http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/pressure_treated_wood Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:51:40 -0800 pixel-app en http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11449 Sun, 05 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11449
Through the years, EWG has been in the forefront of the fight against dangerous toxins unleashed on the environment by various industries.

The group has been particularly involved with efforts to ban or significantly restrict such toxins and contaminates as: PFOA (Teflon-related chemical); Zonyl; asbestos; arsenic-treated wood; dangerous pesticides; potentially dangerous ingredients in cosmetics; MTBE; mercury; and perchlorate.

On July 14, 2005, EWG published its comprehensive and critically acclaimed “benchmark investigation of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord blood.” (http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php).

Thus, the organization’s concern over what is a looming environmental and public health crisis involving perchlorate contamination deserves to be disseminated in as broad a manner as possible. To that end, and as a public service, newsinferno.com is reproducing the EFG’s call for the immediate release of an alarming study involving that extremely dangerous toxic chemical.

(http://www.ewg.org/issues/perchlorate/20060303/index.php)

“WASHINGTON, March 3 - Following a published report that the Bush Administration is holding up a study that shows most Americans carry a toxic rocket fuel chemical in their bodies at levels close to federal safety limits, Environmental Working Group (EWG) is calling for the immediate release of the study so EPA and state agencies can take steps to protect the public.

Risk Policy Report, an independent newsletter, reported Feb. 28 that the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy is pressuring the Centers for Disease Control to delay the release of a study that tested for perchlorate in human blood samples from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). An EPA source told the newsletter that CDC has found levels of perchlorate that "leave no margin of safety" for the public, compared to EPA's current risk limit.

Perchlorate, the explosive ingredient in solid rocket fuel, has contaminated drinking water and soil in at least 35 states, with most of the known contamination coming from military bases and defense contractors. Tests by EWG, academic scientists in Texas and Arizona, state officials in California and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have found perchlorate in milk, produce and many other foods and animal feed crops from coast to coast. Perchlorate is a thyroid toxin, and animal tests show that even small amounts can disrupt normal growth and development in fetuses, infants and children.

The NHANES study is a followup to a CDC study last year that found perchlorate in the urine of every one of 61 Atlanta residents tested, even though concentrations of perchlorate in the city's drinking water are very low. Last year, scientists at Texas Tech University also found perchlorate in every sample of human milk from 36 mothers.

In a letter to Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles said the results of the study of Atlanta residents "indicate that food is likely a major source of perchlorate exposure, and that perchlorate exposure is likely to be widespread in the general population."

Although the EPA has no timetable for developing a national drinking water standard for perchlorate, both Massachusetts and California are moving forward with their own safety standards. The proposed standards 1 part per billion in Massachusetts and 6 ppb in California are far below EPA's recently adopted risk limit of 24.5 ppb, which is a level used as a guidance for cleaning up perchlorate- contaminated sites. When the EPA announced the risk limit, it acknowledged the need for "national guidance on relative source contribution" exactly the information the NHANES data could provide.

"In the absence of national safety standards, the CDC should not be sitting on data so clearly needed to protect the public from a chemical that appears to be widespread in drinking water and food," wrote Wiles. "The NHANES perchlorate data should be released immediately."
EWG sent the following letter to the CDC director on March 2.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director
Centers for Disease Control
1600 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30333

Dear Dr. Gerberding:

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a not-for-profit watchdog organization that works to protect environmental and public health as well as scientific integrity. Since 2000, we have extensively studied perchlorate contamination of the nation's food and drinking water. We have documented widespread water and soil contamination, conducted groundbreaking tests that found perchlorate in supermarket produce and milk, and have repeatedly called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a national drinking water standard that fully protects fetuses, children and other sensitive populations, and adequately considers all potential sources of exposure.

We were awaiting with great interest the results of CDC's project to analyze National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) samples for perchlorate. As the first phase of that work, CDC tested for perchlorate in the urine of 61 Atlanta residents. The results, published last year in Analytical Chemistry, found perchlorate in the urine of each person tested, even though concentrations of perchlorate in the city's drinking water are very low (about 0.2 parts per billion). These findings are important because they indicate that food is likely a major source of perchlorate exposure, and that perchlorate exposure is likely to be widespread in the general population.

The Atlanta tests were not the only recent signs that prompt action is called for to protect the public. Last year, scientists at Texas Tech University reported finding perchlorate in human milk from 36 mothers at levels up to 92 parts per billion. In January, the EPA issued a new perchlorate cleanup guidance instructing risk assessors to base exposure "contributions from non-water sources" on "site-specific data until further national guidance on relative source contribution is developed." The EPA, state environmental agencies and the public need more information on perchlorate exposure levels exactly the data that CDC's NHANES study was designed to provide.

Consequently, we were alarmed and dismayed to read in Risk Policy Report (Feb. 28) the article "Stalled CDC Study Shows Human Perchlorate Levels Near EPA Safety Limits:"

dmark biomonitoring research conducted by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) that shows most Americans carry perchlorate in their bodies at levels close to safety limits set by EPA, according to EPA and other government health officials.

The article reports that the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy has pressured the CDC to delaying its release of the NHANES perchlorate study. The study is said to have been completed last fall, and according to an unnamed Food and Drug Administration official, the exposure levels found in the study are close to EPA's current risk limit of 24.5 parts per billion perchlorate in drinking water. This EPA risk limit, which is not an enforceable safety standard, is of course well above the 1 ppb level that is being considered by Massachusetts and the 6 ppb Public Health Goal adopted by California. This is all the more troubling if, as an EPA source told Risk Policy Report, "EPA's current perchlorate policies leave no margin of safety" for the public.

This is unacceptable. In the absence of national safety standards, the CDC should not be sitting on data so clearly needed to protect the public from a chemical that appears to be widespread in drinking water and food. The NHANES perchlorate data should be released immediately.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Richard Wiles, Senior Vice President
Environmental Working Group]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8431 Sun, 15 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8431 Pressure-treated wood at 7 of 20 play areas tested positive for arsenic at levels above what experts consider safe, and two others had lesser levels of the cancer-causing chemical.

The highest reading 316.6 micrograms, from a jungle-gym plank at the Wild West Playground on West 93rd Street translates to about a 1-in-500 lifetime risk of lung or bladder cancer for kids who play there three hours a week from ages 1 through 6, the test showed.

The arsenic was detected despite claims by the city's Parks Department that it regularly coats wood playsets with paint or polyurethane to stop arsenic from oozing out.

"It's a routine task," said Deputy Parks Commissioner Liam Kavanagh, who said seven inspectors perform 110 visits a week to city parks for check-ups.

But the department which has removed some pressure-treated wood in playgrounds and says it will eventually phase it out completely does not test for arsenic.

Kavanagh expressed alarm at The Post's results.

"Obviously, you're going to be concerned about it," he said.

At the Diana Ross Playground on West 81st Street, a polyurethane sealant had been rubbed off many of the planks.

A ladder and climbing bar there tested negative, but a bench and a sandbox rail showed signs of arsenic, which is used to make wood last longer but has raised health concerns.

The rail's reading of 8.6 micrograms translates to more than a 1-in-10,000 lifetime risk for lung and bladder cancer, according to the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina, which did the tests for The Post.

The Environmental Protection Agency says no product should have a cancer risk of greater than 1 in 1 million. For arsenic, that means a reading of .077 micrograms.

But most experts agree that some risk is acceptable and that seven micrograms is the threshold for danger.

The Post's results shocked Manhattan mom Chris Greeno, who brings sons Jake, 6, and John, 3, to the Wild West Playground.

"It's horrifying," she said. "Dangers to children are grossly underestimated."

The Post visited all 20 playgrounds in Central Park, five of which had no wood at all and were made instead of plastic composites, rubber or metal.

Of the 12 playgrounds where wood was tested, only the Bernard and Rudin playgrounds and tables at the Pinetum swings showed no arsenic.

Readings for the others ranged from .4 to 316.6 micrograms per 100 square centimeters.

The second-highest readings came at Playground 96, where a climbing bar came in at 32.4 micrograms and a stepping block tested at 118.7, which equates to about a 1-in-1,500 lifetime cancer risk, according to the institute.

The Central Park results include "some of the highest tests we've seen," said Diane Morgan, institute lab manager.

Concerns about arsenic-treated wood have swept the nation in the past few years.

The toxic compound greatly reduces decay resulting from bugs and fungi but slowly oozes out for up to 20 years.

In a deal with the EPA, lumber firms agreed to stop producing the product this year, though it's still widely available.

New York state has banned its use in new playgrounds. Older structures must be sealed once a year.

Arsenic-treated wood is especially dangerous for kids as they often put their fingers in their]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8432 Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8432
Cancer risks were the furthest things from his mind. But reports of potential health threats posed by a chemical widely used in lumber treatment have given Webb and many others across the country cause for a second look at outdoor items long taken for granted.

"I assumed it would be safe or they wouldn't have sold it to me," said Webb, who lives near Mount Pleasant.

The Environmental Protection Agency withdrew approvals last year for production and sale of most wood items treated with a chemical called copper chromated arsenate, or CCA. The arsenic-tinged compound had been used for generations to give rot- and bug-resistance to play sets, wooden patios and picnic tables, among other products. The EPA action, which left some agricultural and marine uses unaffected, followed years of debate about evidence that significant amounts of the arsenic-bearing chemical leak out of the wood.

CCA exposure poses a special risk for children who absorb the residue through their skin or mouths, according to the EPA and other agencies. Consumer Product Safety Commission studies calculated that children who play on CCA-treated wood have a two-in-a-million to 100-in-a-million extra lifetime risk of developing lung or bladder cancers. The EPA often sets a goal of no more than one-in-a-million extra risk of cancer for its health risk decisions.

Other reports have raised concern over long-term soil contamination around CCA-treated woods and threats posed by toxic fumes or soil pollution from burning or dumping the materials.

"While the agency has not concluded there is an unreasonable risk to the public from these products, EPA believes that any reduction in exposure to arsenic, a known human carcinogen, is desirable," the EPA said in a recently published strategy for assuring compliance with the product ban.

The same strategy suggests coating arsenic-treated wood with sealant paints once or twice a year to limit risks of exposure. More costly but less toxic chemicals have replaced CCA in most uses, but stores are allowed to sell remaining stocks. CCA-treated posts remain available in a few Delaware stores, according to a check of lumber outlets in the state.

"I never knew, never heard a word. I just went to the store and bought it," said Webb, who also has a treated wood deck. The deck sports a decorative coat of paint, while he has only pressure-washed the play set.

Most of the CCA wood is sold without labels or warnings, leaving Webb and most owners unable to confirm the presence of arsenic without sending samples away for laboratory tests.

Delayed action

Consumer and environmental groups said the EPA should have launched a campaign years ago to help consumers identify and properly manage CCA lumber. Arsenic levels found on a child's hand after it was wiped on a play set, for example, can have concentrations far in excess of those now allowed for public drinking water.

"As we see it, the EPA had over 20 years of information and should have taken action much sooner," said Shawnee Hoover of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, an environmental group. "What has resulted is the burden of risk and cleanup has shifted to the general public and every single local community that was unaware of the hazard while the EPA was aware."

Arsenic, a naturally occurring element, triggered ongoing, costly studies and cleanup efforts around Wilmington when it turned up in soils around the city that were tainted by chemicals from defunct leather tanneries. Arsenic also has turned up in slag from 19th-century industries used to fill hundreds of acres of marsh around Wilmington.

Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control describes CCA-treated wood as an "emerging issue" for solid- and hazardous-waste managers, but has not issued any testing requirements or restrictions on disposal. Nancy Marker, program manager for DNREC's solid- and hazardous-waste program, said federal officials have cautioned against grinding up CCA-treated wood for mulch because of pollution risks.

Removal from parks

The wooden sets are disappearing from public parks around the state, more often because of maintenance concerns than health warnings.

"We've just been phasing out wood; it got popular 20 years ago, but they didn't wear as well," said Stanley W. Kozicki, Wilmington's deputy director of parks and recreation.

Nonhazardous cedar wood was used in one of the three wooden sets remaining in Wilmington's 43 playgrounds, Kozicki said. He said he did not know what chemical was used to treat the other two. Plans already are under way to replace one of the two possible CCA-contaminated sets, at Cool Spring park. Another wood set at 13th and Claymont streets was replaced last month by a new steel set.

"There are probably many schoolyards and places around the country where this wood is still in use," said Lauren Sucher, spokeswoman for Environmental Working Group, an organization that has campaigned for a ban on the wood.

The EPA has said it considers wholesale removal of arsenic-treated wood products unwarranted, although the agency plans to ban the same materials from wetlands and marine environments on Dec. 31. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8164 Wed, 09 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8164
The federal Environmental Protection Agency recognized creosote's perils in 1978, announcing its intention to phase out the coal-derived preservative's required registration.

That was more than 200 years after London physician Percival Pott's ground-breaking discovery of high cancer rates among British men who cleaned soot from chimneys.

Yet despite those well-documented risks, coal-tar creosote has been a timber industry staple for the past century. Each year, 825 million pounds of creosote are used to protect telephone poles, marine pilings and most of the nation's countless miles of railroad ties from wood-boring pests and foul weather, according to industry estimates.

When mishandled, it seeps into soil and groundwater. Its fumes permeate the largely poor and rural neighborhoods surrounding wood treatment plants. And its toxic chemical cocktail leaves behind a legacy of suspicious illnesses and premature deaths.

"These chemicals have been known to be hazardous," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Washington-based Beyond Pesticides, one of more than a dozen advocacy groups suing the EPA in an effort to stop the use of creosote. "We have a national problem with these contamination sites."

Coal tar creosote and two related wood preservatives have been found in at least 100 current or former sites on the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List or state contamination lists.

An industry besieged

In the nation's capital, the efforts by a dozen environmental and organized labor groups to ban creosote are part of a larger strategy to curtail two other popular wood preservatives, chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, and pentachlorophenol. Each are licensed as pesticides.

A quarter-century ago, the EPA announced its intent to not renew the three pesticides' registration.

But in 1984, health considerations took a back seat to monetary ones: the agency ruled that the absence of "economically viable alternatives" outweighed the risk to human health even as it chastised the wood preserving industry for relying on "bad science" to bolster its case.

On Dec. 31, 2003, a voluntary industry phaseout of CCA a staple of wooden playground equipment and backyard picnic benches took effect, removing those treated products from the marketplace but not addressing wood treated prior to that date.

Now opponents of wood preservatives are asking the courts to follow suit on penta and creosote.

Citing the federal agency's own data from 20 years earlier, environmentalists have lobbied the EPA since 1997 to not renew the required registrations. Tired of what they called foot-dragging by EPA, a 15-group coalition of environmental and labor groups filed suit in December 2002.

They cited a ban put in place last year on the sale and consumer use of creosote by the then- 15-nation European Union. The EU also ordered creosote manufacturers to significantly reduce the amount of benzoapyrene found in the wood preservative.

Feldman and his colleagues arranged meetings between federal regulators and business owners who had developed alternatives to treated wood products, including composite railroad ties made of plastics and other synthetic materials.

And they submitted scientific data showing how creosote destroys the lungs, burns the skin, shuts down kidneys and travels through the placenta into an unborn child's tissue.

Wood preservative opponents also have railed against what they consider an excessively collegial rapport between the government regulators and the industry those bureaucrats are paid to regulate.

Creosote industry leaders point to their own, industry-funded research to rebut the claims that the wood preservative in use for more than 130 years isn't safe.

Direct pipeline to the EPA notwithstanding, the five American companies that manufacture creosote and the countless smaller businesses that use it to treat wood are in many ways on their heels.

Faced with financial woes caused by a steady stream of lawsuits over health problems linked to CCA-treated playground equipment, the American Wood Preservers Institute, a leading industry advocate, shut its doors in late 2002.

That same year industrial giant Kerr-McGee - one of a handful of American creosote manufacturers and owner of six wood treatment plants - announced it was getting out of the wood products business entirely. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8053 Sun, 16 May 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8053
The Environmental Protection Agency last fall warned that children regularly exposed to pressure-treated wood have a greater chance of cancer due to the arsenic-based preservative in the wood. A final study isn't due until this winter, but the initial report put the risk at 10 times the agency's usual limit for toxic chemicals.

The agency has not recommended that these decks and swing sets be torn down, and manufacturers insist the worries are overblown. But with billions of board-feet of treated lumber in back yards and playgrounds across the nation, parents and public officials have been left with questions.

"It's definitely a concern," said Christina Rau, a New Jersey mom with two daughters and a suddenly suspicious swing set in her back yard. "They're your children. You don't want anything to happen to them."

Until January, most wood used for outdoor and recreational purposes in the country was treated with chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, a preservative used to ward off insects, mildew, fungi and other attackers. Activists had pushed for years to stop the use of the chemical, for fear that arsenic was rubbing off wood, leaching into surrounding soil and ending up in children's bodies.

Bowing to public pressure, manufacturers finally agreed to stop using CCA as of last Dec. 31 and switched to preservatives thought to be less toxic.

But what about the arsenic-treated decks and swing sets in back yards? Government regulators, and even environmental activists, don't advise ripping out your deck or junking your play set. Instead, they say, regular staining or sealing of wood, and washing hands after touching it, should be enough of a safeguard.

CCA had been the preferred preservative for outdoor lumber for decades. The federal government first used it in the 1930s to treat wood pilings in a Missouri swamp, said Chris Hale, executive director of the Wood Preservative Science Council, an industry group. Seventy years later, the pilings are still standing.

Durable and cheap, pressure-treated wood became the standard for decks, playgrounds, stadium bleachers, picnic tables, fence posts, and landscaping. The wood mostly yellow pine in the eastern United States was processed in high-pressure chambers that forced the preservative into the core of the lumber.

But as evidence of arsenic's long-term dangers mounted in the '90s, pressure rose on manufacturers to stop using the compound. Chronic exposure to arsenic has been linked to bladder, lung and skin cancers; increased risk of diabetes; and other health problems.

Arsenic isn't absorbed readily through the skin, so simply touching a deck or climbing a jungle gym is no great concern, experts say. But children's hands inevitably end up in their mouths, taking the chemical with them. They touch a banister, then grab a hamburger. Adults can be exposed, but children, still developing and more susceptible to smaller doses, are more vulnerable.

Studies have also found higher arsenic levels in dirt around CCA-treated wood, prompting concerns about tainted playground soil and arsenic-tinged tomatoes from backyard gardens. Last fall, Massachusetts researchers found arsenic levels above state limits at 10 Boston playgrounds. City officials promised to remove dirt and lumber from the three most contaminated spots.

While research shows arsenic doesn't travel beyond a foot or two in soil, the EPA recommends against using treated lumber to create raised vegetable gardens.

Four studies found varying effects of exposure to arsenic-treated wood from one extra case of skin cancer among 1 million people to 2000 additional lung and bladder cancers per million.

At the EPA, preliminary results of a study found CCA-treated wood may cause 10 additional cancers among 1 million children over their lifetimes, said David Deegan, a spokesman. The government typically raises concerns when chemicals cause more than one extra cancer in a million.

Toxicologists with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, put the additional cancers at between 2 and 100 per million, said spokesman Ken Giles.

There has never been an actual cancer case tied to exposure to arsenic in wood, Giles acknowledged. Still, he said, warnings are based on well-known effects of arsenic, the amounts that rub off wood and the rate at which children put hands in mouths.

Some CCA-treated wood is still available as the companies sell off their remaining stock.

The wood has a greenish tint when new, though that can fade over time. Pieces may be marked with a black stamp. If there's a doubt, it's safe to assume your playground or backyard lumber has the chemical, Giles said.

"We believe every wood playground built over the last 20 years used CCA-treated wood," he said.

For homeowners wondering about the wood in their back yard, what should be done depends on how much risk and uncertainty you can accept.

"It's a personal choice," said Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Working Group. "I would suggest that an unnecessary exposure to a human carcinogen is a choice that a lot of people would not make."

Hale, of the industry group, had a different take, blaming the phase-out of CCA on "hyperbolic nonsense" from environmentalists and trial lawyers.

"Any arsenic that might be associated with the wood preservative is so minuscule that it does not pose any health risk," he said.

