Experts Find Preserved Wood Safe & Environmentally Sound

Key experts from major governmental and scientific organizations have concluded that pressure treated wood is both safe for human contact and a significant benefit to the environment.

These assessments regarding wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) were reached over the past 18 months by top scientists asked by the American Wood Preservers Institute (AWPI) to study safety concerns raised by some media reports, principally regarding CCA-treated playground equipment.

"We have found that there is no risk to human health," said Dr. Gilbert Ross, medical and executive director of the American Council on Science and Health, who has thoroughly studied safety issues that have been raised about CCA-treated wood. "There has never been any evidence that a human being has ever been harmed by it. There is no evidence that children are exposed to toxic levels of arsenic from playing on pressure treated wood."

Father as Well as Scientist

Dr. Chris Teaf, director of the toxicology program at Florida State University, responded directly to reports claiming that soil near CCA-pressure-treated playground sets in Florida posed a danger to children playing there.

"My evaluation took into consideration the amount of time a child is likely to spend playing in soil under a playset and the amount of soil that a child is likely to eat, get on the skin and breathe in over a long period," Dr. Teaf explained. "It would take far more arsenic in soil than what I have seen in scientific reports or the press before any threat of health effects to children might occur."

Since Dr. Teaf has two young children who love to play on playground equipment, he was particularly interested in examining the issue. "All of the decisions and conclusions that I have drawn with regard to CCA-treated wood have been taken with them in mind," he stressed. "I recognize this as a product that is very useful and safe under the appropriate circumstances."

Safety issues have been raised principally because of the arsenic component of the chemicals that are impregnated under pressure into the wood to extend its life, making it resistant to termites and the fungi that causes rot. In a chemical reaction called fixation, AWPI said, the CCA bonds to substances in wood. While some preservative does escape, it is in amounts far too low to produce adverse effects, Dr. Teaf explained.

EPA, CPSC Find No Cause for Alarm

The conclusions of Drs. Teaf and Ross are consistent with earlier study results from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), both of which are again conducting reviews.

EPA studied the issue extensively during the 1980s and concluded that the use of CCA in pressure treated wood did not pose unreasonable risk to children or adults either from direct contact with the wood or with surrounding soil, where some releases may have occurred.

An EPA statement said that, based on the scientific data that it had reviewed, the agency "has not identified any significant health concerns from short or long-term exposure to arsenic residues from pressure treated wood." CPSC studied the issue specifically with an eye toward children using playground equipment. Its Handbook for Public Playground Safety affirms that wood treated with CCA is appropriate in this equipment.

Referring to the CPSC position, Consumer Reports magazine wrote that "tests conducted by the CPSC have shown the beams used in swing sets don't leach enough arsenic to pose a risk worth worrying about. If you'd rather not take any risk at all, you can always paint the wood, but we think that's a needless expense."

State poison control centers must stay alert to all poison-related threats, particularly to children. The use of CCA-treated wood in decks and playground equipment is particularly popular in Georgia, where Dr. Gaylord Lopez, director of the Georgia Poison Control Center, said very few calls involving the substance are received.

Safety Record "Impeccable"

"If you look at the safety record and health effects, you find this is a very safe product," Dr. Lopez said, noting that even among workers regularly exposed to the raw materials used in the wood, the amount of arsenic that they accumulate is insignificant. By the time the product gets to consumers, he explained, exposure is reduced even further with "little or no effect."

"The safety record of CCA-treated wood is impeccable," Dr. Lopez declared.

Pressure-treated wood is widely used in docks and pilings, and Dr. Kenneth Brooks of Aquatic Environmental Sciences has studied the impact of the product on the water, fish and other organisms. He conducted his research over the past five years under contact with two federal agencies.

"There are no documented instances describing a compromised biological integrity associated with the use of any form of treated wood, including CCA-treated wood," he said. Even searching for the "most subtle" environmental impact, the studies did not uncover evidence of any adverse impact.

But impact on the environment is a major benefit of CCA-treated wood, the experts say.

CCA Helps Preserve Forests

The world's forests are under more pressure today than at any time since the Ice Age, according to Dr. Stan Rhodes, chief executive officer of Scientific Certification Systems.

"We have to be careful to preserve forests by using wood resources to the maximum, and using minerals such as CCA extends the life of resources by five-fold," he explained. "Only through the mineralization of wood can we achieve that added benefit."

Dr. Rhodes also pointed out that the minerals used in CCA come from the waste stream resulting from mining and other industrial operations, and thus represent a reuse of products that otherwise would be wasted. "They are put into a useful product that does not get back into the environment," he said.

In fact, Dr. Rhodes noted, the minerals used in CCA "work to perfection with wood," preserving it, and resulting in a product that works. "It is a technology that we can count on," he said.

What about the media scare stories and the hype regarding potential danger to kids who eat playground dirt?

Children's Health Never Better

Those are "scare tactics" used by environmentalists to alarm consumers, contended Dr. Ross, who said critics are "using children as vulnerable subjects in order to alarm parents."

But child health has never been better, he said, and there is no more reason to be concerned about the affects of chemicals resulting from playground activity than about the natural chemicals contained in the food children consume.

Even as the news stories continue to alarm parents, the experts are continually adding to the data documenting the safety and benefits of CCA-treated wood.

Florida State University's Dr. Teaf expressed concern about the "misdirection of valuable time and money" that such reports can cause.

"How much time and effort should be applied to a minimal concern, while real threats go unaddressed?" he asked. "Will parents waste precious time in dealing with childhood illnesses because they are misled into thinking that the cause might be what they have been told is poison in the back yard? As a husband and a father of two young sons, with a playset in the back yard, I plan no changes. The product has been used safely for generations, and I have seen no reason why it shouldn't continue to be properly used in the future."

For more information on treated wood, visit AWPI's web site at www.preservedwood.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content, www.ARAcontent.com, e-mail: info@ARAcontent.com