U.S. Rejects Arsenic-Treated Lumber Ban
November 4, 2003


Jonathan D. Salant
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators decided Tuesday against banning arsenic-treated lumber for playground equipment, saying most manufacturers no longer use the wood-protecting chemical that is believed to increase the risk of cancer.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to adopt a staff recommendation that a ban was unnecessary, given the shift away from treated wood in playground structures, decks and picnic tables.

The industry agreed in 2002, following discussions with the Environmental Protection Agency, to stop building products with the treated wood by the end of the year. The EPA has removed the pesticide, chromated copper arsenate, from its list of approved chemicals. The pesticide protects lumber from decay and insect damage.

The commission chairman, Hal Stratton, said the two agencies are studying ways of coating existing wood structures to seal in the arsenic. But it will take time to see if that works, so the commission said any solution to the problem of existing structures with the pesticide is at least a year away.

The commission staff has acknowledged an increased risk of lung or bladder cancer for people who played on such playground equipment.

Of every 1 million children exposed to the treated wood three times every week for five years, two to 100 of them might develop lung or bladder cancer later in life, the staff said. The increase is in addition to other risks of getting cancer, such as smoking, diet, genetics and the environment.

The commission has urged parents to make sure children wash their hands after playing on structures made of treated wood and prevent youngsters from eating while playing on the wood. The concern is that the children could get arsenic residue on their hands and then put their hands in their mouths.

"I wouldn't be scared about it," Stratton said in an interview after the vote. "You just want to be cautious about it. We're not talking about kids drinking arsenic here. We're talking about the exposure they may get accidentally."

Arsenic, which can cause cancer in people, naturally occurs in the air, soil, water and some foods. The commission said some children may get more arsenic from sources other than playgrounds.

One environmental group that had sought the ban praised the eventual outcome.

"All of the commissioners have stressed the need to educate the public about the cancer risk and how to mitigate personal risk," said Jane Houlihan, vice president for research at the Environmental Working Group. "The pesticide is off the market, and we've got CPSC and EPA both following up on how the public can protect themselves from the arsenic in their backyards."

An official of another environmental group that worked for the ban, Paul Bogart, campaign coordinator for the Healthy Building Network, said he was disappointed. Bogart said the government should have ordered the replacement of playground structures made from arsenic-treated wood.

"They're not protecting existing consumers," Bogart said. "They should say, 'Don't use it.' They could say to manufacturers, `You need to repair this.'"

But the wood industry cited Tuesday's commission decision as proof that its products are not dangerous.

"If these commissioners were really concerned that this was a safety problem, it wouldn't be an unanimous vote here," said Jim Hale, executive director of the Wood Preservative Science Council, an industry-funded research group. "This product has been around more than 70 years and there's not any disease associated with recreational exposure."