The EPA agrees there's no "unacceptable" risk from leaving CCA-treated wood where it is, Deegan said. Still, the agency and the Consumer Products Safety Commission recommend washing children's hands after they touch the wood and not placing food on treated lumber.

The agencies have launched separate studies on the effectiveness of various stains and sealants at trapping the arsenic. Neither is complete, but Giles said other researchers have found that oil-based penetrating seals are better than water-based versions. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8054 Sat, 08 May 2004 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8054
Children chase each other through a wooden, castlelike tower and try to keep their balance while walking across wooden beams.

Built in 1995, Prairie Play, like many public and backyard play-sets, was made with lumber pressure-treated with a compound called CCA (chromium, copper and arsenic) in order to prevent rotting and insect infestation.

Following concerns that the arsenic could come out of the wood, the lumber industry decided to phase it out of production. And as of Jan. 1, lumber companies stopped manufacturing it for most residential uses, such as decks and playgrounds.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, exposure to the arsenic in the wood might increase a person's risk of developing lung or bladder cancer over a lifetime.

Risk levels depend on the amount of arsenic released from the wood, the amount picked up on hands, the number of days and years a child plays on the wood and the amount transferred to the mouth by hand-to-mouth activity, according to the commission.

Urbana parent Dawn Miller, who spent Thursday afternoon at Prairie Play with her 3-year-old son Lucas said she wasn't concerned.

"If it was that bad they'd tear it down and the city wouldn't let the kids play on it. Plus, they seal it every year," she said.

The compound's phase-out was announced in 2002, but many lumber stores and park districts have been moving away from it for several years.

"It's important the consuming public understands it was never banned. Concerns were raised by some groups," said Dawn Sands, spokeswoman for the hardware store Menards. "The industry moved away from it as a precautionary measure."

To prevent leaching of the arsenic, Urbana Park District staff apply a petroleum-based sealant annually to the playground equipment at Prairie Play. When wood pieces need to be replaced, the district replaces them with recycled plastic lumber.
"This is something we've known about for years. There have been studies indicating it might be a good idea to move away from the product," said Dana Mancuso, marketing coordinator with the district.

Three Urbana playgrounds that were made with CCA-treated wood at Blair, Carle and Wheatfield parks are not coated with a sealant.

"Those three are on the list of playgrounds that need to be replaced as funds become available," Mancuso said.

Mancuso recommended people who use these playgrounds follow general precautions, such as washing their hands.
In addition to the recommendation of washing hands, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said people should not put food directly on the wood surfaces.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not recommend consumers remove any of their decks or playgrounds that were built with the treated lumber. Consumers can, however, apply an oil-based or semi-transparent coating to the wood every year.

The EPA and Consumer Product Safety Commission are studying a variety of coatings and sealants to determine how effective they are at reducing the amount of arsenic that comes out of the wood.
Some wood products that are not treated, such as redwood or cedar. These are not prone to rot, unlike pine, which is typically treated, Sands said. Because woods like redwood are pricier, most people use them for picnic tables or outdoor furniture, and not for construction uses, such as building a pole barn, Sands said.

Most of the lumber for sale in hardware stores is now treated with a nonarsenic compound called ammonium copper quaternary. This summer the Urbana Park District will install a boardwalk in Busey Woods made with lumber treated with that compound.

Another alternative compound now used to treat wood is copper boron azole.

Consumers and park districts can also replace treated lumber with recycled plastic.

"The only things we have that are pressure-treated in playgrounds are the timbers that border the equipment and contain the woodchips," said Terri Gibble, project planner with the Champaign Park District. "We have looked into using alternative resources for borders, including the recycled plastic."

Over the last 20 years all the wooden playgrounds in the parks owned and managed by the Champaign Park District have been replaced with steel or aluminum, she said.

Arsenic risk

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, exposure to the arsenic in lumber pressure-treated with a compound called CCA (chromium, copper and arsenic) might increase a person's risk of developing lung or bladder cancer over a lifetime.

Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not recommend consumers remove their decks or playgrounds that were built with the treated lumber, they can apply oil-based or semi-transparent coatings to the wood each year to help seal the arsenic in.

Officials also recommend washing hands after contact with the wood and advise consumers never to place food items on it.

Most of the lumber for sale in hardware stores is now treated with nonarsenic compounds called ammonium copper quaternary, or copper boron azole.

Treated lumber can also be replaced with recycled plastic.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7315 Tue, 30 Dec 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7315
Pressure-treated wood can be found in some 50 million American homes, but research has found that children who frequently played on structures made from this wood have a higher risk of getting cancer.

"What we found is a relatively small risk. Essentially, you're looking at numbers between two and 100 per million that would face an increased risk over their lifetime. We're primarily talking about an increased risk of lung and blood bladder cancer," said Eric Criss, with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Starting Dec. 31, production of chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, treated wood will be banned.

For the last two years, Stauffer's Lumber in Leola, Lancaster County, has been preparing for this day by producing the next generation of pressure-treated lumber with a new product called copper azole.

"In 2002 about 15 to 20 percent of our sales were the new chemical, copper azole natural select. In 2003, I'd say about 60 percent was the new chemical," said Rick Bare, with Stauffer & Sons.

Next year, all of its wood will all be treated with the new chemical. The old chemical, CCA, is arsenic based and considered a cancer risk.

"As of today, treaters like ourselves can no longer produce CCA to go to lumber dealers or home consumption basically," Bare said.

But the arsenic-treated wood can still be used to build boat docks, farm fences and highway signs. It just can't be used in or around homes.

Consumers wondering about old pressure treated lumber in and around your home to do need to replace it unless they intend to literally eat off the wood. If you do want to replace it, the new lumber will cost you 10 to 25 percent more.

The arsenic-treated wood that's on the market will stay on the market, but no more of it will be produced.

Just examine the lumber you're buying to find the difference.

"The lumber will have an end tag on it. If they look real close on it they'll see either CCA or the new chemical it'll say natural select," Bare said.

Manufacturers have produced enough of the arsenic-treated wood to keep it on the shelves for months.

If your children do play on any of the older pressure-treated wood surfaces, you should make sure they thoroughly wash their hands afterward.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7316 Mon, 29 Dec 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7316
There are concerns that children exposed to arsenic treated playground equipment could develop lung or bladder cancer.

Research shows that for every one million kids exposed to the treated wood during early childhood, two to one hundred of them could get sick.

Two years ago, the EPA and the wood treatment industry agreed to phase out the material. Wednesday at midnight is the deadline for removing the products from the market.

If you do own playground equipment built with CCA pressure treated wood, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is recommending that you wash your child's hands with soap and water after outdoor play and especially before eating. Likewise, children should be discouraged from eating while on CCA treated playgrounds. Children should also avoid hand to mouth contact while playing.

"Wet wood or freshly treated wood could present a problem to a child that would touch the wood and then put hands to his mouth," says Pharmacology Professor Dr. David Potter.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7317 Sun, 28 Dec 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7317
No one is ready for what comes next.

Federal officials have little advice for the 50 million homeowners who have pressure-treated wood structures. They don't want to suggest that all those porches and swing sets be torn down. But they haven't identified a sealant that will protect people from the wood's chemicals.

Meanwhile, producers of pressure-treated lumber are wrestling over how to meet the $4 billion-a-year demand for wood that resists rot and pests. An alternative treatment favored by some manufacturers is raising safety concerns and has yet to get federal approval despite heavy lobbying.

This isn't the smooth goodbye that was promised when federal regulators decided that one of America's favorite building products had to come off the market.

It's been almost two years since the Environmental Protection Agency struck a deal with the wood-treatment industry to phase out production of lumber permeated with chromated copper arsenate, or CCA. About 90% of all pressure-treated wood contains the arsenic-based compound. Industry experts estimate that 75 billion feet of CCA-treated boards are in use nationwide enough to stretch halfway around the world.

The 22-month phaseout ends Wednesday, though stores can sell remaining stocks after production ends.

The EPA said the phaseout was a way to "ensure that future exposures to arsenic are minimized," while giving producers time to move to alternative products.

Yet with the transition period about to end, CCA-treated lumber still dominates the market. And manufacturers have produced enough to keep it in stores for months.

The arsenic in CCA-treated wood is linked to bladder, liver and lung cancer. A draft EPA study issued last month found that the lifetime risk of an arsenic-related cancer for children who play frequently on CCA-treated structures could be as high as one in 100,000, 10 times the one-in-a-million threshold the agency usually considers to be a significant public health threat.

Consumer worries

Jay Feldman of the environmental group Beyond Pesticides says the phaseout left CCA-treated wood on the market too long: "The EPA was looking for a low-impact economic solution for manufacturers while putting the public health and environment at risk."

Manufacturers of CCA-treated wood say it contains too little arsenic to cause illness. After decades of production, they say, a phaseout was the only way to shift to a replacement product without destroying the industry.

When JoAnn Lemm heard in the spring of 2002 that CCA-treated lumber would be phased out, she opted not to wait. Lemm worried about the play set her daughter used in the yard of their home in Scottsdale, Ariz. Nearby shrubs were dying, and she suspected the treated wood. So she got a free arsenic test kit from the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization that had pushed for a ban on CCA-treated wood.

Soil from under the play set had arsenic levels about 50% higher than the EPA's cleanup standard for arsenic at Superfund pollution sites, according to Sean Gray, an Environmental Working Group analyst who reviewed the data.

"We said, 'That thing is outta here,' " Lemm recalls. She and her husband replaced it a month later.

The new play set is made from one of several plastic and composite products that are sold to replace or cover CCA-treated decks, play sets and fences. Lemm likes the way it looks and says, "The bushes have come back nicely."

Lemm followed the lead of many states and municipalities that have replaced CCA-treated picnic tables and playgrounds at public parks. But the costs can be high. Replacing an average backyard deck with a non-CCA product, whether it is a different wood or a substitute made of artificial materials, can cost upwards of $20,000. New plastic and composite materials available for sheathing CCA decking also can cost thousands to buy and install.

The EPA has not suggested that people replace or cover CCA-treated structures. Officials say the agency will stick with its advice that people especially children wash up after touching CCA-treated wood.

But the EPA's new CCA risk study is spurring calls for stronger statements on the wood's safety.

That study found that cancer risks are marginal for children who play occasionally on structures made of CCA-treated wood. But risks can be significant for those who use them frequently throughout the year. Children who put their hands in their mouths compound the risks.

Awaiting sealant study

The EPA says people who are concerned about CCA-treated decks and play sets should seal them regularly. But the agency hasn't delivered a promised study to assess which sealants work best or whether any work at all.

"It's a two-year study, and we're three months in, so we don't have a lot of data," says Jim Jones, director of the EPA's pesticide office, which regulates CCA.

Several big producers of pressure-treated lumber have decided to switch from CCA to a compound called alkaline copper quat, or ACQ. But some players in the treated-wood world want to use ACC, or acid copper chromate. ACC is legal, but it's not in production. And the EPA has not granted would-be manufacturers a "registration" to make it.

The EPA is concerned about the safety of ACC-treated wood because it comes off productionlines containing a form of chromium that also can cause cancer. The chromium subsequently converts to a non-hazardous state, but there's debate over whether that takes a few weeks or a few months.

Citing potential risks, EPA staff recommended this year that no new registrations be granted for ACC production. But the decision was held up after EPA Deputy Administrator Stephen Johnson met at the White House last month with former Senate majority leader Bob Dole, who is lobbying for a company seeking an ACC registration. Now, the EPA is reassessing the compound.

"There's a legal process for getting this registration, and we've met all the requirements," says Dennis Morgan of Forest Products Research Laboratory, the company that Dole represents. In the meantime, a half-dozen members of Congress are urging the EPA to keep ACC off the market. Most are from states where companies hold registrations to produce ACQ.

"The trouble with these (product safety) decisions is you get tremendous pressure," says Michael Brown, a former general council at the EPA and the Consumer Products Safety Commission. "Safety has a price, and these glitches in the process are part of it."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7159 Sat, 15 Nov 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7159
Three months into an 18-month study by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, researchers are finding some success in sealing off the pesticide, chromated copper arsenate, that is used in almost all wooden playgrounds, with an oil-based semitransparent stain, said Jim Jones, director of EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs.

"The early results are that some sealants are very effective in preventing the arsenic from leaching out of the wood," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

EPA released a new draft study this week that shows what Jones calls "a marginally increased risk of cancer" for children, ages 1 to 6, who are exposed to the pesticide. The added chances of a child this age getting cancer ranged from one-in-1 million, which is considered negligible, to one-in-100,000, he said.

"Americans now face a risk of one in four chances of getting cancer. This adds to it rather marginally," Jones said.

At year's end, the industry will complete its phaseout of any new products built with the pesticide. EPA removed the pesticide, used mainly to protect lumber from decay and insect damage, from its list of approved chemicals.

An industry group, the Wood Preservative Science Council, maintains the pesticide-treated wood has been used safely for 70 years. It said the study is incomplete, "an insufficient tool for regulatory decision making."

The Environmental Working Group, a research advocacy organization that has sought a ban on the treated wood, criticized EPA for its earlier assurances that playground equipment need not be replaced if certain precautions were followed.

In announcing the phaseout of the treated wood in virtually all residential uses, EPA said in February 2002 that it "has not concluded that CCA-treated wood poses unreasonable risks to the public (and) does not believe there is any reason to remove or replace" playgrounds and other structures built with the wood.

"That assurance was then wholly without scientific merit, as no EPA risk assessment had been performed," said Kenneth Cook, the environmental group's president.

Jones said the assurances were made because "we knew that arsenic posed hazards, but we didn't know what the risks were so we gave some commonsense recommendations that we still stand by."

Those recommendations to parents include making sure children wash their hands after playing and don't eat on the play sets or let food come into contact with the wood.

In the long run, however, sealants may be the answer.

"What we'd like to do is find a stain or sealant that people can purchase and apply to their deck or child's playground to reduce the amount of arsenic that is dislodged," said Eric Criss, a spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The commission decided a ban on the pesticide-treated wood in playground equipment was unnecessary because of the industry phaseout.

"We're telling people there is reason for concern, but not alarm," he said.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6908 Sun, 02 Nov 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6908
At 18 of the 25 playgrounds where play equipment or landscaping was made with pressure-treated wood, arsenic was detected in the soil, the researchers found.

Ten playgrounds had amounts exceeding the state's "action level" of 30 parts per million, considered dangerous by state environmental regulators. Three of those Ronan Park in Dorchester, Shubow Park in Allston-Brighton and Gibbons Playground in Jamaica Plain were found to have concentrations of more than 100 parts per million.

Arsenic has been linked with bladder and lung cancer, and small children, who are likely to put their hands in their mouths while playing, are particularly vulnerable.

The study, which tested samples from 76 of Boston's 105 playgrounds, looked at arsenic in playgrounds where wood preserved with copper chromated arsenate is used.

"Our study shows that if you have CCA wood in contact with soil, there is a good chance the level of soil concentration is above the Massachusetts action level," Robert B. Beattie, director of the undergraduate Environmental Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, told The Boston Globe.

City officials questioned the study's methodology and said the city had stopped installing playground equipment made with pressure-treated wood three years ago.

"According to health officials, it's not a health risk," said Park Commissioner Antonia Pollak. "We will be replacing it, absolutely, over time. But there is probably more pressure-treated wood in people's backyard decks than in the parks."

Pollak said the wood and tainted soil from the three worst-affected playgrounds would be removed immediately, but added that the city was under no obligation to do so.

State Department of Environmental Protection officials said they regulate cleanup of toxic substances only when the source is naturally occurring or is a hazardous waste site. The municipality would be responsible for eliminating arsenic from pressure-treated wood.

Environmental groups have been pushing for a ban on CCA wood in playgrounds.

"Researchers have looked at the way children play on play sets," said Sean Gray of the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C. "Everything goes into their mouth. Arsenic rubs off and gets on their hands and they lick their hands."

Under scrutiny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the wood industry has said it will stop selling the product by December. But an industry spokesman said there is no scientific evidence linking exposure to CCA wood with cancer.

"All of the sound scientific studies that have been done on CCA-treated wood find that it's perfectly safe when used as recommended," said Jim Hale, of the Wood Preservative Science Council. "It's been in use over 70 years. We haven't seen an increase in any types of cancer (environmental groups) are claiming this could lead to."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6422 Mon, 04 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6422
But until a safe alternative to chromated copper arsenate long the lumber of choice for outdoor decks, swing sets and other all-weather structures starts showing up on local home improvement store shelves, Prager says he will hold off on his fence-building plans.

"I certainly don't want to handle any more CCA wood for the rest of my life," the 43-year-old Gainesville resident said recently.

Unfortunately for Prager, if he's hoping to build this summer, he may have little choice.

With less than five months before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mandatory phaseout of CCA begins, only one of Gainesville's seven major building suppliers has begun stocking non-arsenic treated alternatives. Despite the numerous wood products currently available from timbers saturated in copper to plastic-fiber composites regional suppliers appear reluctant to make the switch, until they have to.

And that doesn't sit well with do-it-yourselfer's like Prager.

Retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's "can't proceed to be ignorant of the hazards of this product anymore," he said in a telephone interview Friday.

Last year, in conjunction with Beyond Pesticides, a national advocacy group committed to pesticide safety, Prager filed suit to force the EPA to ban the use of arsenic, creosote and other chemicals used in the wood-treating process.

"I have to wonder when (area retailers) are going to start stocking non-arsenic treated wood," he said.

It's a question many builders may be asking, but one that few suppliers can, or will, answer.

"Right now we still have the CCA and don't really know what we are going to go to" after the phaseout, said Andy Dampier, purchasing agent for Contractors Supply on Waldo Road in Gainesville. Non-CCA products have yet to become permanent fixtures at his store, Dampier added.

Others suppliers were not as forthcoming with their uncertainty.

Officials at Home Depot and Lowe's, both of which only stock pressure-treated CCA at their local stores, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Since February 2002, when the EPA ruled that the sale of wood intended for residential use and treated with chromated copper arsenic a product used for decades to protect lumber from rot which contains toxic levels of cancer-causing arsenic must stop as of Dec. 31, chemical manufacturers have scrambled to meet an expected surge on non-CCA products.

Universal Forest Products, the nation's leading manufacturer and distributor of wood and wood-alternative products, for example, has begun converting some of its treating facilities from CCA to ACQ, a copper-based preservative considered less environmentally toxic, according to Scott Conklin, the company's vice president for wood preservation.

Still, for whatever reason, the hurried pace of chemical transition hasn't translated into in-stock inventories at local building supply stores. In fact, between now and the EPA's phaseout date, some industry-watchers expect CCA wood supplies to actually increase as wood preservers look to unload already-treated stocks to area retailers.

Suppliers will be able to continue stocking CCA-treated wood into the new year as long as it was produced before the Dec. 31 deadline.

But despite the slow stocking response, and the potential over-saturation of CCA between now and January, there are options for the weekend handyman or woman hoping to nail together an arsenic-free deck, swing set or other outdoor structure in the Gainesville-area this summer. One local store, Central Builder Supplies of Gainesville on NW 22nd Street, stocks a wide selection of non-arsenic treated products, including ACQ.

Other stores, including Contractors Supply on Waldo Road and Combs Lumber and Supply on NW 8th Avenue, said they can order products at customer's request, for a nominal fee.

So what should you look for when planning your next outdoor building project? Here is a partial rundown of non-arsenic treated-wood that could soon be lining the aisles of Alachua County lumber yards:

Alkaline Copper Quartenary:

One product likely to saturate the market in coming months is Alkaline Copper Quartenary, or ACQ, the most widely used non-arsenic water-based wood preservative in the world.

Unlike CCA, which relies on toxic amounts of arsenic pumped into lumber to ward away pests and mold, ACQ's primary ingredient is copper, a relatively inert ingredient and an essential nutrient for human health.

Quartenary, or Quat, a type of fungicide that attacks decay organisms, provides additional protection against rot and termite attacks, and is used in a wide array of consumer goods, from wood to paints to feminine hygiene products.

More than a decade before the call to phase out CCA was finalized, Chemical Specialties Inc., a multinational supplier of wood protection technology based in Charlotte, N.C., began offering ACQ-treated wood to consumers. Osmose, once the world's largest manufacturer of CCA, has begun producing another ACQ-based product called NatureWood.

