WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The federal government said today it found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners during the past year.

In its second report on the potentially defective building materials, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said its investigation also has found a "possible" link between health problems reported by homeowners and higher-than-normal levels of hydrogen sulfide gas emitted from the wallboard coupled with formaldehyde, which is commonly found in new houses.

"We can say that we believe that there's a number of different chemicals that when brought together can be related to some of these irritant health effects that we've been getting reports of," said safety commission spokesman Scott Wolfson. "But we're still working toward that exact nexus."

The commission said it can now move forward with additional studies to identify effective remediation of the problem and potential assistance from the federal government. However, Warren Friedman of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it's too soon to discuss specifics of any financial assistance homeowners could get.

The CPSC has spent more than $3.5 million on the studies, and has received more than 2,000 homeowner complaints from 32 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, in what is now the largest consumer product investigation in U.S. history. Most of the complaints have come from Florida, Louisiana and Virginia.