link is not working.

[Bud Cline]

HeresJohnny,

I edited that link so it should be working now - try it again.

[HeresJohnny]

Thanks Bud

I've tried to stay up to date on this. Besides the fact that this stuff is killing people I cant believe for a second that this stuff that "harmlessly evaporates" does anything to seal tile or grout. It is a scam for the unsuspecting diyer who doesnt know any better. Hopefully more news coverage and some good attorneys will finally get this killer crap off the shelves.

[TFP Admin]

Unregistered said Here is a quote from the article last night from cbs news 4 Denver.... "I'm still alive," Walker said. "At times I wish I had died because I can't do anything in my life I used to be able to do." "If I could get my hands on the people who did this I wouldn't have to worry about the rest of my life because they would be taking me to jail," Walker said. Sorry Mr. Walker, but I'm first. I have said this since finding out about all of this. I would LOVE to meet these people.

Unregistered visitor: please register and log in so that your important messages will not be delayed in getting posted for all to see. Guest posting is allowed, but must be manually approved before they become visible to all. This is not the case for members.

Thank you for your information and participation here.

For all: This issue deserves to remain on the top of the list, so I have "stickied" it.

[HeresJohnny]

TFP Admin

It may also be a good idea to cut and paste this whole article into this tread so that it remains here long after the link is gone. Just my 2 cents.

[dkpbxman]

Here's the link:

cbs4denver.com - CBS4 Investigates Issues With Tile Grout Sealant


Oops,sorry-didn't see it had already been posted

[Bud Cline]

Back when this first started I personally contacted the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and what did they do? They mailed me a form to fill out and mail back to them. I also emailed Home Depot's home office as well as my local Home Depot Store. Did I even get as much as a courtesy "Thank You we recieved your email" from them. Nope, I didn't get a damned thing from either of them.

This is unbelievable that these huge companies can cause this type of injury and continue to get away with it.

Just today I have emailed local television stations to direct them to the Denver CBS Affiliate that has payed attention and is trying to notify their viewing public. I don't know if my locals will respond or not.

Maybe everyone reading this should take a few minutes and email all the TV stations in their area and direct them to the Denver TV station link. It will only take you a few seconds and it may save a life.

Bill Vincent I think has a whole string of links on this subject. If he would post the string we could then use it to send a second email to the TV affiliates and try to slap them into a response and get the public notified.

Here's the Denver link one more time. Please contact your local TV Staions now.

cbs4denver.com - CBS4 Investigates Issues With Tile Grout Sealant

[Bill Vincent]

Actually, the news links remain active for a long time. I know the links from the original story that CBS ran last year are still active. As for the list of links that Bud spoke of, I could give them to you all in one link:

John Bridge Ceramic Tile Forums - A Warning About Stand and Spray Sealer

Just about every link from when this all first came to light can be found in the thread above at John's place. The Consumer Product Safety Commision recall link. The original threads at floors transformed (which is actually where everything first began). The news story that Rick Sallinger originally ran. The report another television station in San Antonio ran. Shawn's SnS website. EVERYTHING-- it's all there.

Jim-- Thank you very much for making this a "sticky" thread.

Oh-- and Bud-- thanks for fixing the link. I posted that to about 8 forums this morning before I found out it wasn't working. I thought I'd gone back and gotten em all!! Thanks for watching my back!!

[TFP Admin]

HeresJohnny said TFP Admin It may also be a good idea to cut and paste this whole article into this tread so that it remains here long after the link is gone. Just my 2 cents.

Hi Johnny,

We are strict about copyright law and posting that article would be a violation. Excerpts and links are fine, but we can't quote the whole article.

Thank you for understanding.

[Bill Vincent]

Well, I'll see what I can do about that!! It just so happens I know Rick Sallinger. I'll shoot him an email.

[Bill Vincent]

Here's part 2 of the follow up:

cbs4denver.com - Tile Grout Sealant Case May Be Reopened

[Bill Vincent]

With permission from Rick Sallinger, here's the first of the two reports:

CBS4 Investigates Issues With Tile Grout Sealant
Contact reporter Rick Sallinger at rsallinger@cbs.com

Rick Sallinger
Reporting

(CBS4) DENVER A home improvement product sold at Home Depot has changed the lives of perhaps thousands of people forever. The reports of people becoming seriously ill, after using a product called Tile Perfect Stand 'n Seal, first surfaced in Colorado last year.

CBS4’s investigative team has obtained internal company documents from the makers of the product that suggest a cover-up.

A simple spray left Paula Manayan and her two boys crying, vomiting and gasping for air.