And while ACQ is considered far safer than CCA, when ingested in large amounts, copper toxicity can lead to nausea, diarrhea and stomach problems, doctors report. In people with rare genetic conditions, copper toxicity may even adversely effect bodily and organ functions.

Health concerns aren't the only drawbacks to consider when deciding on ACQ - unlike CCA, ACQ is not suited for use in marine environments.

As such, marine pilings, docks or other structures that will have direct contact with salt-water are not included in the EPA's ban on residential CCA uses.

Some suppliers have also warned that because of ACQ's copper-heavy formula, nails and other hardware made from galvanized steel may corrode.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6423 Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6423
The suit, filed July 1 in Travis County District Court by Thad Martin and Susan Wilson, could open the door for thousands of Texans to benefit from the effort. It also could potentially cost Home Depot hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to resolve.

The suit filed in Austin claims Home Depot breached warranties and violated the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act by selling what's commonly known as CCA-treated wood. CCA, or chromated copper arsenate, is a wood preservative that's a mixture, in part, of arsenic acid, hexavalent chromium and copper oxide.

The suit was filed in Austin because Martin and Wilson bought the wood from a Home Depot here.

"If the case is resolved and there is something available to the people who bought the wood in Texas, there will be a notice published in the appropriate places telling them how they can proceed," Snyder says.

If the suit is successful, Snyder adds, Home Depot could be forced to refund or replace all of the CCA-treated wood it has sold in Texas since 1986.

The Austin suit claims Home Depot breached warranties and violated the deceptive trade practices act by representing that CCA wood is proper, safe and suitable for use in decks and playground equipment.

Citing a company policy, Home Depot spokeswoman Goldie Taylor declines to comment on the suit. But she says Home Depot is following "to the letter" the latest federal mandates for CCA wood.

Federal health officials recently acknowledged CCA-treated wood is potentially harmful and should be banned. In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandated that wood manufacturers and sellers such as Home Depot stop using and selling CCA-treated wood for most residential purposes by the end of this year.

EPA spokesman David Deegan says CCA is being phased out primarily to protect children's health and the environment, although consumers may continue to buy and use the treated CCA wood until the end of the year or for as long as it is available.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the arsenic and chromium that can seep out of CCA-treated wood pose serious health complications to various organs, including the heart, lungs, skin, and liver.

As the evidence against CCA has surfaced, most playground manufacturers have stopped using CCA-treated wood in the past year, says Stephen Pinegar, manager of Rainbow Play Systems Inc. in Austin. Rainbow stopped using CCA wood about a decade ago, he says.

"It had a tendency to make the employees in the shop sick," Pinegar says. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6322 Tue, 15 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6322
Last year the Environmental Protection Agency and the wood preservative industry agreed to phase out arsenic-tainted lumber, known as chromated copper arsenate, which has been used for decks, picnic tables, gazebos, and playground structures since the 1940s. The arsenic substance wards off termites and prevents rot and decay.

This transition affects virtually all residential uses of wood treated with CCA, including wood used in decks. By January 2004, the EPA will not allow CCA products.

Why the ban?

In the EPA's own words, "EPA has not concluded that CCA-treated wood poses any unreasonable risk to the public or the environment. Nevertheless, arsenic is a known human carcinogen and, thus, the Agency believes that any reduction in the levels of potential exposure to arsenic is desirable."

Home improvement guru Bob Vila says three wood preservative manufacturers Arch Wood Protection, Chemical Specialties, and Osmose have been working on CCA alternatives.

"These new-generation products are just as effective as the CCA-products," Mel Pine of the American Wood Preservers Institute, says in an article on Vila's web site. "They have been subjected to the same testing as CCA-treated wood, and all contain registered pesticides."

Pine says little will change for the consumer in terms of product and availability. "To the average do-it-yourselfer, nothing has really changed," he says. "He [still] goes to the retailer and buys treated wood. For all intents and purposes, most people won't notice the difference."

But the Western Wood Preservers Institute says that while treaters are beginning to use the new products, most say they will be making the switch at the end of the year, just before the new rules kick in.

Retailers also appear to be holding out until the end of the year, too, the industry group says in a summer 2003 newsletter.

"Because of the slightly higher cost of the new products and the stellar performance by CCA over the years, retailers seem to be waiting until the end of the year before they switch their inventories entirely," the newsletter says.

Meanwhile, Vila says the new alternatives will cost 15 to 70 percent more than CCA-treated wood. But the price should drop once CCA is banned in January, say wood suppliers.

The EPA says it does not believe there is any reason to remove or replace CCA-treated structures, including decks or playground equipment. Also, it is not recommending that existing structures or surrounding soils be removed or replaced.

An alternative to using pressure-treated lumber is synthetic composites, which perform especially well under intense heat, hold their shape, don't splinter, and can last for decades with little maintenance.

The "plastic wood" alternatives offer durability and comfort with no risk of slipping or splinters, are economical, available in a wide variety of colors and patterns, and made of recycled materials.

Jay Webb, a contractor in Sacramento, Calif., says these alternatives are a great decking choice.

"As a contractor, I always try to present the best options to my clients, and as soon as I present the benefits, they are ready to go with composites," said Webb. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6116 Fri, 13 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6116
Representatives of the wood products industry which will voluntarily cease selling pressure-treated play sets by Jan. 1 said the action was unnecessary, and that the health threat was overblown.

At a State House press conference Thursday the groups organizer, Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Northfield, said she was stunned to see that some lumber yards were continuing to promote the use of lumber treated with an arsenic compound for building backyard swing sets or play sets.

Donahue was flanked by a number of advocates and some of the 40 or so other lawmakers who signed onto a letter urging retailers to stop promoting the lumber. She likened it to lead paint or asbestos insulation, which were widely used before the health hazards they posed became widely known.

Weve got a huge problem already to try to cope with, she said, referring to decks and play sets already built with the lumber. Please stop making it worse. Please dont advertise and market and display and push the sales of arsenic-treated lumber for children to play on. Its just not worth the risk.

Chromated copper arsenic is used to pressure treat lumber to make it resistant to insects and rot, but studies have shown that arsenic, which is toxic, can leach out of the wood.

In the last several years, advocacy groups like the Washington-based Environmental Working Group have been calling for a ban on CCA-treated wood in playground equipment and an evaluation of its use in other home items. This spring the group extended that demand to include a recall of play structures on public grounds, and requirements that consumers who purchased play sets made with such wood get a full refund.

But the wood products industry claims that science has not shown any direct health hazard, and points out theyve agreed to voluntarily stop making the product for residential use after the end of this year. It will still be available for fence posts and marine docks.

Its a moot issue; thats our feeling, said Barry Polsky, communication director for the American Forest and Paper Association.

He said the decision to stop treating wood with CCA had nothing to do with any potential health hazard.

The reason its being phased out is not under any order of any medical group or agency, Polsky said. Its just that theres been so much negative publicity over the last few years its fruitless to try and sell it.

A spokesman for Vermont lumber retailers said he believes Donahue and other advocates are overreacting.

We maintain that the product is safe, said Will Adams, lobbyist for the Vermont Retail Lumber Dealers Association. The fact is theres less arsenic in CCA-treated lumber than most drinking water, and to our knowledge there are no studies that have linked any illnesses to pressure-treated lumbers.

The Environmental Protection Agency has not determined that there is a health risk and is studying the question, according to David Deegan, an EPA spokesman. The agency is hoping to release a preliminary risk assessment before the end of the year but is not urging immediate action.

Were not recommending that people have to remove an existing structure, Deegan said, adding that the review of CCA was a routine one that the agency periodically undertakes.

The review was not initiated because there was some kind of data that was causing us concern, he said.

The data that Donahue and advocates point to is a study done by the Consumer Products Safety Commission that looked specifically at whether playground equipment made with CCA-treated lumber was a risk.

By measuring how much arsenic they could wipe off the wood, the CPSC then estimated how many times a child would then put their hand in their mouth and calculated how much arsenic theyd ingest if they played on the equipment 156 days each year for five years.

The bottom line is we did calculate an increased lifetime cancer risk ranging from 2 in 1 million to 100 in a million, said Ken Giles, spokesman for the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

He acknowledged that the risk was hypothetical but said the federal government takes notice of any cancer risks that exceed one in a million, even if it doesnt consider them worthy of taking action.

There are certainly bigger risks. But Im not allowed to minimize this, and Im not going to minimize this, Giles said. Im not going to make it seem like its not worth being concerned about. It is worth being concerned about.

State officials are already notifying schools and home daycare centers about potential risks from CCA-treated lumber. Donahue stressed that she wasnt trying to hurt dealers or manufacturers, but said there was no reason to keep selling the product when there were non-toxic alternatives available

Why do we not want to deal with what we know is a problem? she asked.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6102 Mon, 09 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/6102 Baldacci is expected to sign the bill into law, according to a report in the Bangor Daily News.

Introduced by Rep. Scott Cowger, D-Hallowell, the legislation states that beginning April 1, 2004, Maine lumber dealers can no longer sell arsenic-treated lumber for use in residential construction. There are also new restrictions on how treated lumber is disposed of, and it calls on the state to further study the risks linked to arsenic in the environment.

The bill is supposed to close a loophole in the deal the Environmental Protection Agency made with chemical manufacturers to stop producing arsenic-treated lumber by the beginning of next year. That deal did not impose sales restrictions, so treated lumber could still be stored and then sold for years to come, or even imported from overseas, according to Michael Belliveau of the Environmental Health Strategy Center in Bangor, Maine.

In addition to the ban, lawmakers also approved a measure that would exempt local lumber dealers from any liability linked to arsenic-treated lumber they sold in the past. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5777 Sun, 27 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5777
They're general rules of good hygiene, and they're also guidelines that the Clarke County School District offers for children who climb across and crawl on and hang from playground equipment that's been pressure-treated with a chemical that can lead to an increased risk of cancer. Now, school administrators are looking for a more permanent solution.

''You're talking about the playground equipment at all of the elementary schools,'' said Paul Dill, who spoke to the school board's policy committee in support of a plan to prohibit the wood in future playground equipment.

Elementary school principals received a warning in February about the wood likely treated with chromated copper arsenate, an industry standard for pressure-treated wood - telling them to have teachers make sure children wash their hands after playing on the equipment so they don't ingest the chemical.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning about the arsenic-treated wood earlier this year. Registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a pesticide, CCA might increase the risk of bladder or lung cancer.

School district officials are trying to write up a policy that would prohibit the use of the wood ''where practicable,'' particularly for playgrounds, but also for any other construction. A recent draft of the policy listed some alternative materials an option that parents at Cleveland Road Elementary School are trying to fast-track.

The school was slated to have its playground equipment replaced in 2006, as part of Cleveland Road's share of special-purpose, local-option sales tax money. Members of the school's Parent Teacher Organization plan to ask the school board to move that project forward, Principal Julie Bower said.

''We have several parents who are very active in the PTO, who are in the midst of preparing a letter to the SPLOST committee about our playscape,'' Bower said. ''Basically we are asking teachers to have the children wash their hands each time they return to the building and not to let them eat on the equipment. But parents were a bit concerned and would like to go back to the SPLOST committee and ask for earlier installation of the new playscape.''

The school wants to use a synthetic material for the new playground equipment.

Meanwhile, school board member Vernon Payne, who represents District 2, has asked about painting or staining existing equipment, comparing the measure to encapsulation of asbestos that the district was unable to remove from school buildings when that health hazard was exposed.

Besides the cost of replacing all the playground equipment, a complete overhaul would leave the district with disposal costs - the arsenic-treated lumber has become a ''cradle-to-grave'' problem, Dill said, because it's now considered hazardous material. Officials would have to go through a licensed waste handler with an EPA permit.

''The EPA wouldn't want it burned or buried,'' he said.

While neither the EPA nor the Consumer Products Safety Commission has endorsed painting or staining as a solution to the treated wood, both have referred to the practice in technical reports, saying that it is a method of containing the chemical, he said.
]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5491 Thu, 17 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5491
That's why he nominated chromated copper arsenate (CCA),the chemical commonly used in pressure treated wood for the "Dirty Dozen" award given annually by the Toxics Action Center (TAC) in Portland.

"My hope is that the companies that store this stuff will begin to cover their wood piles," Pincince said.

Pincince and representatives of two Maine environmental groups met at Camden's harbor park to recognize the award.

The "Dirty Dozen" award highlights public health and environmental threats that are not necessarily hazardous waste sites, according to Maggie Drummond, director of the TAC Maine office.

CCA treated wood is a hazard that needs to be addressed, Drummond said.

"It's one of the more visible threats that parents and residents can come into contact with," she said.

CCA is injected into the pressure treated wood, which is commonly used in decks, piers, and playgrounds. Over time, as the wood gradually deteriorates, the chemical leaks out. Arsenic can then be absorbed through the skin by running one's hand along the wood, according to environmentalists.

Amanda Sears, campaign director for the Environmental Health Strategy Center in Portland, explained that recent wipe tests of outdoor wood structures in seven Maine communities revealed arsenic levels of between 13 and 354 micrograms per 100 square centimeters of wood, an area roughly the size of a child's handprint. By comparison, new state standards for arsenic in drinking water limit the amount to 2 micrograms in an average glass.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission concluded children face serious health risks from arsenic exposure on treated wood playground equipment, Sears said. Arsenic may be linked to increased risk of skin, bladder, and liver cancer, among other ailments.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has taken notice of this issue in recent times. Last year the EPA announced a voluntary agreement with the wood preservative manufacturers to phase-out the production of arsenic-treated wood for most residential uses by Jan. 1, 2004. However, Drummond noted that this agreement still allows wood inventories to be sold for commercial use indefinitely.

Drummond, Sears, and Pincince are urging support in two bills before the state Legislature that would be used to augment the EPA's ruling. One is an act that would require private drinking wells be tested for arsenic and other contaminants prior to the sale of a home, and would also mandate disclosure of those testing results to prospective home buyers.

The second bill, "An Act to Protect Public Health by Reducing Human Exposure to Arsenic," would require disclosure of the presence of arsenic in water or treated wood when a home is sold, and sellers would have to let buyers know if outdoor structures were made with arsenic-treated wood, as well as indicating whether they had been recoated with sealant within the past six months.

This act would also ban the sale of arsenic-treated wood; restrict disposal to lined landfill only; and, ban burning, chipping, mulching and composting of the wood.

Sears explained that there are alternatives to CCA treated wood, such as pest resistant woods like cedar and redwood, or plastic wood-like materials, which are composites made from recycled polyethylene plastic and wood.

There are also different chemicals that can be used to treat wood including ammoniacal copper quaternary, marketed as ACQ Preserve by Chemical Specialties; copper boron azole, a newer treatment marketed by Wolmanized Natural Select by Wolman; and, boron-based treatment that can be field applied to wood.

Steps can be taken to reduce arsenic exposure from existing wood structures, such as sealing the wood annually, washing your hands after contact with the wood, and covering treated picnic tables with a tablecloth. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5106 Mon, 24 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5106
The demand follows the announcement last month by the Consumer Product Safety Commission that children could face an increased lifetime risk of developing lung or bladder cancer from using playground equipment treated with chromated copper arsenate, or CCA.

But the report didn't call for the removal of the equipment, a position the Environmental Working Group considers too lax.

"Arsenic in existing play structures is a public health problem very similar in magnitude to lead paint," said Jane Houlihan, vice president for research for the organization, said in her testimony to the commission.

The federal agency has "severely underestimated," the health risk to children, she continued.

"We recommend that (the commission) immediately recall play sets on public playgrounds," Houlihan said.

Manufacturers should reimburse purchasers for the sets, she added.

Wood preservative manufacturers say most studies show that treated play sets are not dangerous.

They also say a ban is unnecessary because an agreement between the industry and federal government end the use of the chemical in most consumer products by January.

Almost all wooden playground equipment in use has been treated with the pesticide.

The government's concern is that children can get arsenic residue from the treated wood on their hands, then put their hands in their mouths.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5107 Fri, 21 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5107
The change comes because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered lumber producers to stop treating wood for outdoor use with the preservative chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, which some studies have shown to be a carcinogen, by the end of this year. Retailers such as Lowe's and Home Depot must end their purchases of the product, also by the end of the year.

Pressure-treated wood is used in outdoor applications, such as in decks and landscaping.

Industry experts expect the new non-arsenic, or ACQ, treated lumber to cost as much as 20 percent more, but that's not the case at the Lowe's store in Southgate, which is matching Home Depot's pricing for CCA-treated lumber.

"Lowe's has worked very hard to make ACQ available in advance of the EPA deadline because our customers wanted the alternative right away," said a spokesman at the Lowe's national headquarters in Wilkesboro, N.C. He would not comment on pricing.

Home Depot will make the transition to the non-arsenic lumber in the Detroit area by November, and it's supposed to be available by special order now, according to a Home Depot spokesman at the Atlanta headquarters. He said there is still a strong demand for the old type of lumber, which has been used for residential construction since the 1930s and for playgrounds and decks since the 1970s.

The Home Depot spokesman said producers are expected to charge 15-20 percent more for non-arsenic lumber, but he didn't rule out a price war with Lowe's at the retail level.

"Once it gets in the store, obviously we will price it competitively against other retailers," he said.

John's Lumber, an independent retailer in Clinton Township, won't be changing over its lumber until later in the year.

"We're going into this year's deck season with the CCA product," said John's Lumber sales manager David Stoutenger. "We'll probably change over when we clean out our inventory in the summer."

Stoutenger expects the non-arsenic treated lumber to cost 20 percent more, and his main concern about the transition is giving contractors who make up 92 percent of his business enough advance notice to make adjustments in their bids. He reported that so far, customers are willing to buy CCA-treated lumber after reading information about the product.

Last month the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal agency, announced the results of a study that showed CCA can be a carcinogen. Out of every one million children exposed to CCA-treated lumber an average of three times a week, between two and 100 might develop lung or bladder cancer, the study concluded.

Last August, the Environmental Working Group reported the amount of arsenic found on the surface of CCA-treated lumber exceeds safe levels even after years of wear.

In February 2002, when the agreement was reached with lumber producers, the EPA said CCA-treated lumber posed no "unreasonable risks" to the public. The EPA said there wasn't enough evidence to warrant the removal of existing structures made with CCA-treated lumber. However, a new EPA report on CCA's health risks is due later this year.

While the safety commission has determined that CCA poses a cancer risk to children, it has not acted on a petition to ban CCA-treated lumber. The commission's staff recommends such a decision be deferred until after the EPA and producers reach a final agreement on the phaseout. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5119 Fri, 14 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5119
This popular form of lumber known as CCA-treated wood will not be sold for home use after December. In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency and the wood-preservative industry voluntarily agreed to phase out the arsenic-tainted lumber, which has been around since the 1950s.

Homeowners aren't required to remove existing structures made with CCA (chromated copper arsenate) wood. Painting the lumber or coating it regularly with a sealant helps reduce arsenic risks, according to USA Today.

The phase-out period gives the wood-preservative industry time to produce and market new moisture- and termite-resistant products with no arsenic in them. These lumbers aren't showing up at retailers just yet, but you can expect them to slowly take over the market for residential needs.

One new preservative marketed as Preserve by Chemical Specialties Inc. is made with copper and the fungicide quaternary. In short, it's called ACQ-treated lumber.

"It will do the same thing as pressure-treated lumber," says Jim Graves, sales and operations manager at Treated Lumber Outlet in Hampton, Va. "There will be some problems with fasteners, though. You can't use galvanized fasteners with ACQ lumber like you can with CCA, because ACQ will eat them up, corrode them. You'll have to use stainless steel nails and screws with ACQ, and those fasteners are more expensive."

Also emerging on the retail scene is Wolmanized Natural Select, treated with copper and another fungicide called azole. For fasteners, this company recommends hot-dipped galvanized hardware.

Both new forms of treated wood contain more pricey copper to deter termites than CCA-treated lumber ever did, so the increased costs of making the products are passed on to the consumer. Each also contains a fungicide to guard against copper-tolerant fungi that can still attack wood.

