Arsenic Lingers in Treated Wood

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Arsenic Lingers in Treated Wood

Group's Study Disputes Government's View of Exposure Risk

By Pianin

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, August 29, 2002; Page A02

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.

The nationwide survey released yesterday by the Environmental Working Group

and the University of North Carolina-Asheville strongly challenges the

government's recent assertion that older playground equipment, decks and

outdoor furniture made of arsenic-treated lumber poses less of a threat than

newer, similarly treated wood products that are being phased out.

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,

playsets 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.

" Arsenic levels don't decline with the age of the wood, " said Jane Houlihan,

a vice president of the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research

organization.

Last February, the Environmental Protection Agency and the chemical and

home-improvement industries announced a two-year phaseout of the use of an

arsenic-based preservative in pressure-treated wood that is widely used for

fences, decks, playground equipment and boardwalks. Arsenic is a known human

carcinogen, and the EPA is studying whether children who repeatedly come in

contact with the preservative -- known as chromated copper arsenate or

CCA -- face a heightened risk of developing cancer of the lungs, bladder or

skin, as some environmental and consumer groups contend.

While stressing that people should take precautions, such as washing their

hands after coming into contact with CCA-laced wood and never placing food

directly on a deck or outdoor table surface, the EPA said it " does not

believe there is any reason to remove or replace arsenic-treated structures,

including decks or playground equipment. "

Yet the new study said there is no scientific basis to the EPA's assertion.

It said there is ample evidence that older, arsenic-treated wood structures

are just as dangerous as the newer wood products being phased out. Arsenic

found in the soil of two-fifths of the back yards or parks tested exceeded

the EPA's Superfund cleanup standard of 20 parts per million, according to

the study.

More than 90 percent of all outdoor wooden structures in the United States

are made with arsenic-treated lumber. Using wipe tests from 263 decks,

playsets, picnic tables and sandboxes in 45 states, researchers found that

arsenic levels on wood surfaces remain high for 20 years -- the entire

useful life of the wood.

Young children who come in contact with arsenic-treated wood at playgrounds

or back yards can swallow traces of the leached arsenic by placing their

unwashed hands or fingers in their mouths or by eating food that has been

placed directly on a picnic table or deck. 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.

Commercial deck sealants provide no long-term reduction in arsenic levels,

according to the study. Sealants appear to reduce arsenic levels for only

about six months. Then they wear off through physical abrasion and

weathering.

The EPA and industry officials who negotiated the phaseout agreement say

there is no conclusive evidence that CCA-treated wood poses unreasonable

health risks. However, industry officials have acknowledged that mounting

consumer demands for a safer, arsenic-free wood preservative had forced

their hand.

EPA spokeswoman Steffanie J. Bell said the agency hasn't had time to review

the study but that, " Generally, we don't have any indication at this point

that CCA-treated wood poses an unreasonable risk to the public in existing

wood being used around or near homes. Certainly, we have recommended ways

that folks can reduce levels of potential exposure, because that's desirable

when it comes to arsenic. We agree we need to gather additional information

on CCA-treated wood, and that's exactly what we're doing. "

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