She had used Stand 'n Seal on the floors in her Corpus Christi, Texas home. Doctors told them the inside of her lungs and throat were chemically burned.

"It's very scary for me and I really want to find out what is in this product and what long term affects it is going to have," Manayan said. "It's been a tough year and I think from a mother's standpoint I'm fearful of what's it's done to my children. We don't know what this product has done to us."

The Mayayans are not alone. Many Stand 'n Seal users across America told CBS4 they're suffering the effects.

Tyler Himmelman of Evergreen is still undergoing respiratory therapy. Ted Saiki of Thornton has breathing problems and so does Jim Weltzheimer of Steamboat Springs.

Valerie Remington of Monument said she also has short term memory loss.

"Occasionally I have trouble remembering my phone number and every now and then I have trouble remembering my address," Remington said.

Now internal documents CBS4 has examined from the makers of the product raise the question ... why weren't people warned?

New information shows that in March of last year, an ingredient in the product was changed.

By mid-May, calls were coming in to the Rocky Mountain Poison Center about people being rushed to emergency rooms.

About 2 months later, an e-mail from Stand 'n Seal's CEO of the manufacturer Roanoke said "We're doing everything to convince Home Depot that there is no reason to take these batches off the shelf."

The next day he wrote another one saying "too many consumers have been hospitalized" and the company quietly ordered 300,000 cans of the product removed.

But it was not until Aug. 31, which was 4 months after the first reports of illnesses, that any kind of public warning was issued to anyone who may have been using it or still had it on their shelves.

It proved to be too late for Mike Walker of Gilbert, Arizona. He now uses oxygen regularly after collapsing in a coughing fit while using Stand 'n Seal.

"I'm still alive," Walker said. "At times I wish I had died because I can't do anything in my life I used to be able to do."

Attorney Scott Callahan represents about 200 Stand 'n Seal users who said they became ill.

"They should have pulled the product immediately, they should have notified the Consumer Product Safety Commission, they should have disclosed the exact formula to the poison control centers and to the emergency rooms that were calling in," Callahan said. "That's what they should have done, but it wasn't."

On the product's can it said "evaporates harmlessly."

There was no warning to use a respirator but that's what documents filed with the government advised when the product was created. The formula and warnings have since been changed.

The company claims people became ill only because a odor to prevent someone from using too much was left out of some batches.

Regardless, Walker wants to know why customers like him weren't warned.

"If I could get my hands on the people who did this I wouldn't have to worry about the rest of my life because they would be taking me to jail," Walker said.

* * *

Roanoke, now known as BRTT, Inc. released a statement to CBS4:

With approval from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in late August of 2005 we voluntarily recalled a small number of production batches of Stand 'N Seal that were made by SLR, Inc., a contract manufacturer.

As filed in court documents, the product production records and samples revealed that SLR changed a material supplier and began using a different active ingredient. This unapproved change in raw materials produced product that lacked the strong odor that was part of the original formula, and that warns users to avoid breathing vapors. SLR did not inform or seek approval from us at any time prior to implementing the change.

Upon learning of the unapproved change in formulation, we immediately stopped production, separated and held affected inventory, promptly notified the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and undertook a voluntary recall.

Working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, we publicized the recall and addressed consumer concerns. All affected product has been removed from stores.

We cannot provide further comment due to pending litigation.

* * *

Related Stories:
Family Says Father Died After Using Tile Sealant
Tile Sealant Makers Warned Builders, Not Consumers
CBS4 Investigates Tile Sealant Recall
Poison Center Gets Nearly 60 Calls From Tile Seal

(© MMVI CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

[Bill Vincent]

With permission from Rick Sallinger, here's the second report:

Nov 10, 2006 7:19 pm US/Mountain
Tile Grout Sealant Case May Be Reopened
Contact reporter Rick Sallinger at rsallinger@cbs.com

Rick Sallinger
Reporting

(CBS4) DENVER The Consumer Product Safety Commission is being asked to reopen a case involving a home improvement product believed to have caused adverse health affects. About 300,000 cans of the product were recalled last year.

The aerosol grout sealer called "Tile Perfect Stand 'n Seal" was the subject of a CBS4 investigation which revealed many consumers became sick after using the product.

Vaneasia Willard of Texakana, Texas used Tile Perfect Stand 'n Seal on her kitchen floor in September of 2005. Over a year later, she regrets ever using the product.

"I was getting sick to my stomach, nausea from choking," she said.

Willard said the coughing was bad enough but then her doctor told her she had pulmonary hypertension and gave her about 5 years to live.

CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger asked Willard what it's done to her life.

"It's changed it," she said. "I'm not able to enjoy life like I used to."

Willard's prognosis has improved since her doctor's initial estimate of 5 years.

Roanoke, the makers of the product now known as BRTT, said an unauthorized formula change is to blame for making its user sick.

They said all the bad batches of the product were removed from the shelves of its exclusive seller, Home Depot, by August 6 of last year.

Willard bought her cans a month after the recall but she still ended up in the emergency room.

The manufacturer blamed the problem on a contractor who changed the formula leaving out an odor designed to warn customers of overuse.

Valerie Remington of Monument also ended up in the hospital after using cans of Stand 'n Seal that were not included in the recall cans that should have had the caveat odor.

"Did the odor overwhelm you and tell you to stop?" Remington asked. "No, it didn't. It wasn't overwhelming at all… and you get sick anyway… I did."

The Contractor, SLR doing business as Easycare Products of Phoenix, is now being engaged in a bitter lawsuit with Stand 'n Seal manufacturer Roanoke.

Court documents show Easycare blames Roanoke, claiming, "(Roanoke) covered up the problem, encouraged us to do nothing and mislabeled the product."

The label Easycare takes issue with touted the claim "evaporates harmlessly."

Once the original Stand 'n Seal chemical formula was restored, the complaints stopped, which makes toxicologist Dr.David Gilmore suspect a connection.

"That does make one suspicious that there is a relationship between the substituted ingredient and the illness," Gilmore said.

A Stand 'n Seal company official tested the product in the company washrooms, and, like Willard and Remington, reported getting ill. To that report, the Roanoke CEO replied in an e-mail, "Please instruct us where to send the body the test is complete."

Houston attorney Scott Callahan said the product shouldn't have been permitted to remain on the shelves after medical emergencies were first reported.

"It's just a disregard for public safety, public health, it absolutely should not have been allowed," Callahan said.

Callahan said the ingredient that was substituted clearly states, "Do Not Aerosolize."

Roanoke blames contractor SLR for the problems.

"Upon learning of the unapproved change in formulation, we immediately stopped production, separated and held affected inventory, promptly notified the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and undertook a voluntary recall," Roanoke said in a statement.

SLR didn't respond to CBS4 phone calls and e-mails.

Stand 'n Seal is still sold in Home Depot stores, but without the ingredient that allegedly caused people across America to end up in hospitals.

Additional Resources

* Check list of batch numbers of recalled cans.

* * *

Related Stories:
CBS4 Investigates Issues With Tile Grout Sealant
Family Says Father Died After Using Tile Sealant
Tile Sealant Makers Warned Builders, Not Consumers
CBS4 Investigates Tile Sealant Recall
Poison Center Gets Nearly 60 Calls From Tile Seal

(© MMVI CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

[Bud Cline]

Keep in mind that Roanoke Companies is also behind some other allegedly faulty products that we (Floorstransformed) have received many complaints about. In those cases there were no apparent health hazards reported but none the less the products didn't perform as labeled.

When all of these reports began to crop up the management of Roanoke Companies showed up trying to defend the products. Simultaneouly, each time a legitimate complaint would arrive it would only be hours until someone else (unknown to anyone on the forums) would show up praising the very same products and their performance. Seems that for every post of a complaint there was a post of praise. We always suspected these praises were in fact bogus and being posted by the management at Roanoke. There were just too many coincidence statements. The Roanoke manager seemed to excuse the incidents of injury with the Stand and Seal product and poo-poo the idea that these alleged victims had any problems as a result of using the product.

In the above report there are statements contained therein that have been made by who I assume is this same Roanoke manager that appeared on the Floorstransformed site.

In the following statement from the above report:

"A Stand ‘n Seal company official tested the product in the company washrooms, and, like Willard and Remington, reported getting ill."

The report goes on to quote the company official:

"To that report, the Roanoke CEO replied in an e-mail, “Please instruct us where to send the body the test is complete.”

Now I ask you! What the hell is going on in the mind of this CEO that has caused him to take these issues so lightly throughout this entire fiasco? Pretty funny stuff huh? NOT!!!

That company appears to be OK with deceit and placing bogus products on the market that do not deliver as advertised. The other products such as their tile grout and their premixed thinset tile adhesive have been dismal failures in the hands of the public as far as I can see from complaints and reports on all of the forum websites relating to ceramic tile and DIY's.

Something else to consider is that Home Depot, who has remained silent throughout, is equally to blame for deceiving the buying public. To date, all of these products remain on Home Depot shelves as far as I know.

Have I misunderstood something?