CCA-treated wood still will be available for marine projects such as piers and bulkheads, road construction and utility poles. Aquatic creatures are more sensitive to copper than arsenic, so the CCA lumber is actually more environmentally responsible for waterfront uses, says Huck DeVenzio, manager of marketing and communications for the copper azole preservative made by Arch Wood Protection.

Wood preservatives have been around long before CCA, and new ones will emerge even after ACQ and copper azole, DeVenzio says.

"Preservatives are an evolutionary thing," he says. "The next step will be all organic."

No matter what chemicals are used to preserve lumber, treated wood still needs to be periodically cleaned and sealed to keep it looking good.

The hassle of using a pressure washer and brushing or rolling a water-repelling sealant on a wood deck or fence motivates many homeowners to choose composite lumbers made from recycled plastics, rubbers and nontreated waste wood.

Fences, play equipment, trellises, planters, decking boards, railings and decorative trims are flocking to the market in white and shades of brown, gray and green. They never rot or need painting. Cleanup is simple with soap and water. Even berry-eating birds fail to stain them permanently.

Composite woods available nationwide include Trex, TimberTech, RhinoDeck, Boardwalk, CorrectDeck, ChoiceDek and Fibron.

"Trex was sort of the pioneer, the leader in this," says Doug Harbin of Harbin Builders in southeastern Virginia. "Trex weathers well and is durable. The downfall is that Trex will fade, mostly in the first year. The company actually has coloring charts now so you can see how much the color will change.

"Gray Trex seems to hold its color much better than brown."

Any no-maintenance decking will weather your budget. A do-it-yourself 12-by-16-foot CCA wood deck costs $200 to $280 for the decking boards, while Trex boards cost about $600. If a contractor builds that same deck, it may cost about $2,280 for real wood compared with $3,430 for Trex.

So far, composite lumber comes only in deck planking and railing, so you still need to use some form of rot-resistant wood for posts, joists and beams. But a CCA-framed deck can be resurfaced with composite wood.

Many of the composite woods are natural looking, often brushed to give a natural wood-grain finish. Matching railings are available, and decking boards usually come with a slip-resistant finish for safe footing.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4681 Fri, 14 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4681
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety commission (CPSC) suggests that some children could be at an increased risk of developing cancer over their lifetime, as a result of using playground equipment made with CCA pressure- treated wood.

The CPSC noted this risk is primarily due to exposure to arsenic residue on children's hands followed by hand-to-mouth contact. The CPSC statement also mentions air, soil, water and in some foods as sources of arsenic, the potentially harmful component of CCA. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently conducting this study of risks possibly tied to CCA-treated wood, with findings to be reported later this year.

Although no evidence directly links a cancer case with playground equipment constructed from CCA-treated wood, Hedstrom is responding to the potential that there could be a health risk. As of January 2003, Hedstrom wood gym sets have been constructed with ammonium copper quaternaray (ACQ) treated wood, an effective, CCA-free alternative.

"Hedstrom maintains its focus on the safety and quality of its play products, so our decision to end all usage of CCA-treated wood with our gym sets, even based solely on possibilities, was a natural conclusion," said Mike Johnston, Hedstrom president and CEO. "However, while the CPSC's preliminary findings certainly could raise potential for concern, consumers should be aware that imminent danger is not likely and that precautions can be made in order to reduce risk."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4633 Wed, 12 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4633
The commission last week said tests had shown chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, could lead to arsenic contamination, increasing the risk of bladder and lung cancer in children exposed to playsets treated with the agent. The tests showed that CCA leaching out of treated wood could transfer to children's hands and then be ingested at hazardous levels.

As few as two or as many as 100 children per million could face increased lifetime risk of the cancers due to CCA exposure, the tests showed. The Consumer Product Safety Commission considers anything above one person per million to be reason for concern.

Saugerties school district Superintendent Michael Singleton said the staff at Grant D. Morse Elementary school, which has a wooden playground, would be advised of the commission's findings to ensure that children wash their hands after using playground equipment, a precaution recommended by the commission.

At Kingston's Forsyth Park, the CCA-treated Kinderland playground will be washed down and coated with a non-toxic sealant at the first spring thaw, said city Parks Administrator Mary Jo Wiltshire.

"Nobody has gone so far as to say the playground should be torn down," Wiltshire said. "Really, nothing official has come across my desk on the subject."

Wiltshire also said the playground manufacturer has suggested annual sealing as routine maintenance.

Ken Giles, a spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the agency is in the process of evaluating the effectiveness of various sealants in preventing the bleeding of CCA out of the wood and onto children's hands.

"Right now, we just don't have independent evidence that (sealing) keeps the arsenic from coming out of the wood," he said.

State Board of Health spokeswoman Claire Popisil said her agency has been aware of the CCA issue for some time and could provide advice to communities on how to minimize exposure of children. Popisil said responses to CCA contamination depend on a host of risk factors, including the age of children using the equipment and the frequency of use. "There is no pat answer," she said.

Concern over CCA exposure dates back to the 1980s, said Marc Leathers of Ithaca-based Leathers and Associates, which designed the Kinderland playground in Kingston. Kinderland was erected in the early 1990s.

"About two years ago, it resurfaced as a concern and gathered enough momentum to stay current," Leathers said, adding that his company stopped using CCA-treated wood in January 2002 and that the entire industry plans to stop using the pesticide by the end of 2003. Leathers said non-toxic pesticides now used to treat wood have made CCA obsolete.

Last June, the state Legislature passed a bill banning CCA-treated wood in new playgrounds and requiring annual sealing for existing ones.

Assemblyman Kevin Cahill D-Kingston, who helped build the Kinderland playground, said the law is an effective remedy for the problem. "At the time, (CCA) was the safest approach. Now we know that there are better alternatives," Cahill said, noting that insect infestation of playground equipment carries as much or greater risks to children than the pesticide. "If the bill had said tear down the playgrounds, I would not have voted for it." ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4682 Wed, 12 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4682
Some researchers believe C.C.A. treated wood leaches unsafe levels of arsenic into the ground. Ground that kids come in contact with.

As she watches her children play on a local C.C.A. treated wood playground, Claire Hopkins is worried.

“As a parent, it’s always very concerning,” she says. “You have to, unfortunately these days, look at the material in the toys your kids are playing with, what they’re drinking or eating. So it’s a concern to me, very much so.”

It concerns the Consumer Product Safety Commission too. It says between 2 to 100 children out of every million will develop bladder and lung cancer from prolonged exposure to wood treated with arsenic. Government scientists say kids playing on wooden playgrounds have a higher risk of cancer from arsenic exposure.

So the Environmental Protection agency is conducting a study to find out just how much of the wood is toxic. That study will be released later on this year. But the agency is also banning the wood for residential uses, like porches, patios and picnic tables, at the end of this year.

But someone could still buy the wood for something non-residential, like a boat ramp, and conceivably, us it for what ever they wanted when they get home.

So Phillip Reid, owner of Portland Forest Products in Panama City Beach, says the ban will be hard to enforce. And he’s also not too sure about the risks. He’s been working with C.C.A. treated lumber since 1959 and neither he, nor anyone he knows, has ever gotten sick from it.

Reid says the ban will leave many people across the Southeast out of a job. He says it’s forcing manufactures to find a new way to pressure treat wood, and the consumer will ultimately pay the price.

“It will cost the consumer about 25 percent more,” he says. “And be less effective then what’s been on the market for the last 70 years.”

But as a mother, Claire Hopkins says if there’s even a chance the wood could be dangerous, a rise in cost is worth paying an even higher price with the lives of children.

Steve Moore, director of the Bay County Parks and Recreation Department, says he has been watching the C.C.A. research closely. He says he’s waiting for the E.P.A. study about the wood, and if anything can be used to treat what’s already been built with it. When all the research is in, he says he’ll take action.

In the meantime, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says when sawing treated wood, wear a mask and dispose of the sawdust. Also, never burn the wood in outdoor fires or fireplaces. Do not use treated wood as a cutting board and make children wash their hands after playing in a C.C.A. treated playground. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4683 Wed, 12 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4683
More than 90 percent of wood playground equipment and residential decks now in use has been treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), which protects wood from rotting due to insects and microbial agents.

In a statement released last Friday, Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) chair Hal Stratton said his agency's scientists recommend that parents and caregivers thoroughly wash children's hands with soap and water immediately after youngsters play on playground equipment made of the treated wood.
Children also should not eat while on the equipment, Stratton said.

This is the first official acknowledgment by the federal government that there are health risks from structures built with the treated wood. Arsenic bleeds to the surface of the wood and the residue is easily absorbed through simple physical contact.

Young children are at particular risk because the residue sticks to their hands and they are likely to ingest it by hand to mouth contact.

The study confirms what "we've been saying all along," said Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which has petitioned to ban the use of CCA treated wood in playground equipment.

EWG and the Healthy Building Network filed a petition requesting the ban in June 2001, and Wiles argues the government has been far too slow in responding to growing evidence of the health risks posed to children by the treated wood.

"You have to be in some fantasy land to think this doesn't cause cancer in some kids," Wiles told ENS.
The CPSC study found that two to 100 of every one million children frequently exposed to CCA treated wood risk developing lung or bladder cancer from that exposure. The increased risk from CCA treated wood is in addition to other risks of developing cancer.

The wide range of risk comes from the difficulty in pinpointing the likelihood that exposure to arsenic will cause cancer. CPSC researchers based their conclusions on previous scientific studies of exposure to arsenic, which is a known carcinogen. According to the National Academy of Sciences, exposure to arsenic causes lung, bladder and skin cancer in humans, and is suspected as a cause of kidney, prostate and nasal passage cancer.

In February 2002, the EPA forged an agreement with industry to halt the use of CCA in new wood play sets and other consumer products by December 2003, but concluded that there was no reason to "remove or replace arsenic treated structures."

But a study by EWG, released in August 2002, contradicted this finding. EWG's report found that children who play on arsenic treated play sets and decks are at particularly high risk. The study analyzed the findings of consumers across the country who tested some 263 decks, play sets and picnic tables, as well as the arsenic contaminated soil beneath them.

According to EWG, the amount of arsenic wiped off a small area of wood about the size of a four year old's handprint, about 100 square centimeters, typically far exceeds what EPA allows in a glass of water under the Safe Drinking Water Act standard.

The EPA is conducting a study of the risks that may be associated with CCA treated wood and expects to release the report later this year. In addition, the EPA and CPSC staffs plan to conduct a study to determine effective measures of reducing the amount of arsenic released from CCA treated wood.

Sealants, argues EWG's Wiles, are not a long term solution and do not get rid of the arsenic. While a full recall of all treated wood may not be feasible the option should be explored for play sets, he added.

The EPA advises that individuals who decided to remove CCA treated wood playsets contact the agency or a state or local solid waste management office for disposal instructions. CCA treated wood should never be burned in open fires, the agency warns.

The CPSC will hold a public briefing on March 12, 2003 to consider the petition. CCA is a registered chemical pesticide that is subject to EPA regulation, but the playground equipment made with CCA treated wood is the jurisdictional responsibility of the CPSC. Stratton recommended that the agency wait on formal action until EPA has finished its own studies.

This decision, said Paul Bogart, director of the Healthy Building Network's arsenic treated wood phase out campaign, is "irresponsible."

Even with this new study, added Wiles, the federal government has not delivered "a coherent statement to the American public on this issue."

Bogart also criticized the limited scope of CPSC's study, which did not look at decks or picnic tables.

"The fact that the CPSC has restricted their conclusions to arsenic treated playsets doesn't make any sense," he said. "A child's body doesn't differentiate between the arsenic they get from their deck or their picnic table, and the arsenic from a playground."

Industry groups, including the American Wood Preservers Institute, believe the CPSC erred in releasing its findings prior to the completion of these other studies. The organization is unconvinced the wood treated with CCA poses a serious health risk, even though the industry and EPA have agreed to a ban.

CCA has been used to treat wood for since the 1940s, although its use for playsets and decks has largely been in the past two decades. On Friday, an industry group, the Treated Wood Council, said it "stands by the safety of CCA treated wood, when handled properly."

"The Treated Wood Council believes that the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) release of a staff briefing on CCA treated wood in playground equipment is premature and could cause needless confusion among consumers and parents," the group said. "Given the numerous CCA studies by government and industry now underway, including an Environmental Protection Agency risk assessment expected later this year, the Treated Wood Council questions CPSC's decision to release information before the scientific findings from these additional studies are in."

But growing pressure on the regulation of wood preservatives is not limited to CCA. In December 2002, a national labor union, environmental groups, and a victim family filed suit in federal district court in Washington DC to stop the continued use of CCA, as well as pentachlorophenol and creosote, two other wood preservatives.

]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4606 Sat, 08 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4606
The disclosure came from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which routinely tests goods in the American marketplace, and often recalls defective products.

The commission didn't recommend schools, parks or parents tear out the wooden structures. It is waiting for more studies to see if sealing the wood with paints or stains might help reduce the amount of arsenic that rubs off.

"If parents want to do something right now, make the kids wash their hands, and don't let the kids eat on the wood, because we know that reduces risk," said spokesman Ken Giles.

Pressure-treated wood is infused with a pesticide called chromated copper arsenate, or CCA. Tests around the world show the wood, which has been in use since the 1940s, leaks arsenic.

Children play every day on wooden playgrounds around Florida, at public and private parks and schools, and in backyard playsets sold at stores.

After a yearlong study, scientists at the agency say children pick up arsenic on their hands when they play, and the arsenic can lead to cancer decades later, depending on how much time they spend playing on the wood.

Children get arsenic into their bodies when they touch the wood and then put their hands in their mouths. The study looked only at children's exposure on wooden playsets, not whether kids might also come in contact with decks, picnic tables, benches, fences or wooden walkways.

"We're not saying that every child who plays on CCA-treated wood is going to get cancer," Giles said. "What we have here is a federal government agency that has found a cancer risk."

The treated wood manufacturers, who have said pressure-treated lumber is a $4-billion annual industry, could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Two environmental groups asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban the wood, prompting the study. Under an agreement reached last year with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the wood-treatment industry voluntarily agreed to pull it off the market for most residential uses by the end of this year.

The arsenic-treated wood will still be available for plywood, marine pilings, highway guardrails, bridges, structural timbers for houses, siding, shingles, utility poles and some agricultural products, including oyster farms.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to take public testimony on the scientific findings of cancer risk on March 12 in Washington, D.C.

The government takes notice when a substance ranks as giving one person in 1-million an elevated risk of cancer. In the CCA study, government scientists estimated the risk at two in 1-million to as much as 100 in 1-million.

"The idea that up to 100 of every million children could get cancer from playing on these arsenic-treated playsets that's a pretty striking number," said Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group, which asked for the ban. "We also think the agency used a very low estimate of how much arsenic children get on their hands."

The controversy over treated wood heated up in March 2001 when the St. Petersburg Times published the results of soil tests the newspaper commissioned at five wooden playgrounds in the Tampa Bay area. All of the tests came back positive for arsenic, at levels higher than the state allows when polluters clean up neighborhoods. The commission did not study arsenic in soil.

One main concern for Florida: What to do with the old treated wood that leaks arsenic in unlined landfills? The wood has enough toxic chemicals in it to rank as a hazardous waste, but the industry won a special exemption under President Reagan. Without that, the wood would have to go into a lined landfill to protect groundwater. Instead, much of the treated wood is chopped into mulch. Consumers buying "recycled" wood mulch have been unknowingly spreading arsenic-laced mulch into their gardens.

The next battleground for the wood, one of the most popular building products in the United States, will be in the courtroom. Wood treaters and retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot face numerous lawsuits. One national class action lawsuit, brought by lawyers who sued the tobacco industry, would require the makers of the wood to tear it out of millions of homes and parks and replace it with something safer.

The Florida Legislature has been asked to pass laws to deal with the arsenic in treated wood, but the industry has successfully fought against new restrictions. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4607 Sat, 08 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4607
Almost all wood playground equipment now in use has been treated with a pesticide called chromated copper arsenate, said Hal Stratton, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He said children can get arsenic residue from the treated wood on their hands and then put their hands in their mouths.

Stratton said the agency's scientists recommend that parents and caregivers thoroughly wash children's hands with soap and water immediately after youngsters play on playground equipment made of the treated wood. Children also should not eat while on the equipment, he said.

The safety agency will hold a public meeting next month to consider a proposed ban on the arsenic-based preservative in playground equipment. Advocacy groups petitioned for a ban in 2001.

Last year, preservative manufacturers agreed with the Environmental Protection Agency to stop using the chemical in new wood play sets and other consumer products by December 2003. An EPA report on the risks of the pressure- treated wood is expected later this year.

To figure a child's cancer risk from treated playground equipment, researchers considered factors including how much arsenic is released from wood, the amount picked up on hands and transferred to the mouth and the time a child spends with the equipment. Researchers said an average child visits playgrounds three times each week.

The study found that for every 1 million kids exposed to the treated wood that frequently during early childhood, two to 100 of them might develop lung or bladder cancer later in life because of that exposure. This increase is in addition to other risks of getting cancer.

The range of risk is large because of differing estimates of how likely arsenic is to cause cancer, agency spokesman Ken Giles said. Some of the data came from studies in Taiwan, where there are higher levels of arsenic in drinking water.

Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer; bladder cancer is more rare. The greatest risk factor for both is smoking.

Mike Casey, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group, one of the groups seeking a ban, said the study supports their position that the treated wood is dangerous.

Wood preservatives containing arsenic and dioxin have been increasingly targeted as unsafe by advocacy groups. Those preservatives have been commonly used in utility poles, wood decks and playgrounds.

The safety commission did not study other products because the ban petition only involved playgrounds, Stratton said.

Arsenic, both manufactured and naturally occurring, is known to cause cancer, but the preservative industry has said the arsenic- based preservative has never been linked to skin disease or cancer in children and its wood is safe when used properly.

The safety commission and the EPA are studying ways to coat treated wood with a sealant to prevent arsenic from coming through.

EPA began requiring consumer warning labels on treated lumber containing arsenic in 2001. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4608 Sat, 08 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4608
The agency yesterday released a staff study of 12 playgrounds in the Washington area. It concluded that children who play on equipment made of wood treated with chromated copper arsenate could face an increased risk of developing lung or bladder cancer over their lifetime.

The staff also recommended, however, that the commission take no action until the Environmental Protection Agency completes a major study of the issue. A preliminary risk assessment is expected to be available for public comment in three to four months, officials said.

The EPA reached an agreement a year ago to phase out use of the preservative in new wood products by the beginning of next year. The preservative has been the principle chemical used on decks, playgrounds, picnic tables and similar outdoor structures.

The EPA has said that there is no reason to remove or replace existing structures. Yesterday's report from the product safety agency represents the first time a federal agency has concluded that there is a heightened danger for children using playground equipment made of pressure-treated wood. The commission staff concluded that two to 100 children in a million would have an increased risk.

The commission staff's conclusion could put pressure on the EPA to take stronger action.

"We are obviously going to take a look at what the CPSC has come up with," said EPA spokesman Joseph J. Martyak. In doing its risk assessment, he noted, the EPA is following a process of independent scientific peer review recommended by the agency's scientific advisory panel.

In conducting its study, the safety commission tested 12 playgrounds and eight decks in the Washington area to determine how much arsenic comes off treated wood and onto the hands during play. It considered how often children put their hands in their mouths, as well as how frequently and how long a child may use a playground. The work was reviewed by independent scientists, the commission said.

The staff published its finding late yesterday as commission Chairman Harold Stratton announced a March 12 hearing on its recommendations. Stratton noted that children's risk can be reduced by washing hands with soap and water immediately after playing on the treated wood. The staff also recommends that children avoid eating on playgrounds that contain the equipment.

The commission staff was responding to a petition from the nonprofit research organization Environmental Working Group, which sought a ban on existing playground equipment.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4398 Sat, 18 Jan 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4398
Playground structures mostly made of wood would seem natural and safe.

A newly released study, however, revealed that structures comprised of pressure-treated wood could contain arsenic and leach into the soil beneath.

Results from the study have Belleville parks and recreation department officials concerned, said its director. The concern stems, say officials, from findings that seven Canadian cities have play structures showing concentrations of arsenic at four times the accepted federal level of 12 milligrams per kilogram.

The study was done by Environmental Defence Canada which raised the concerns this week because arsenic can cause cancer, brain trauma and nervous system problems.

Belleville parks and recreation director Doug Moses said the study raises an issue that has been examined in four previous national studies looking into the effects of pressure treating wood beams with a compound known as chromated copper arsenate (CCA).

Moses said the arsenic has been shown to escape from the treated wood primarily in the first six months of installation and has been known to leach into the sand beneath play structures where young children known for putting things in their mouths can ingest the soil.

Only four playground structures in Belleville have the pressure-treated wood components but Moses said the city has not tested the soil beneath to see if there is a problem.

The city playground structures with pressure treated wood are located at the East Hill Playground at Bleecker and Bridge streets; the West Zwicks play structure; the Lions Park off Reid Street and East Bayshore Park play structure south of the Belleville hospital on the Bay of Quinte.

Moses said the city has spoken to a Florida-based consultant who agreed the city should reexamine its playground structures but, that the city not be overly alarmed that there is a major risk since the structures have been in place for some time.

Over the years, Moses said, the arsenic would have either been washed away by constant rains and snow or would have seeped deep into the soil beneath the surface sand where children play.

“We are going to do a precautionary review of the structures we now have,” said Moses. “We’re concerned the soils may hold some arsenic so we can also do soil testing. We will be doing that as part of our budget considerations.”

Moses said city parks staff will, for now, use a wood sealant on the playground structures to prevent any further possible leaking of arsenic from the wood.

Plans, meanwhile, are underway to look at replacing the four park structures in future using city funds in cooperation with community groups.

For now, Moses said children should be supervised around wooden play structures to avoid any possible exposure to the soil.

“Obviously the children shouldn’t be eating piles and piles of soil, anyway,” said Moses.

A report, meanwhile, will be prepared for city council to explore the risks for city residents, said Moses, to offer options on how best to handle the concerns. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4017 Mon, 30 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4017
Also on the organizers' minds was a more sobering thought: Would the wood poison their children?

Because of such concerns, the group joined a growing number of consumers who have chosen not to use a type of wood treated with a compound that contains arsenic.

"With children, it's better to be safe than sorry," said Cia Guerin, who was in charge of materials for the Jenkintown project.

Wood treated with the compound, called chromated copper arsenate (CCA), has been used in millions of decks and playgrounds since its use became widespread in the 1970s, and supporters say it does a great job of warding off termites, rot and mold. After the end of next year, however, it no longer can be sold for residential use.

The ban was announced in February by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which had negotiated the phaseout with the treated-wood industry, drawing praise from environmental groups. (The wood can still be sold for marine, agricultural and other nonresidential uses.)

Left unresolved, however, was a controversy over what to do with the decks and playgrounds already built.

The EPA is studying the risks of exposure to arsenic-treated wood, but in the meantime, agency officials say, there is no reason to replace the old structures. Industry officials note that no studies have shown anyone has gotten sick from normal contact with the wood.

If there were a problem, children who played on the playgrounds in the 1970s would be contracting cancer today, said Mel Pine, spokesman for the American Wood Preservers Institute.

Yet scientists now believe arsenic is even more dangerous than previously thought, prompted in part by a high rate of cancer in Bangladesh thought to be caused by arsenic contamination in well water.

And scientists at the Environmental Quality Institute, a research lab at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, have done tests suggesting that people using decks and playgrounds, especially small children, can be exposed to significant levels of the chemical. Lawyers in several states already are exploring the issue.

The Jenkintown group, which built the playground at Jenkintown Elementary School, opted instead for a combination of arsenic-free materials: plastic lumber and a pricier type of treated wood called alkaline copper quatenary. The wood was used for structural supports and siding, and the plastic for the parts that children touch, such as handrails and walkways.

Officials at Tague Lumber, which supplied some of the Jenkintown materials, said other consumers have shown an interest in such alternatives, including the University of Pennsylvania and the federal government.

Specifications on a federal low-income housing project recently in Camden called for the use of arsenic-free wood, said Kevin Potter, purchasing director for Tague, located in Philadelphia, Media and Phoenixville.

Yet many, including Potter, remain unconvinced that the old wood is bad. Home Depot says sales of the CCA wood remain high, said company spokesman Don Harrison.

Guerin, who bought the Jenkintown materials and also buys wood for her husband, a contractor, said he wasn't worried.

"My husband said, 'I've been getting splinters from CCA wood for 20 years now, and I'm OK,' " said Guerin, who has three children under 5.

The North Carolina studies have involved wiping wood to see how much arsenic comes off with casual contact.

Richard Maas, codirector of the institute that did the studies, said the median amount of arsenic picked up in a brief wipe test was 10 micrograms, though 20 percent of the wipes accumulated 50 micrograms or higher. Longer exposures can lead to far higher levels, he said.

Is that amount bad for you? Depends who you ask.

The EPA's allowable limit for arsenic in drinking water is 10 micrograms per liter a standard first proposed by the Clinton administration and later adopted by the EPA under Bush, after a controversial delay.

According to the most recent EPA analysis, a person who drinks water with that level of arsenic over 70 years has anywhere from a 1 in 3,000 to 1 in 15,000 chance of contracting bladder or lung cancer. A National Academy of Sciences analysis estimated the rate to be far higher, at more than 1 in 1,000.

Industry officials question whether a person could ingest a lifetime's worth of arsenic during a few years on the playground.

In addition, said Barbara Beck, a Cambridge, Mass.-based toxicologist who has studied the issue for the industry, the arsenic in wood is not as easily absorbed by the body as that in drinking water - a point disputed by other scientists and environmental groups.

In general, the industry contends that the wood has a safe level of arsenic (so long as it is not burned), and that the amount of arsenic declines as the wood is exposed to rain.

Not so, countered Maas, whose studies are funded in part by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based advocacy group. He said there is little difference in the amount of arsenic in decks exposed for six months and those exposed for 15 years.

Maas also contends that a person, particularly a toddler who puts hand to mouth frequently, can ingest a worrisome level of the chemical in just a few years. Studies also have shown that arsenic leaches from wood into surrounding soil.

"If we had the data we have now" on arsenic-treated wood, he said, "it never would've been approved in the first place."

Maas and environmental groups aren't suggesting that everyone rip out their backyard deck, conceding that it would be impractical for most.

But they do recommend washing hands after contact with the wood, applying wood sealant at least twice a year, and replacing boards that people touch frequently, such as handrails.

It pays to be careful, said Richard Wiles, a senior vice president at Environmental Working Group.

"It's arsenic; that's the bottom line with this stuff," Wiles said. "It causes cancer, and it will cause cancer in some of these children."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/3594 Wed, 11 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/3594
Filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, the class-action lawsuit charges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has known for decades that chromated copper arsenate, a wood preservative made with arsenic, pentachlorophenol (or penta), and creosote, is hazardous to human and environmental health, but has failed to act.

"EPA action is long overdue, as is this lawsuit," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, a national advocacy group committed to pesticide safety and lead petitioner in the suit.

"The agency has sufficient data to remove these chemicals from the market," Feldman said. "We have been seeking from the regulatory process to get agency action, but have been unsuccessful. Now, we are asking for court action."

In 1978, after scientific reports found evidence of cancer linked to prolonged exposure to creosote, penta and CCA, the EPA began reviewing the safety of the three preservatives, the suits says.

But more than two decades later, the chemicals remain on the market.

Named as plaintiffs in the suit are the Communications Workers of American, a group affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the Center for Environmental Health, and Joe and Rosanne Prager of Gainesville.

According to the lawsuit, the Pragers were exposed to arsenic wood while working on home improvement projects in the mid-1990s. While building a deck and fencing with CCA-treated wood purchased at Home Depot and Lowe's stores in Gainesville, the Pragers suffered various unexplained symptoms, including joint and muscle pains, and anemia, the suit says.

At the time, Rosanne Prager was pregnant with the couple's daughter, Sarah.

When Sarah Prager was born in 1994, she was stricken with numerous birth defects, including a cleft lip and cleft palate, and has undergone countless surgical procedures, including bone grafts and orthodontic treatment, the suit alleges. Before Sarah's birth, the family had no history of birth defects, the suit says. The suit claims that according to data compiled by the EPA in 1984, exposure to wood preservatives containing arsenic was found to result in birth defects in laboratory animals, including offspring with cleft lip and cleft palates.

Since his family's exposure to CCA wood nine years ago, Prager has maintained a Web site, www.bancca.org, to educate consumers about the potential health effects of CCA-treated wood. The site now receives more than 15,000 visitors a month, the lawsuit says.

The Pragers are not seeking financial compensation for their claims. Instead, Joe Prager said his only motivation for moving forward with his suit was to educate the public to the dangers of CCA-treated wood, and force a lumbering federal agency to change its posturing on wood treated with arsenic and dioxin.

"It's not about me, we are just the unwitting victims here," said Prager, speaking from his home Tuesday evening. "This is about three products and EPA negligence."

James Handley, an environmental lawyer representing the Communications Workers of America, said its workers face some of the greatest risks from arsenic and dioxin, particularly those working closely with treated telephone poles, which are often heavily treated with the chemicals to protect against decay.

"There have been a number of personal injury suits from people who have suffered injuries, but what we are seeking in this one is somewhat different," Handley said. "We are trying to get the EPA to go back and look at their risk assessments that they finished in 1994."

"Our case is really pointing to the fact that there now are alternatives, such as steel for telephone poles, and fiberglass," he said.

Earlier this year, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced the wood industry's voluntary phaseout of CCA-treated wood from all residential uses in 2004.

EPA officials did not did not return calls Tuesday evening seeking comment.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/3595 Wed, 11 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/3595
Citing "inadequate and long delayed" government action on wood preservatives, the groups filed suit in federal district court in Washington DC, asking the court to force the EPA to halt all use of the wood preservatives chromated copper arsenate (CCA), pentachlorophenol (penta) and creosote.

A voluntary agreement will phase out the use of CCA treated wood in all playground equipment by January 2004. Earlier this year, the EPA announced a voluntary agreement with the wood preserving industry to phase out by the end of 2003 the use of CCA treated wood in certain residential structures, but took no action on other uses of CCA wood, or on the preservatives penta and creosote.

That agreement does not go far enough to protect the public and the environment, and affects just a small portion of the pesticide treated wood now in use, charges the lawsuit filed Monday. The groups cite high cancer risks from exposure to treated wood, contaminated soil and worker risks.

"EPA action to protect the public, workers and the environment from these wood preservatives is long overdue, and this lawsuit seeks to compel the agency to do its job," said Jay Feldman, executive director of the national environmental group Beyond Pesticides, the lead petitioner.

Joining Beyond Pesticides in filing the suit are the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Canadian Labour Congress and the worldwide Union Network International, the Oakland, California based Center for Environmental Health, and a victim family from Florida.

The suit charges that the arsenic and dioxin laden wood preservatives, which are used to treat lumber, utility poles and railroad ties, among other products, are known carcinogens that harm utility workers exposed to treated poles, children playing near treated structures, and the environment. The practice of allowing the disposal of treated wood in unlined dumps or its recycling into mulch increases the chances of soil and water contamination, according to the lawsuit.

The phase out announced in February does not affect the nation's 130 million utility poles treated with CCA and other toxic substances.

"Because of the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to act, tens of thousands of our members continue to be exposed daily to dangerous chemical wood preservatives that have severe and debilitating effects on workers' long term health," said Morton Bahr, president of the Communications Workers of America. This is a serious workplace issue that must be addressed."
The 700,000 member union group, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, represents some 25,000 workers who, through the course of their telephone repair, service and installation work, come into regular contact with utility poles that have been treated with these dangerous substances. In written comments and filings to the EPA, CWA has stressed that the agency's plan for a partial phase out of CCA will not adequately protect human health and the environment.

CWA called on the EPA to shorten its proposed phase out period and cancel all uses of CCA, and address other types of pesticide treated wood. Bahr said the agency did not provide a "substantive response" to CWA's comments.

Chemically treated wood products are used by utility companies for wood poles, construction companies for lumber and railroad owners for railroad ties. Wood treated with CCA is also available through retail markets such as home improvement and hardware stores, where consumers can buy treated wood for decking and other outdoor uses.

Long term arsenic exposure can lead to skin lesions and keratosis, a hardening of the skin.

According to the latest data available from the American Wood Preservatives Institute's 1995 statistical report, about 1.6 billion pounds of wood preservatives are used to treat wood each year, including 138 million pounds of CCA, 656 million pounds of penta, and 825 million pounds of creosote.

The three wood preservatives targeted by the lawsuit are linked to a wide range of health problems including cancer, birth defects, kidney and liver damage, disruption of the endocrine system and death. Two of the components of CCA, arsenic and chromium (VI), are classified as known human carcinogens.

Penta, classified as a probable carcinogen and a known endocrine disruptor, is contaminated with dioxins that the National Institutes of Health has classified as known human carcinogens. Creosote, a mix of toxic chemicals, is a cancer causing agent and is can cause nervous system damage.

The EPA has calculated that children exposed to soil contaminated with penta leaching out of utility poles face a risk of cancer that is 220 times higher than the agency's acceptable level. Researchers have also determined that children could get enough arsenic on their hands from touching treated wood playgrounds and decks to pose a serious health risk.

In the U.S., inorganic arsenic is primarily used to preserve wood, such as this pressure treated lumber.

Other EPA data suggests that a typical worker who paints penta onto poles in the field may face more than a 100 percent lifetime risk of cancer, the suit notes. Workers such as utility pole installers also face risks many times above EPA's acceptable level.
Despite the phase out announced in February, CCA treated wood used to build playground equipment and decks will be available in the marketplace for years, as wood preservers agreed to stop producing wood for these uses only as of December 31, 2003. Wood treated before that date can continue to be sold as long as it is in stock.

The lawsuit also cites EPA test results that indicate that continued disposal of treated wood in municipal landfills does not provide necessary protection, and violates the agency's hazardous waste regulations. Beyond Pesticides has filed a separate petition urging EPA to reclassify pesticide treated wood waste as hazardous, citing requirements in law.

The American Wood Preservers Institute (AWPI), an industry group, challenges the risks attributed to its products, citing a study performed by a group of Florida physicians who concluded that normal use of pressure treated wood in playgrounds is not harmful to children. The panel of six physicians was appointed in 2001 at the request of the Florida Department of Health to study the use of CCA.

"The amount of arsenic that could be absorbed from playground soil and CCA treated wood is not significant compared to natural sources and will not result in detectable arsenic intake," the panel wrote in a report issued in August.

Arsenic from CCA treated wood can leach into groundwater, contaminating drinking water supplies. (Photo courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

"After a year spent reviewing all aspects of CCA treated wood, this expert panel of doctors came to a simple conclusion - CCA treated wood is safe for use in playsets," said Parker Brugge, executive director of the Treated Wood Council and president of AWPI. "Treated wood has been used safely for nearly 70 years. Based on this report, parents can be assured that children can safely play on recreational equipment made of preserved wood."

The environmental group Beyond Pesticides counters that the availability of safer, cost effective alternatives to wood treated with the three toxic preservers make it unnecessary to expose children or anyone else to the potentially toxic products.

In petitions to the EPA filed last year, and comments on the voluntary partial phase out of CCA submitted earlier this year, Beyond Pesticides cited options including a number of wood preserving chemicals that do not contain arsenic, chromium, penta or creosote, such as Alkaline Copper Quaternary (ACQ), Copper Boron Azole (CBA), Copper-8-quinolinate, and borate based preservatives.

However, even those chemicals should be considered only as a last resort, Beyond Pesticides cautioned, noting that they have some problems of their own. Instead, the group says, consumers and the construction industry should look to sustainably harvested, naturally pest resistant wood species, such as cedar and redwood; recycled steel, fiberglass, or concrete for utility poles or the burial of utility lines; recycled plastic for marine pilings; and composite lumber made with recycled plastic. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/3502 Wed, 04 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/3502
Plans are in the works to replace the well-used equipment, said Recreation Director Roger Maloney. Not only is it worn out, but a chemical used to preserve the wood has caused concern among parents whose kids play at the park.

Chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, a wood treatment that contains arsenic, is present in the playground structure.

The Environmental Protection Agency, with cooperation from the wood industry, called last February for stores to stop selling wood treated with CCA for residential purposes, according to the EPA's Web site. By January 2004, the EPA will not allow CCA-treated lumber to be used for playground equipment, decks or other residential structures.

An EPA press release said, "The EPA has not concluded that CCA-treated wood poses unreasonable risks to the public for existing CCA-treated wood being used around or near their homes or from wood that remains available in stores." The EPA did not say existing structures should be removed.

The Town of Wakefield is erring on the side of caution, though.

An independent company has tested both the wood on the structures and the surrounding ground for arsenic, Maloney said. The results are not yet available.

"It's probably fine, but you don't want the opportunity for a youngster to have health problems," Maloney said.

Concerns were raised earlier this month when a Wakefield resident brought up the CCA question, Maloney said.

Money for the new equipment will likely come in the form of $25,000 from the Recreation Department's capital outlay budget, which will not be decided until April, and from money raised by the Wakefield Center Neighborhood Association, Maloney said.

Plans had already been in place to install equipment suitable for small children on the playground. Arsenic concerns gave enough of a reason to replace all the equipment.

"As far as (the Recreation Department is) concerned, we were going to put a tot lot there anyway," Maloney said.

The new equipment will be steel with a plastic coating and should be easier to maintain, Maloney said. If all the money is raised from the department's budget and from the WCNA, the company that manufactures the equipment will install it, rather than the town doing the installation.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/2749 Wed, 16 Oct 2002 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/2749
But when Cutshall read a warning label on wood being installed as a border, she became alarmed. The sticker cautioned that the wood was treated with inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen that can cause severe illness and even death.

"The warning label tells you if you touch the wood or sit on it or anything like that, you should wash your hands immediately and your clothes should be washed separately," Cutshall said. "It's scary to me."

She and her mother, Virginia Bunnell, are concerned that children who come in contact with the wood may be at risk of arsenic exposure, and other individuals apparently share their worry.

After a Royal Oak parent brought similar concerns to light, that district tested all its wooden equipment and ripped out playscapes at Northwood, Oak Ridge, Upton and Parker elementaries after inorganic arsenic was found. The district plans to remove and replace sandboxes as well. The projects will cost about $100,000 by the time they are complete, even though there is no conclusive proof arsenic-treated wood poses a risk to children.

"We have taken the position that we are going to remove all that stuff from the district," said Andy Linell, executive director of Royal Oak Schools' business affairs. "We're not in a position to evaluate what relative level is a safe level."

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element widely distributed in the earth's crust. It occurs naturally in soil and water, and only is harmful to humans when inhaled or ingested. It accumulates in the body over time, and in large quantities, can increase risks of cancer of serious illness, and cause seizures or nerve damage.

Inorganic arsenic is found in chromated copper arsenate, a common wood preservative that protects docks, decks and other outdoor structures from pests.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will outlaw CCA by December, 2003, but until then it will remain in use.

It has been around for decades, according to Fundamental Playscapes of Ann Arbor, the company Ferndale hired to put in the new playground equipment at Kennedy.

According to the company's president, Johnathan Dreyfuss, the arsenic scare arose in Florida last year, and is completely unfounded.

"What happened was somebody in Florida discovered that the CCA process had leached out of some play structures and CNN went to cover it," Dreyfuss said. "All the playgrounds were open a week later but CNN in their fashion didn't go out to report that. Every media outlet covered the story and somebody made the grand assumption it was dangerous for children to play on these things."

In reaction to the hysteria, the Florida Department of Health appointed a panel of six doctors to study the chemical.

After a year, the Florida Physicians Arsenic Workgroup came to the conclusion the amount of arsenic that can be absorbed from playground soil and CCA-treated wood "is not significant compared to natural sources and will not result in detectable arsenic intake," according to the group's report.

Still, Dreyfuss said he is glad to see the use of CCA ending, for the sake of people who work with the material on a daily basis. Sawing, burning or manufacturing the wood can release arsenic into the air, he said, and the warning labels that alarmed Cutshall are meant for them.

"I researched this stuff pretty intently. I can't find anything that indicates that children are at any realistic risk particularly from this application, but I am also very much in favor that this material is going to be phased out of production and they've found another suitable material that won't put carpenters at risk," Dreyfuss said.

According to Ferndale Superintendent Gary Meier, the district will continue to investigate the situation.

"At this point although we'll continue to review the concern that's been expressed, we haven't found any clinical research or any other information that would suggest kids walking over these timbers to get to the playground equipment would be hazardous," Meier said.

Even Royal Oak is leaving similar wood landscape dividers in place because children do not come into much contact with the wood, although Linell said the dividers will be capped with another material to seal in the CCA.

Bunnell hopes something is done at Kennedy.

"The wood might be within the limit of legality, but not safety," Bunnell said. "We're very concerned about this because the children do sit on the barriers while they're out there. It gets on their clothes, get on their hands and they take it home to smaller children."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1711 Tue, 09 Jul 2002 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1711
Though CCA is infused deep into the fibers of wood under very high pressure, the poison--which keeps the insects away--now seems to be leaching out. It's bad enough if decks, docks and maybe even a few picnic tables begin sweating arsenic, but the toxin was also widely used in children's playgrounds, where over the past couple of decades thousands of whimsical wooden forts and castles have been built on sites that once housed metal swings and cagelike jungle gyms.

Doctors admit that no one knows precisely what concentrations of environmental arsenic are toxic, and the wood-treatment industry insists that wherever that line is, its products don't cross it. Environmental groups, however, disagree, insisting that at any dosage level, children and arsenic don't mix. Says Richard Wiles, pesticide director for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group: "We've pretty much set up an arsenic delivery system for kids."

Most parents know little about the threat of poison in playgrounds, but in government circles, the alarm bells being sounded by consumer groups have reached the point where officials feel they have to act. Last week the Environmental Protection Agency announced that starting in the fall, CCA-treated lumber sold in the U.S. will contain a warning label, and stores will be provided with stickers and signs for their displays. At the same time, the Consumer Product Safety Commission agreed to ask for public comments on petitions that could lead to an outright ban of CCA. In Florida, dozens of playgrounds have been shut down, and Governor Jeb Bush has ordered a state-run wood-treatment plant to switch to another preservative. While adults wrestle with the politics of the problem, however, it's kids who may be paying the ultimate price.

For scientists investigating arsenic, the numbers are sobering. Ninety-eight percent of outdoor wood sold in the U.S. is treated with CCA. In Florida alone, nearly 30,000 tons of arsenic are believed to be at large. Investigators testing soil in the state's playgrounds have found arsenic levels far higher than hazardous-waste experts consider safe. Prolonged exposure can lead to nerve damage, dizziness and numbness, as well as increased risk of bladder, lung and skin cancer.

Rick Feutz knows better than most the harm that arsenic can do. In 1986 the Washington State teacher was building a wooden raft for his children, a job that required a lot of sawing--and a lot of sawdust. Within days, he felt achy and nauseated and experienced a tingling in his hands. The problem persisted, and eventually doctors diagnosed arsenic poisoning. The price he has paid is high: he lost a third of his overall motor control, and, even today, his face remains partly paralyzed. "My eye droops; I have weakness in my arms and legs," he says. "My long-term risk for bladder, lung and other problems is magnified enormously."

An environmental problem that was already coming to light 15 years ago ought, many argue, to have been addressed by now. Nine other nations, including Sweden, Germany, Vietnam and Indonesia, have banned or restricted CCA use, but federal and state regulators in the U.S. have taken a far more lax approach. In 1987, California passed a law requiring CCA-treated structures to be coated with paint or sealant every two years. The EPA set guidelines of its own, establishing a program under which woodmakers would provide a warning sheet with each package of treated lumber shipped to retailers. But critics charge that the California law has been largely ignored and point out that the EPA program is strictly voluntary. Even when suppliers provide warnings, retailers may simply discard them with packing material before customers ever see them.

The fact that the government has gone so easy on arsenic is, according to critics, a testament to the political muscle of the $4 billion-a-year wood-treatment industry. The industry counters that it has been left alone because it deserves to be--and the case it makes has some merit. If CCA were as deadly as some say, factory workers who make the stuff and carpenters who work with it ought to be falling ill in droves. Yet no one reports a measurable increase in disease among these groups. "Certainly, if there were a danger, it would show up," says Mel Pine, spokesman for the American Wood Preservers' Institute.

CCA foes don't buy this, pointing out that the EPA has already banned arsenic for all other pesticide applications--not the kind of thing the agency does lightly. In March, lawyers from Florida, New York, Washington and Indiana filed a class action against the industry and some retailers, hoping to force them to pay for sealing existing structures built with CCA and cleaning up contaminated sites. Such legal sword rattling may be having an effect. Last week PlayNation, a Georgia-based maker of playground equipment, announced that it will immediately switch to nonarsenic-based preservatives. According to several sources, the industry as a whole could make such a change at a cost of just $40,000 per treatment plant. Pine won't speculate on whether the industry will consider making the switch, though he concedes that the final decision "will depend on the market."

Consumers can help shape that market by voting with their wallets. In the meantime, activists are launching a nationwide campaign to encourage testing of playground equipment for arsenic. Next week the Consumer Product Safety Commission will begin a new study to assess the arsenic risk kids face in playgrounds, and the EPA plans similar investigations in the fall. The EPA is also reviewing more than 300 pesticides (including the arsenic in CCA) to decide whether it will continue to approve their use. With the current flap over CCA, there is a fair chance arsenic won't make the cut.

Whatever CCA's ultimate fate, the existing problem will probably be with us for a long time. Even when a playground is torn down, the wood must still be disposed of--not an easy thing to do. Dumping it in an unlined landfill allows arsenic to seep underground. Mulching it scatters CCA on the surface. And burning it fills the air with toxic smoke. Leaving the structures to disintegrate on their own could take a while. CCA is such an effective preservative that those pressure-treated wooden forts and castles might still be standing a generation from now. In retrospect, the old metal swings and jungle gyms are starting to look pretty good. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1704 Sat, 15 Jun 2002 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1704
A: The voluntary ban only covers wood that's likely to come into contact with people, such as decks, boardwalks and playgrounds. CCA wood will still be available for plywood, marine pilings, highway guardrails, bridges, structural timbers for houses, siding, shingles, utility poles, and some agricultural projects, including oyster farms.

Q: How can arsenic affect you?

A: Chronic exposure to arsenic can cause cancer or other health problems. You can pick up minute levels of arsenic from touching treated wood or from touching soil that is contaminated with arsenic.

But it doesn't readily absorb through the skin. The main route of exposure from CCA-treated wood is hand-to-mouth, meaning people touch the wood or contaminated dirt and then eat, smoke or put their hands in their mouths.

People also can inhale arsenic sawdust when working with the wood. Smoke from treated-wood fires is toxic, and the ash is hazardous.

Some people have won legal settlements with the wood-treatment industry after being poisoned by the wood. Arsenic poisoning can cause neurological problems, numbness and paralysis.

Q: How much risk does it pose?

A: That's a tricky question, as homeowners will soon find out if they call around for an answer.

Sometimes, researchers are being paid by the very industry that produces a toxin. Sometimes, government regulators don't have the resources to do their own risk analysis. And, almost always, everyone involved argues over how, exactly, the risk is calculated. Is it based on a full-grown adult? On a small child? Many times, authorities contradict one another, with one state going with one number, another state going with a different number, and the federal government going with another.

A toxicologist hired by the state Department of Environmental Protection says children can pick up enough arsenic during their childhood years playing on wooden playgrounds to increase their risk of cancer later in life.

The wood-treatment industry says arsenic comes off the wood, but says the levels are too low to worry about.

In the end, consumers have to make a judgment call on how much risk -- or how many unknowns -- they are willing to accept.

Q: How can I get my neighborhood playground tested?

A: Call your local government.

Do's and don'ts
Don't bleach or use deck brighteners on CCA wood.

Don't inhale the sawdust. Saw the wood outdoors. Wear a dust mask. Collect the sawdust and throw it away.

Don't use CCA wood for cutting boards or counter tops.

Don't use CCA wood to store food or animal feed.

Don't use CCA wood for wood chips or mulch.

Don't burn CCA wood; the smoke and ash are toxic.

Don't let CCA wood come into contact with drinking water.

Don't grow edible plants near CCA wood; put a plastic liner on the inside of CCA boards used to frame garden beds.

Wash exposed areas thoroughly after working with the wood -- and before eating, drinking or smoking.

Wash children's hands after they play on CCA-wood playgrounds.

If sawdust gets on your clothes, wash them separately.

Keep children and pets out of under-deck areas.

Only use CCA wood that is visibly clean, dry and free of surface residue.

Don't store tools or children's toys under a CCA-treated deck.

Don't let kids or pets play beneath CCA-treated structures. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1710 Fri, 24 May 2002 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1710
Arsenic is one of the components of CCA -- chromated copper arsenate -- a preservative commonly applied to the pressure-treated wood used to build playground equipment.

Some environmentalists worry the chemicals could leach into the soil, exposing children to dangerous levels of toxic substances. They want the government to ban CCA-treated wood for playground equipment.

Industry groups and government agencies say the wood is safe. Nevertheless, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to conduct a new study of CCA-treated wood and an inquiry into its use on children's play equipment.



]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1707 Mon, 13 May 2002 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1707
The wood can be found in many playground sets, picnic tables and backyard decks. Day after day, cartloads of it are sold at lumberyards and home improvement warehouses. However, most people do not know that the wood can be toxic.

The wood is treated with a powerful pesticide called Chromated Copper Arsenate, or CCA.

"It's colorless and odorless, and as a consequence there's no warning," Dr. Ruth Heifetz at the U.C. San Diego School of Medicine told NBC 7/39. " The wood looks perfectly benign."

Tom Holmes used pressure treated wood for the support beams in his children's playhouse because it resists termite damage. Only later did he learn the wood contains a CCA.

He found out that, over time, the arsenic in the wood could leach into the soil. Holmes became concerned, because the space underneath the playhouse was an irresistible place for his children to play.

"It made me wonder whether I should have it at my house," he said.

CCA Is Banned But Still Available

The Environmental Protection Agency banned CCA-treated lumber in February. But stores can continue to sell it until the end of next year. Until then, the only warning for consumers is a small label about half the size of a business card that warns of the danger. But you can also identify pressure-treated lumber because it has hundreds of small slits cut in the surface to help the CCA soak in.

Heifetz warns that the arsenic in the lumber can cause long-term health problems and even cancer.

"I have grandchildren, and I know I wouldn't want my grandchildren anywhere near those materials," Heifetz said.

Scientists say there are plenty alternative woods on the market that are resistant to insects and rot without toxic chemicals. But pressure-treated lumber is less expensive than redwood and cedar, and stores say it continues to outsell the alternatives in San Diego.

Poison Poses Greatest Risk To Children

Health officials believe CCA poses the greatest risk to children. They crawl across it, hang on it, and swing on it. They get arsenic all over their hands and then do what most children do, put their hands, now treated with arsenic, in their mouths.

But adults can get sick, too, from inhaling sawdust and absorbing arsenic through the skin. CCA-treated wood is most dangerous when it is burned. The arsenic is released into the air, and it concentrates in the ashes. Just one tablespoon of ash contains a lethal dose of arsenic.

The following recommendations can help protect children, pets and others from possible arsenic exposure:

Seal existing treated-wood structures every one to two years with a weather-resistant coating of polyurethane or an oil-based, semi-transparent stain. Penetrating sealants form a barrier on the wood surface that can significantly reduce the amount of arsenic released from the wood while also protecting and preserving the wood.

Keep children and pets away from under-deck areas, where arsenic may have leached.
Make sure children wash their hands thoroughly after playing on wood structures, especially before eating or drinking.

Food should not come into direct contact with any treated wood. Cover tables with tablecloths.
Treated wood should not be used where it may come into direct or indirect contact with drinking water.

Do not sand CCA structures or power-wash by highly abrasive means.

Do not use CCA-treated wood for picnic tables, garden beds or compost bins, and do not grow edible plants near CCA-treated decks.

Do not burn CCA-treated wood, as toxic chemicals may be released in the smoke and become concentrated in the ashes.

Cut CCA-treated wood outdoors and wear a dust mask, goggles and gloves. Clean up all sawdust, scraps and other construction debris and dispose of in the trash.

After working with CCA-treated wood, wash exposed skin, especially hands, with soap and water before eating, drinking or using tobacco products. Wash work clothes separately from other household clothing before wearing them again.
Homeowners who are planning to add or repair a deck, playground or other outdoor structures should look for arsenic-free alternatives such as redwood, cedar, arsenic-free treated wood, plastics, composite materials or metal. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1709 Sun, 12 May 2002 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1709
The dilemma is brought on by an agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and manufacturers to phase out CCA-treated wood and move to other preservatives by the end of 2003.

CCA, or chromated copper arsenate, has been the main preservative for pressure-treated wood, which has been used by millions of homeowners and at many parks and playgrounds for decks, play equipment, picnic tables, boardwalks, fences, landscaping timbers, patios, outdoor furniture, and other outdoor structures. The preservative makes the wood highly resistant to rot, decay and insect damage.

The agreement, announced in February, will ban the use of arsenic in wood intended for most residential uses because, in the EPA's words, "arsenic is a known human carcinogen" and "excessive exposure to inorganic arsenic can be hazardous to your health." EPA hedges a bit in adding that, while it "has not concluded that there is unreasonable risk to the public... we do believe that any reduction in exposure to arsenic is desirable."

The questions facing users of CCA-treated wood are: What do I do about all the CCA-treated projects already in use around the house, and should I continue to use CCA-treated wood in new projects until the end of next year.

Here are some answers:

Existing uses. Understandably, most users will not want to scrap their CCA-treated decks, picnic tables, and other structures, and they probably should not. There are some precautions that can be taken to reduce any danger from the arsenic in CCA.

But first, if a homeowner is in doubt about whether CCA-treated wood was used for a project, how can he or she find out?

Most CCA-treated wood is Southern yellow pine, a strong wood with a prominent grain pattern. CCA-treated wood generally started out with a greenish tint (from the preservative), but over time it turns gray like other woods exposed to outdoor conditions. The wood might have a stamped-on label indicating that CCA was used. In general, if a wood deck is not cedar or redwood, it is probably CCA-treated. If still in doubt, try to get information from the wood supplier or installer.

Regular sealing (annually or at least every two years) of CCA-treated wood can help protect users. The EPA recommends oil-based, semi-transparent stains for sealing. Paint or latex-based sealers are not recommended.

Never let food come into contact with treated wood, and always wash hands after contact with it. Never burn scraps of CCA-treated wood, even in an open fire. Instead, put scraps in the trash for burial in a landfill.

Future uses. Anyone planning outdoor projects will still be able to obtain CCA-treated wood through this year and next, and probably even longer, until existing stocks are gone. Each person will have to make his or her own decision, but I have already made mine: no more CCA-treated wood for me.

Excellent substitutes are available, although most of them cost more than CCA wood. Cedar is probably the most readily available alternative. It has natural resistance to rot and weather, and, in my experience, is less likely to warp and crack than pressure-treated wood. Redwood, teak and ipe are fine alternatives, but they are often expensive and difficult to find.

Pressure-treated wood using arsenic-free preservative appears to be the wave of the future. Already available at some lumberyards are treated woods such as Preserve and Preserve Plus, which use a preservative called alkaline copper quat, or ACQ.

For decking, boardwalks and some other uses, wood composites are an excellent choice. These are made of ground-up wood and plastic, and are sold at many home centers and lumberyards under various brand names.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1705 Wed, 01 May 2002 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1705
Target 5's Lisa Parker recently examined the dangers of pressure-treated wood, noting that most of the outdoor lumber used today is pressure-treated with toxins, and that can be more dangerous than most of us know.

"You have to ask yourself 'is this sort of a made up issue or not?'" a father at a local playground wondered.

According to Parker, it's not a made up issue. In fact, she said, the most common toxin used in pressure-treated wood contains arsenic. It acts as a preservative and a pesticide, but is also a poison and some worry that it could be poisonous to those most vulnerable.

"A 12-foot section contains about an ounce of arsenic, which is actually enough in its pure form to kill about 250 people," Rep. Jan Schakowsky said.

Schakowsky is now on a mission to get rid of the wood entirely, Parker reported. She's hoping to pass a bill that would not only require the lumber industry to find an alternative, but to dispose of all arsenic-treated lumber in lined landfills.

And while the Environmental Protection Agency is already calling for a voluntary phasing-out of the pressure-treated wood by 2004, Schakowsky said that doesn't go far enough.

"My concern is that it is voluntary and it's not a requirement and, at worst, the legislation I propose would be redundant, but at least it could protect a lot of kids from a hazard," Schakowsky told NBC5.

The EPA is still months away from an on-going risk analysis. Government scientists are following up on a handful of cases where illnesses may be directly linked to exposure to treated wood. While those cases are still pending, Parker said the potential danger still lurks in the most unsuspected places. "We know at least that potentially there is a hazard there," Schakowsky said, "so, I think it makes total sense to take precautions right now."

Parker reported that there are ways parents can protect children in the meantime. You can seal the wood once a year with polyurethane. You can cover picnic tables with a tablecloth and after visits to the playground, as all health professionals recommend, you can wash your children's hands. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1706 Wed, 06 Feb 2002 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1706
A fence, a sandbox -- even your child's play set could be made of "toxic timber."

We're talking about pressure-treated lumber, the kind sold in home improvement stores everywhere.

It's resistant to rot and fungus because it's treated with a pesticide called CCA, Chromated Copper Arsenate which contains arsenic, a known carcinogen.

For years, the lumber industry has insisted it's safe--our investigation suggests otherwise.

It's supposed to be where children are safest, their own back yard.

So when Chuck Whittrock built his kids a swing set and sandbox of pressure treated wood ten years ago, he didn't give it a second thought.

"Everybody uses it, we thought it must be safe," he says.

But something was wrong, 10-year-old Erick and 8-year-old Alex began developing odd, unexplained symptoms.

With Erick, it was vision problems.

"I was reading books way younger than I should be," he says.

Alex also had vision problems, and wild, unexplained temper tantrums.

"'Cause he would hit at us when he was mad and angry that we had to wrap him up in a sheet to contain him," says Sherry Whittrock, their mother.

After years of medical dead ends, the Whittrocks in desperation finally decided to have Alex tested for heavy metal poisoning.

"And were shocked to find he had arsenic off the chart," Sherry Whittrock says.

Erick and Alex had been exhibiting these symptoms for years, but the family was never sure exactly where the arsenic was coming from.

They were shocked to discover it could be coming from their own backyard. That's when they decided to call us.

With the help of Paul Bogart of the Healthy Building Network, we dug soil and swabbed timber.

All in accordance with testing procedures endorsed by the EPA.

We took samples not only from the children's play structures, but also the family's vegetable garden -- which has raised beds made of pressure treated wood.

And because arsenic does occur naturally in soil, we took a couple of control samples as well.

According to the Washington Department of Ecology the expected naturally occurring level of arsenic in soil is 7 parts per million.

Clean-up level is 20 parts per million.

Our tests show the control sample at 8 parts per million. But the soil in the Whittrock's garden was 25.6 parts per million -- over the State clean-up level.

It gets worse. The soil around the swing set was 154.4 parts per million, almost 8 times the state clean-up level.

But the real shocker was the whopping 802 micrograms per 100 square centimeters of arsenic on the surface of the swing set itself.

"For a residential setting, for older wood, this is way above anything they've tested to date," says Paul Bogart of the Healthy Building Network.

Experts say high levels of arsenic in soil and on the surface of wood are dangerous to kids because the poison rubs off on their hands, then they place their hands in their mouths.

And once poisoned, symptoms are often misread.

"We're seeing so many children that are being labeled A.D.D. or depressed and really what is probably going on is the neuro cognitive effects of heavy metals," says Dr. Lyn Hanshew, a Family Medicine Practitioner who specializes in testing kids for exposure to heavy metals.

The Pressure Treated Lumber Industry refuses to comment directly on the Whittrock case. But manufacturers continue to insist CCA treated wood IS safe.

"CCA is a chemical that's been around for gosh 75 or 100 years, and has had a very good track record of safety and efficacy ... and it's been a tremendous product," says Stan Bishroprick, President of Exterior Wood, Inc., a firm that makes pressure-treated wood.

The Whittrocks, though, aren't so sure. Both boys are now in detox for their heavy metal poisoning.

"Hope you enjoyed the swing set while it lasted, cause that's got to go," says Chuck Whittrock.

Because of stories like this, the EPA and the Pressure Treated Lumber Industry are in talks, even as we speak on a voluntary phase-out of CCA treated wood.

Right now, the EPA is not advising consumers to remove existing decks or other structures because "the amount of arsenic that leaches from CCA-treated lumber drops significantly as the wood ages."

A direct contradiction what we found: a 10-year-old swing set that's apparently still leaching lots of arsenic. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1727 Sun, 11 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1727
But now, it turns out, pressure-treated wood might be Florida's newest environmental hazard.

All over the state, pressure-treated boards and posts are leaking poisonous arsenic into the soil. The arsenic comes from chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, a powerful pesticide brew that is injected into the boards to give them long life against the elements.

Arsenic is leaking out of huge wooden playgrounds that volunteers built all over Tampa Bay. It's leaking beneath decks and state park boardwalks, at levels that are dozens of times, even hundreds of times higher than the state considers safe. And discarded pressure-treated lumber is leaking arsenic out of unlined landfills, state experts say, posing a threat to drinking water.

If you've never heard of this before, you're not alone.

Most people who buy the popular wood don't have a clue that it contains toxic pesticides.

They don't know the wood has been banned in several countries. They don't know that some companies that sell the arsenic-filled wood in the United States make another kind of pressure-treated wood, one that doesn't have arsenic in it, and sell it overseas.

Americans haven't demanded a more environmentally friendly product because the bad news about pressure-treated wood isn't widely known here.

Most people don't know that they are supposed to wear gloves and a dust mask when working with the wood. They don't know they are supposed to clean up the arsenic-laced sawdust and wash their clothes and hands after building with it. They don't know that a burning pile of pressure-treated lumber gives off toxic smoke.

They don't know that people have won legal settlements with the wood-treatment industry because they were poisoned by arsenic. And that some communities have moved away from pressure-treated wood playgrounds after finding higher-than-normal levels of arsenic in the soil. Even Disney has stopped using CCA-treated wood at its Animal Kingdom, out of concern for the animals.

A pinch of pure arsenic can kill you. Long-term exposure to the poison can cause cancer. But how much threat does arsenic, slowly oozing out of posts and boards, pose to people? Unfortunately, there isn't a clear answer.

The industry says its studies show the wood is safe. Still, some wood-treaters predict that change is coming. Some companies are starting to make pressure-treated wood without arsenic. They expect that as people become more aware of the arsenic issue, environmental regulators and consumers will start demanding something safer.

In the 1990s, volunteers in communities all over the Tampa Bay area got together to build fantastic wooden playgrounds for kids. They created elaborate structures with spires, tunnels and secret hiding places, dreamscapes that the children helped design.

To raise money, the volunteers held chicken dinners. A group in Tampa held a "Pennies from Heaven" fundraiser and collected thousands of dollars worth of pennies, then spread them out to cover Jesuit High School's gymnasium floor.

The volunteers joined to hammer and saw and nail, like an old-fashioned barn raising. The kids, crawling through tunnels and clambering over wooden dragons, were thrilled.

Little did they know the pressure-treated wood they used to build these playgrounds is leaking arsenic, contaminating the soil of every one of their play yards.

The St. Petersburg Times hired Thorton Laboratories of Tampa to take a soil test near the sunken posts at five wooden playgrounds picked randomly around the Tampa Bay area: Tom Varn Park in Brooksville, Creative Community Playground in Crystal River, Sims Park in New Port Richey, Discovery Playground in Tarpon Springs and Al Lopez Park in Tampa. Each of the tests came back positive for arsenic at levels higher than the state considers safe.

On a crisp sunny Friday morning in Tarpon Springs, Vicki and Gerry Stancil bring their kids to Discovery Playground, a spectacular wooden playscape in a park shaded by oak trees. Allison, who is 3, and Andrew, who is 4, scamper through the tunnels and towers. The kids roll around on the ground, pick themselves up and they're off again.

The Times' test shows that this playground is leaching arsenic into the soil at nearly seven times the level the state considers safe for neighborhoods.

"They use poison? I didn't know that," Vicki Stancil said nervously. "I would never, ever, have considered that they put that in the wood."

The EPA banned most arsenic pesticides years ago except pressure-treated wood.

"I wouldn't make a picnic table out of it and eat on it, but if you use precautions and maintain it properly, you can come up with a safe playground," said Marc Leathers, whose firm, Leathers & Associates, helped build the playgrounds the Times tested. "There's hundreds of studies out there that tell you one thing or the other."

Most major home centers sell picnic tables made from CCA-treated wood, even though wood-treatment companies specifically say it never should be used for cutting boards or other food-preparation surfaces.

As for playgrounds, the health department in Connecticut was concerned enough to issue this warning three years ago:

"It is now clear that exposure from CCA-treated wood can be the major source of arsenic for children who frequently play on CCA-treated playscapes, tree houses, or decks.

"Arsenic is easily taken up onto hands from simple contact with the wood surface. Young children with frequent hand-to-mouth activity may swallow some of this arsenic . . . children should be prevented from playing underneath CCA-treated structures, including backyard playscapes, to minimize exposure to soil which may be contaminated with arsenic."

No barricades keep kids from playing under any of the playgrounds the Times tested. Even the sand boxes where the youngest children play are made out of CCA-treated lumber.

At Al Lopez Park, the city of Tampa tested and found arsenic, though at lower levels than the newspaper found. The Times' test showed the arsenic level near the playground is about 11 times greater than the state considers safe for neighborhoods.

Another way to put it: It's about three times more arsenic than the state allows in the cleanup at the Stauffer Chemical Superfund site in Tarpon Springs.

Switzerland, Vietnam and Indonesia have banned CCA-treated wood. Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Australia and New Zealand have restricted or proposed restrictions for it.

The wood-treatment industry, which fought off efforts to ban CCA-treated lumber in Minnesota, says it poses little risk.

"Is it safe? The answer is: Yes, it is perfectly safe. We don't see a problem," said Scott Ramminger, president of the American Wood Preservers Institute.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that's in soil everywhere. Florida's safety level is among the most stringent in the country so stringent, Ramminger says, that arsenic levels considered unsafe here are considered normal background levels in soil elsewhere. He says kids crawling over play sets have a greater risk of getting skin cancer from the sun than from CCA-treated wood.

"Children are not spending 100 percent of their time under a post. They are running around the playground," Ramminger said. "You show me the research that says it's doing any harm, there isn't any."

"CCA has been used for 70 years. It isn't this big "unknown,' " said Bob Gruber, a vice president of Arch Wood Treatment. "If you look at the studies that have been done and the amount of exposure you'd have to have, there's just no evidence" that it's harmful.

But in New Zealand, a brochure put out by Gruber's company boasts that wood treated with another compound, Copper Azole, "is a significant improvement over traditional CCA treatment, as it substantially reduces reliance on and exposure to the more toxic heavy metals such as chromium and arsenic. . . . It is environmentally responsible to specify or use Copper Azole treated lumber."

Another CCA manufacturer, Chemical Specialties in Charlotte, N.C., markets an arsenic-free wood:

"From the pristine environments of national parks in North America, Australia, Europe and Japan, to neighborhood playgrounds and back yards like yours, Preserve treated wood has been used around the globe to provide a durable building product for outdoor projects where environmental values and product safety are a priority."

Florida researchers have been testing for arsenic around treated wood decks all over the state and finding it.

"The data is compelling that arsenic is leaching out of the wood, and it's leaching out in concentrations much higher than we previously thought," said Bill Hinkley, who heads the solid and hazardous waste bureau at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

"The question is: How much of a problem is it? That's what we're struggling with. Are these playgrounds safe? I don't think we have good enough data to say," Hinkley said.

"This is a very toxic metal, and if there's an alternative that's less toxic, we should use it."

There is an alternative, the wood treated without arsenic. But because it isn't widely available, it costs from 5 percent to 20 percent more. For some, that's a fair trade-off.

"We made a decision that if there was something else out there, we would prefer to use it for our community," said John Bowles, the manager of Orange Park in Clay County. "It came down to: Why deal with something that could be a potential problem if you can avoid it?"

In Miami, Dave Azadi runs a playground sales firm, Playkids. After learning of the arsenic leaching, Azadi switched to arsenic-free wood.

"The consumers took to the one with no arsenic," Azadi said. "I didn't want to have a product that somebody could come along later and ask: Why didn't you switch?"

But to ask for an alternative, people have to know the danger exists. That goes back to education, which was supposed to be the linchpin of the EPA's regulatory approach.

The EPA reviewed treated wood 19 years ago. As one of its options, the agency considered an outright ban but decided that "the economic impact which would result from across-the-board cancellation would be immense."

Instead, the EPA decided that a warning label was the answer: "The agency believes that the majority of the population exposed to or using pesticide-treated wood is not aware that the wood is treated by a pesticide," said a 1982 EPA study.

"Potential dermal exposure and inhalation exposure may occur to persons involved in handling and sawing pesticide-treated wood, contacting treated playground equipment or other treated structures with unprotected skin."

As for the health risk, the EPA said: "The potential of arsenic to cause delayed neurotoxic effects cannot be estimated for either adults or young children."

The industry balked at the EPA's proposed labeling requirement, offering instead to start a "Voluntary Consumer Awareness Program.'

The EPA signed off on the idea. The agency had gone from considering a ban on the wood, to deciding to require a warning label, to letting the industry police itself.

Today, you're supposed to get a fact sheet: "When working with treated wood, you should wear a dust mask, goggles and gloves. Collect the arsenic-laced sawdust and dispose of it. Work in a well-ventilated area. Wash clothes covered in sawdust separately. Burning CCA-wood can be life-threatening."

The industry's settlement letter with the EPA promised that consumer sheets would be handed out at lumber stores: "The sign or placard will be prominently displayed in the sales areas and will inform consumers of the availability of the consumer information sheets."

Today, there are no "prominently displayed" placards. Retailers rarely hand out the fact sheet.

Conversations with the people who played key roles in building the Tampa Bay area community playgrounds illustrate the failings of the Voluntary Consumer Awareness Program.

Roxann Mayros, who spearheaded the effort for the $70,000 wooden playground at Sims Park in New Port Richey, said she had no idea arsenic was in the wood.

"I'm appalled," she said. "We looked at every safety issue we could think to look at, and the wood treatment was not anything we thought to look at. We did not receive any warning at all, not from Leathers (the design firm) and not from the firm we purchased the wood from."

Said Barry Segal, a Leathers & Associates employee: "There's no hidden thing here. On the materials sheet, it says right at the top of the list the type of lumber we use. We don't believe it's harmful."

Leathers & Associates now gives communities the option of choosing arsenic-free wood, Segal said, but most go with the less expensive CCA-wood.

Kitty Ebert coordinated 1,500 volunteers to build Creative Playground in Crystal River in 1995.

"I had no idea it had arsenic in it. You say to me it's pressure-treated and I don't know what pressure-treated means," Ebert said. "If they sell it at Scotty's and it doesn't say poison, I think it's okay."

Now, as regulators begin taking a closer look at CCA, some people in the wood-treatment industry say change is coming.

Jay Robbins of Robbins Manufacturing in Tampa has been in the treated wood business since the 1950s. He worries that wood will lose its market edge to plastic products if wood-treaters change to less toxic but more expensive chemicals.

"I think there's a lot of people watching the regulators," Robbins said. "This is coming to the end sooner or later. In the next five years, it will probably change. People will find alternative chemicals that will do the same thing. To the extent it's safer, people go for that."

Bill Eure of Quality Forest Products in North Carolina says that after 20 years of using CCA, his company will switch to arsenic-free treatment this year.

"We recognize it as a problem," Eure said. "It's going to be like Germany, where people don't use CCA anymore. They use products that are environmentally safer."

Chemical Specialties, also in North Carolina, is one of the leading CCA producers. Vice president Dave Fowlie says he has seen a shift by playground manufacturers toward the arsenic-free treatment his company also makes.

"Mainly because it puts their customers minds at ease," Fowlie said. "What we sell is what the market wants."

A big part of what the market wants is on home improvement store shelves.

Lowe's plans to switch to arsenic-free treated wood for its picnic tables, a company spokesman said. But for now, Lowe's sells CCA-wood picnic tables and its playscapes and treated lumber are CCA.

Home Depot is sticking with CCA.

"We haven't seen any evidence that there's abundant leaching, any leaching that would prove to be hazardous to people or animals," said Ron Jarvis, a Home Depot global product manager. "If there's evidence that comes out that says arsenic is harmful to people and animals, we'd have to look at that."

The state's interest in arsenic contamination began a few years ago, in the flat, green fields of South Florida sugar country.

For years, the sugar companies burned cane husks in boilers to provide electricity for the sugar mills, then spread the boiler ash onto the fields.

When routine tests discovered arsenic in the fields in the mid-1990s, state regulators went hunting for the cause. They found it: The sugar companies had started burning waste wood, along with the cane husks, to fire the boilers. Much of the old wood was CCA lumber.

Research started in earnest. One study -- by Helena Solo-Gabriele of the University of Miami and Tim Townsend of the University of Florida has state regulators paying close attention.

They tested soil under eight pressure-treated decks around the state in 1999 and found arsenic in every case. Of 73 samples, 61 had higher arsenic levels than the state's safety limit for cleanup at industrial sites. One sample, taken under a deck tacked onto the back of a trailer in Miami, had nearly 300 times more arsenic than the state's safe limit.

"We have many sites in Florida that we're making people clean up that have lesser levels of contaminants," said Hinkley of the Florida DEP.

But change doesn't come easily. Consider the state of Florida.

The Department of Corrections and PRIDE, a private company that gives job-training to prisoners, run a wood treatment plant at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. It ships CCA-treated wood all over Florida for highway guard rails, park pavilions and boardwalks.

In the early 1990s, arsenic contamination was discovered at the plant at levels 100 times more than state standards.

The state and PRIDE had to haul off a 2-foot layer of arsenic-laced soil that covered more than an acre; they still have to clean arsenic from the groundwater.

Last year, Hinkley asked the people who run the plant to abandon CCA and switch to more environmentally friendly chemicals. Though they were grappling with massive arsenic contamination on site, the plant operators refused to make the change. They worried that introducing an unfamiliar product would cost them their competitive edge.

DEP Secretary David Struhs said he plans to fight for money during this legislative session that would help the state's wood-treatment plant go arsenic-free. Then state agencies could start using arsenic-free wood, creating demand and, perhaps, bringing prices down.

Said Struhs: "It's the demand more than any regulation that's going to get (wood-treaters) to switch fast."

It's a balmy spring day, and the lumber section at a Home Depot in Tallahassee is bustling with people gearing up for back-yard projects. Lisa Cruse and her 11-year-old daughter, Jessica, are buying CCA-treated boards to build a grape arbor.

Cruse has no idea what "pressure-treated" means, except that it will last longer outdoors. The wood she's buying has a tiny tag, a little bigger than a pinkie finger, that says: "Top Choice Lumber Products. Water Repellent Treated Wood. Georgia Pacific Corporation." It doesn't mention chromium or copper or arsenic.

Told that the wood contains arsenic, Cruse wrinkles up her nose. She wants to know: Why doesn't the government make them tell people what's in the wood? "They are supposed to be protecting us, but they aren't."

The store doesn't sell arsenic-free treated wood, so Cruse buys what's there. She doesn't ask for the consumer information sheet, the one the wood treatment industry promised to distribute years ago.

It wouldn't have mattered: The store doesn't have the sheets. Instead, for anyone who knows enough to ask, the clerk offers a toll-free phone number to call to learn how to handle CCA wood.

In San Diego, a woman answers the phone. It's run by a hazardous waste disposal company that has a contract with Home Depot.

"Is this a medical emergency or chemical spill?" she asks.

No.

The caller is put on hold. A friendly voice intones: "Did you know that over 2,000 chemicals are considered hazardous?"]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1728 Sun, 11 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1728
Because of that, tons of treated wood decks and playgrounds that wear out can be dumped in unlined landfills.

Now, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is concerned that the leaking arsenic poses a threat to drinking water. At the West Pasco landfill, for example, tests in the mid 1990s showed arsenic levels 1 1/2 times the level the state considers safe for drinking water.

The wood-treatment industry's trade association says the state tests don't prove that the arsenic is coming from treated wood.

The DEP predicts the problem only will get worse. The tonnage of pressure-treated lumber going to landfills is expected to increase seven-fold over the next 25 years.

Some counties recycle wood piles by turning them into mulch. But when pressure-treated lumber is chopped into mulch, the contamination can spread more readily to soil and ground water.

"My concern is what happens when (CCA-treated wood) is recycled into mulch and you put it in your garden and start working with it with your hands," said DEP Secretary David Struhs. "People think they are doing something environmentally responsible by recycling the wood, but they are creating a public health hazard."

State Rep. Ron Greenstein, a South Florida Democrat, has filed a bill that would require landfill operators to prove to the state that they shouldn't have liners. If they couldn't prove it, they would have to put in a liner, an expensive proposition.

The wood-treatment industry has hired one of Florida's most powerful lobbying firms, Hopping, Green, Sams & Smith, to monitor the Legislature this year. Greenstein says that lobbyists from Washington recently flew to Tallahassee and took him and two other lawmakers to lunch to downplay the state's concerns about leaking landfills.

Meanwhile, the EPA is reviewing CCA and has proposed tougher limits for the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water, which could create regulatory problems at landfills that leak arsenic.

"We're concerned," said Richard Gentry, lobbyist for the Florida Homebuilders Association. "If we have to start sending that stuff to a lined landfill, it's going to get real expensive.

"I do know there are alternatives to arsenic. I suspect that, very shortly, we're going to be looking at alternatives. We're not out to poison anybody." ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1729 Sun, 11 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1729
Sawing and building, he felt like he was coming down with the flu. "By the end of eight days, I was completely numb from my neck down," said Feutz, who is 53 now.

Feutz was poisoned by the arsenic-treated wood. His brain damage and paralysis continues today. He filed a lawsuit against the industry, and the settlement is confidential.

He hopes that sharing his story will save others from a similar experience.

"I'm sure the stuff doesn't react with everybody like it did with me, or we'd hear more about it," said Feutz, adding that the wood he was using was wet from the chemical treatment.

"If I'd known it was arsenic, I wouldn't have used it. I'd tell people to use good precautions, wear a mask, wear gloves, all the things I didn't do."

Jimmy Sipes wishes he wore gloves and a mask when he was building picnic tables for the U.S. Forest Service in Indiana.

"I thought it was treated with salt," said Sipes, a 57-year-old who was poisoned by arsenic in 1983. "They told us we didn't have to wear anything."

In a horrible vomiting episode, Sipes lost half the blood in his body. A doctor concluded he had a rare disease. After convalescing for a year, Sipes went back to work. The vomiting returned.

"I asked my wife: Find out what's in the wood," Sipes said. "Ninety-nine percent of people don't know what's in the wood. They say it's not harmful, but we know it is."

Laurie Walker was helping her husband unload CCA-treated fence posts from a pickup truck when she got a splinter, which caused festering unlike any she'd seen.

"I had a couple of fingers amputated because of it," said Walker, who is 43 and lives outside Salt Lake City. "The doctor wanted to find out what was in the wood. I had no idea. It was the first time we'd used it. If I knew it was in there, I wouldn't have bought the wood."

"How many other people are like that? They never know what hit them," said David McRea, an Indiana lawyer who represented Sipes, who settled for $667,000, and Walker, whose case hasn't been resolved. "Carpenters don't know what's in the wood -- carpenters!"

Proving that the wood harmed someone is difficult. "Let's say you have children exposed to a carcinogen and 30 years down the road they get cancer. Your chances of proving that are zero," McRea said.

"I have to ask: Why are they building playgrounds out of treated wood? Why?

"The (wood treatment industry) said: "Well, it's fixed in the wood. It's toxic to bugs but it's safe for humans.' They said there's no proof that anybody's been injured. And it's just not true." ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1817 Wed, 28 Jan 1998 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/1817
Three quarterhorses in Clay County, Fla., fell ill after “cribbing” or biting repeatedly on a pressure-treated wood fence. Two died.

You could pick up more than just a splinter from the chemically impregnated wood widely used to build backyard decks, playground equipment, picnic tables, lawn furniture, fences, gazebos, and boat docks.

The dense, gray-green wood can make you sick, pollute the environment and isn’t as durable as the treated wood industry claims, said Edward Polaski, who compiled a review of research on pressure-treated wood for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

“My report should be a wake-up call,” said Polaski, who until recently worked for the department as a wood use adviser. “Certainly use of this wood needs more study.”

According to Polaski’s research, chromate-copper-arsenate, or CCA, the highly toxic chemical pesticide widely used as a wood preservative, can seep out of the wood. Those cancer-causing chemicals could pose a health concern and an environmental threat during the wood’s useful life and after its disposal.

Polaski thinks the CCA-treated wood - comprising more than 90 percent of the $2.5 billion a year treated wood market - should be banned or its use severely restricted to areas where people won’t regularly touch it.

But the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the agency that ordered the report, believes Polaski overstates the dangers from CCA-treated wood. The U.S. Forest Service, not to mention the wood industry, is similarly skeptical. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it is reasonably safe if used appropriately.

But Polaski is not alone in his concerns.

“I don’t think his conclusions are overstated. It’s better to be concerned and conservative before you make the mistake of introducing arsenic into the environment,” said Dr. Garn Wallace, a biochemist at Wallace Laboratory, in El Segundo, Calif. The private lab specializes in plant nutrition, soil composition testing and heavy metals research.

Wallace said liquid oozing from CCA-treated wood could contaminate ground water under porous-sandy soils and produce a host of health problems in humans, from liver and kidney failure to cancers.

Wallace’s studies show arsenic from CCA-treated wood stunts plant growth and turns leaves yellow. Vegetables grown in soil with an elevated arsenic level can contain high arsenic levels themselves. At playgrounds with CCA-treated wood equipment, Wallace has found soil samples showing 10, 20, even 100 times the background level of arsenic in nearby soils.

“It’s obvious from the studies that the growth of herbaceous plants is injured in the presence of CCA-treated wood,” he said. “I don’t know at what levels injuries to people will occur, but there is a plausible risk factor.”

The treated wood industry denies there is a risk if the wood is handled and used properly, and maintains CCA is a safe preservative suitable for structural uses around homes, and in parks and playgrounds.

“There is a 60-year history of CCA in the United States where it has been used successfully,” said Allan Wilbur, a spokesman for the American Wood Preservers Institute. “Of the 160,000 playground accidents that occur annually, none are related to the leaching of those chemicals.”

But a growing number of court cases and jury verdicts have blamed the chemicals for causing harm.

In one case, James Sipes, a U.S. Forest Service worker in the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana, was saw CCA-treated wood to build picnic tables one spring when he got so sick that he vomited up half the blood in his body.

Doctors didn’t identify the cause of his problem until he went back to work. The next spring he was given the same job and he started vomiting blood again. A jury said the chemicals in the wood caused the problems and awarded him $100,000. Twenty-six companies involved with production and supply of the chemicals and wood settled out of court, paying Sipes $667,200.

“The problem with CCA exposure is that you can’t show a history, you could have people getting ill and thinking it’s any number of things - arthritis, the flu,” said David McCray, an Indiana lawyer who has won three claims involving injuries from CCA-treated wood.

“The effects of CCA exposure can be insidious and can range from hair loss, to itching skin, bleeding, nerve damage. Chemical exposure health problems are difficult to pinpoint and can mimic many things.”

Polaski’s report on CCA-treated wood, and another one critical of the state Bureau of Forestry’s fledgling Timber Bridge Program, were done when he worked for the state.

The bridge program, developed to promote use of Pennsylvania hardwoods for small bridge projects, uses the preservative creosote, which is toxic to humans.

The DCNR has disowned both reviews, initiated by Polaski in the early 1990’s with the approval of James C. Nelson, then Pennsylvania’s state forester, to determine if CCA-treated wood is safe. The first draft of the CCA-treated wood review wasn’t completed until June 1994, after James Grace became state forester.

Grace asked the U.S. Forest Service to critique Polaski’s CCA review. In August 1994, Thomas Hamilton, director of the Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory, wrote to Grace saying that “although there are some legitimate concerns about the use of CCA-treated wood, [Polaski] overstates the literature and makes assumptions that are not supported by scientific fact.”

“The Forest Service had negative comments and no one has told us his research is valid,” said Gretchen Leslie, a DCNR spokeswoman.

Polaski was fired from the Forestry Bureau job he had held since 1981 in August, four months before his retirement. Polaski said he was let go because of his work on the reports and resulting pressure from the wood products industry, a charge the state denies.

Polaski’s CCA-treated wood report cited studies showing 20 percent, 30 percent, even more than 50 percent of the chemical can “leach” out of the wood. Much of the problem is caused by impure or improperly applied chemicals used in the wood treatment process, causing incomplete “fixing” of the chemicals within the wood.

Studies also show that exposure to acidic rainfall increases the risk of chemical leaching. “Given the acid rainfall in our state,” Polaski said, “the amount of these toxic CCA chemicals leached may increase over time.” Determining the actual leaching rate, however, will require studies of lumber stockpiles and of wood sent to landfills,” he added.

Samuel Rotenberg, a toxicologist at the EPA’s Philadelphia regional office, said the chemical do leach from the wood, but there have been no studies of production conditions and their effects on leaching rates.

He warned that individuals who cut, saw, or sand the wood can be exposed to high levels of toxic chemicals and should protect themselves by wearing a breathing filter over their noses and mouths.

“As far as using a boardwalk or deck built from CCA wood, I don’t think that would present an unreasonable risk,” Rotenberg said. “But I would not build a children’s sandbox out of the stuff because arsenic can leach into the sand and be eaten by children. I also wouldn’t build a sandbox under such a deck because we know now that there can be increased arsenic levels in those areas from sawdust produced during construction.”

Polaski said the high volume of treated wood produced increases potential hazards. More than 50 billion board feet of chemically treated wood has been produced over the last decade at 550 different production plants. About 17 percent of all softwood lumber is pressure-treated today.

Each year, commercial wood treatment infused wood with 137.5 million pounds of chemicals.

John Hall, a spokesman for the American Wood Preservers Association, said that while there are more than 90 standards governing the wood preservative industry and treatment processes, there are none setting acceptable CCA leaching levels.

“There are no standards that specify a level for minimal or maximum migration of chemical pesticides from wood,” Hall said. “Those studies that show a high rate, well, 40 or 50 percent sounds unbelievable.”

CCA-treated wood, first used in India in 1933 and approved by the American Wood Preservers Association for use by Bell Telephone Co. in 1950, is resistant to insect infestation and rot. The copper and arsenic are fungicides and insecticides. The chromium is primarily a “fixing” agent, bonding the chemicals to the wood.

Older wood preservatives - “penta” or pentachlorphenal and creosote - pose considerable health risks to users of the wood, but CCA-treated wood is supposed to be safer in part because the toxins are “fixed” in the wood.

The raw lumber is placed in a pressure cylinder where a vacuum sucks air and water from the wood cells. The cylinders is then filled with a mix of water and pesticides and pressure is increased to refill the wood’s cells with the mixture. As the wood dries, the chemicals are trapped inside.

Arsenic and chromium are carcinogens and mutagens, according to the EPA and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Exposure can occur through breathing or through repeated skin contact. High or repeated exposure can cause cancer, fetal toxicity and birth defects, neurotoxicity, including paralysis, warty skin growths, and liver and kidney failure.

Nevertheless, the EPA has certified that CCA-treated wood “does not pose unreasonable risks to children or adults” exposed to the wood or surrounding soils, based on tests of laboratory prepared wood samples conducted in the 1980s.

However, in 1988 the agency was concerned enough about the effects on workers who come in contact with CCA on a daily basis that it required protective clothing and respirators to reduce their exposure.

Polaski said the EPA’s CCA certification tests were invalid because they don’t reflect real and disparate commercial manufacturing conditions. Production of environmentally safe, CCA-treated products involve complex chemical reactions that can be compromised in commercial production, resulting in less than complete chemical “fixing” and increased leaching.

Wilbur concedes that CCA leaching does occur, and it happens more when treatment standards aren’t followed.

“As in any product line, there are good and not so good manufacturers, so [Polaski] has a point,” Wilbur said. “There may be folks that take shortcuts. That’s not appropriate, and we do not condone that, but we have no policing powers.”

Polaski’s CCA research review draws on a number of leaching studies. Among them:

- A 1994 study at the University of Turin in Italy found exposure of CCA-treated wood sawdust to rain water resulted in significant release of the chemicals and was potentially hazardous.

- A 1984 study of the biological impact of CCA-treated wood on honeybees found that the bees had elevated arsenic levels and poorer winter survival when kept in CCA-treated hives.

- A 1991 study by researchers at Rutgers University found leaching of CCA-treated wood in to sea water retarded the growth of fiddler crabs and algae, and resulted in higher death rates for fish and snails.

- The leaching research of David E. Stilwell, an analytic chemist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station of New Haven, Conn., found elevated levels of copper, chromium and arsenic in soil samples under seven wood decks built with CCA-treated wood.

Stilwell’s 85 soil samples showed arsenic levels two to four times greater than allowable standards, and showed signs of increasing over time. That could harm yard and garden plants.

A playground exposure study he is working on isn’t finished, but thus far indicates that use of CCA-treated wood should be avoided wherever possible in the playground, especially on surfaces children touch regularly.

“If alternative materials are available,” Stilwell said,” why not use them and remove toxic materials away from children’s paths.”

He said sealing the deck or playground equipment retards leaching and minimizes the amount of arsenic that is picked up by contact. It would be even better to replace or cover handrails and play equipment with plastic or a wood-polymer composite like Trex.

His view is supported by the California Health Department, which recommends that play surfaces of recreational equipment be coated every two years with an outdoor-grade polyurethane sealant.

Stilwell also questioned why the EPA requires risk warning stickers of CCA-treated lumber, but not on products such as picnic tables or playground equipment manufactured from the wood.

“There is always the benefit vs. risk question to be answered in these situations and that got lost in the promotion of CCA-treated wood,” Stilwell said. “It’s now being promoted for applications beyond its original scope, and some of those are not a good idea.”

Stilwell concedes that the longer life of CCA-treated wood is reducing pressure to cut endangered trees, such as redwoods. But he said treated wood should either be sealed better or treated with safer chemicals.

One of the biggest selling points for CCA is that it extends the life of wood, saving billions in both dollars and trees.

More than 90 percent of treated wood is yellow southern pine. Without preservative treatment, the wood would only last one to three years, Wilbur said. Wood properly treated with CCA can last 10, 20, even 30 years.

Polaski found, however, that the preservation chemicals sometimes weaken southern soft woods and shorten their lifespans.

“The wood’s structural integrity is attacked by the preservative chemicals, probably the acid in the treating solutions,” he said. “That’s weakening the wood, and certainly, given that many of these decks are built high, creating the potential for disaster if they break.”

Although he admits there are few reports of decks collapsing, Polaski said many built a decade ago are showing signs of decay and should be inspected.

“We’d have to look at that on an individual basis,” said Wilbur, the industry spokesman, “but 99 percent of the deck failures we’ve seen are due to improper construction, not wood failure.”

Disposal and burning of the treated wood creates other problems.

If the treated wood catches fire, Polaski says, smoke from the combustion would contain “copious amounts of poisonous chemicals.” Residual ashes would contain hazardous chemicals that could be absorbed through the skin or leach through soil to contaminate ground water.

In December, Wisconsin’s environmental agency fined John Menard, owner of the 200-store Menard’s home improvement chain, $1.7 million for burning CCA scraps to heat the company’s lumber production facility. Menard was caught carting the ash from that facility to his home, where his disposed of it with the family trash.

In Minnesota, 22 cows were killed when a farmer spread fireplace ashes from CCA-treated wood in the field where they were grazing.

Polaski’s review cites two incidents, reported in 1988 and 1990 newspaper articles, of people harmed by using treated wood for fuel. In both cases, the people developed neurological problems, numbness in the arms and legs, loss of hair, skin rashes and gastrointestinal upsets.

“Burning any of the wood in a fireplace or outside is a bad thought, and presents a clear exposure route to toxic chemicals that should absolutely be avoided,” the EPA’s Rotenberg said.

Despite government and manufacturers’ warnings, the dangers associated with burning CCA wood still aren’t widely known, according to Keith Solomon, a toxicologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. His research found that acid rain caused the chemicals to quickly wash out of the wood.

“The public should be better informed,” he said. “While camping, I watched a family at a nearby campsite build a fire with scraps of the stuff. The blue-green flames produced by the chemicals were very attractive, but the kids were cooking hot dogs in the smoke. Not a good idea.”

The recommended method of disposing of construction scraps is by placing them in the trash and taking them to a landfill. That works for now, but what happens over the next several decades, as the decks, fences and docks built in the 1970s and 1980s are replaced and the old wood is sent to landfills?

Based on a 30-year service life, a study by the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis., estimated that 2.5 billion board feet of treated wood are entering the waste stream today. That will increase to 8 billion board feet by the year 2020.

Landfills owned by Minnesota have already stopped taking CCA-treated wood scraps because of concerns about chemical leaching and water contamination.

“We believe there will be a tremendous problem with CCA disposal in the future. Landfills don’t want EPA-listed hazardous chemicals or know carcinogens,” said Pat Bischel, president of Northern Crossarm Co., a Wisconsin treated-wood producer.

Northern Crossarm last fall stopped making and distributing CCA-treated wood. Instead, Bischel’s firm is now using ACQ - ammoniacal copper quaternary - which contains no hazardous chemicals.

Polaski’s report identifies several safer alternatives, including borate-treated wood, which has been used in Australia and several other countries since the 1940s for bridges, home decking and playground equipment. A half-dozen CCA pressure-treating plants in Hawaii have converted to borates.

Northern Crossarm, Rhode Island-based BB&S, Treated Lumber of New England, and six other wood treatment companies have switched or are switching from CCA to ACQ, a chemical compound produced by Chemical Specialties Inc., one of the nation’s major producers of CCA.

“I believe we will see a transformation of the treated wood industry and within a few years the majority of treatments will use an alternative to CCA,” Bischel said. “CCA won’t be outlawed, but like creosote and penta will be in decline. And like those two treatments, the switch from CCA will be consumer driven.”

Germany banned CCA lumber in the mid-1970s, substituting wood treated with chromium, copper and fluoride. In 1994, New Jersey restricted use of CCA-treated wood in some marine construction to prevent contamination of shellfish beds.

Environmental Building News and the American Institute of Architects both recently recommended that builders consider CCA alternatives.

The nation’s three major producers of CCA have developed their own copper-based alternatives to CCA, each eliminating the most toxic components of arsenic and chromium.

Polaski said a re-evaluation of the safety of pressure-treated lumber by federal and state agencies would hasten the switch to alternatives.

“My intent in compiling information on CCA and related hazardous wood preservatives is not to condemn wood preservatives in general,” he said. “I hope through my efforts, I will encourage the development of reliable, safe wood preservatives.”]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/pressure_treated_wood Wed, 28 Jan 1998 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/pressure_treated_wood Pressure Treated Wood Over 90 percent of all outdoor wooden structures in the United States are made with arsenic-treated lumber. In nationwide tests, dangerous levels of arsenic were found on the surface of "pressure treated" wood purchased at The Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. Arsenic is a key ingredient in a pesticide called Chromated Copper Arsenate, or CCA. Arsenic is poisonous and a known carcinogen. In fact, Arsenic is on EPA's very short list of chemicals known without question to cause cancer in humans.

Exposure to pressure treated wood can cause: lung cancer, bladder cancer, skin cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, cancer in the nasal passages, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and possibly death. The standard formulation of CCA used in wood is 22 percent arsenic. In our national testing program unsafe amounts of arsenic were easily wiped off the surface of all treated wood purchased from Home Depot and Lowe's stores in 13 metro areas.

Every other use of arsenic as a pesticide is banned by the EPA. Somehow, a special federal exemption was given to the wood industry, and millions of pounds of CCA per year are injected into wood that is then sold to families all across the country. CCA is not only poisonous to pests, but also to children.

Arsenic sticks to children's hands when they play on treated wood, and is absorbed through the skin and ingested when they put their hands in their mouths. Our test was designed to mimic a small child's hand coming into routine contact with the wood surface, and involves swiping the wood with a slightly moistened polyester wipe, then testing the wipe for arsenic.

Children who rub their hands on a tiny surface area of new or old playground equipment have a one-in-10 chance of coming into contact with 10 times as much arsenic as the EPA drinking water standard allows.

A new study warns that arsenic used to treat outdoor wood products doesn't dissipate with time and that children who play on decade-old equipment are as likely to be exposed to high levels of the potential cancer-causing agent as are those who play on structures manufactured recently.

It has been estimated that one out of every 500 children who regularly play on swing sets and decks made from arsenic treated wood, or one child in an average size elementary school, will develop lung or bladder cancer later in life as a result of these exposures.

Additionally, arsenic in pressure treated wood can leach into the soil putting children who play outdoors at incredible risk. For this reason, the Environmental Protection Agency declared that use of chromated copper arsenate, CCA, must end by December 2003.

But until the lumber is actually removed from the market, the only warning for consumers is just a small label about half the size of a business card that warns of the danger.

Pressure treated wood with CCA can cause many long-term health problems including cancer. Health officials believe CCA poses the greatest risk to children. They crawl across it, hang on it, and swing on it. They get arsenic all over their hands and then do what most children do which is put their hands, resulting in arsenic in their mouths.

Adults are at great risk too. Inhaling sawdust and absorbing arsenic through the skin is very dangerous. However, CCA wood is most dangerous when it is burned and the arsenic is released into the air and it concentrates in the ashes. Just one tablespoon of ash contains a lethal dose of arsenic.

For example, an eight-year-old residential deck in Irvington, N.Y., was found to contain 25 times the amount of arsenic currently allowed in a glass of drinking water under federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards. Decks, play sets and picnic tables at least seven years old are as likely to have very high amounts of arsenic on the wood surface as are newer equipment and structures.

Using wipe tests from 263 decks, play sets, picnic tables and sandboxes in 45 states, researchers found that arsenic levels on wood surfaces remain high for 20 years.

Scientists say there are plenty alternative woods on the market that are resistant to insects and rot without toxic chemicals. But pressure-treated lumber is less expensive than redwood and cedar, and stores say it continues to outsell the alternatives in San Diego.

The following recommendations can help protect children, pets and others from possible arsenic exposure:

1) Arsenic treated lumber is unsafe, particularly for children, and The Home Depot, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, and all other retailers should stop selling it. These retailers, many of whom tout their environmental responsibility, continue to sell a product that exposes American families to high levels of arsenic, a known carcinogen.

2) We urge consumers to demand alternatives when they visit their local home improvement centers. Safe alternatives are plentiful, from wood treated with less toxic preservatives, to cedar which resists rotting naturally, to other materials like recycled plastics or metal.

3) EPA must ban arsenic-containing pesticides for sale as a wood treatment pesticide, and the CPSC must ban all consumer products made with wood preserved with arsenic-containing pesticides.

4) Homeowners should replace their arsenic treated decks, swing sets and picnic tables with safe alternatives. If the structures are not replaced, homeowners should seal the wood at least once a year. Anyone who contacts arsenic treated wood should wash his or her hands afterward, particularly before eating. Children's toys should not be stored under decks, because arsenic leaches off the wood when it rains and could coat the toys. Parents and pet owners should keep children and animals away from the dirt beneath and immediately surrounding arsenic treated wood structures. Arsenic treated picnic tables should be avoided, but if used should be covered with a tablecloth.

If you or a loved one suffered side effects from Pressure Treated Wood, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified pollutants attorney.]]>