Study raised alarm over treated wood a decade ago
Subject: Study raised alarm over treated wood a decade ago
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 08:37:24 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read an article dated: Mon Oct 29 09:00:47 2001 from CBC.ca entitled: Study raised alarm over treated wood a decade ago.
OTTAWA - Health Canada is re-evaluating its approval of pressure treated wood for use in play structures amid concerns that harmful chemicals could be leaching from it. A report done by one of its own scientists a decade ago sounded the alarm.
In the late 1980s, Dieter Riedel, a scientist working for Health Canada, was interested by a parent's concern about pressure treated wood. So he looked into it.
The results of his study were never made public, but a copy obtained by CBC Radio News shows he had serious concerns about its use.
Among the conclusions in the study was Riedel's observation that "it would be prudent to reconsider whether CCA treated wood should be used for play structures."
The wood product is used to build fences and decks as well as play structures, and its production is a billion-dollar industry in North America.
Most commonly, the wood is treated with chromate copper arsenate, or CCA - a pesticide that keeps the wood from deteriorating. It also contains arsenic.
Riedel tested 10 play structures built with the wood in the Ottawa area. He found arsenic and chromium on the surface of all 10 as well as in the soil below.
One piece of equipment had levels of arsenic that exceed the current Canadian guideline by more than 10 times.
Riedel stands by his research of a decade ago.
"They do release these chemicals and eventually they end up in the ground water and people come in contact with them," he said.
"If I built it, I would have made damn sure that it had some oil paint or whatever on it, so that there wouldn't have been direct contact with the treated wood."
Don Houston of the Canadian Institute of Child Health wishes that warning had been published 10 years ago.
Houston's organization has been lobbying different levels of government to ban play structures made of pressure treated wood.
"It was an important warning for us," he said. "And if we'd been paying much attention at the time, we may not be discussing so much pressure treated wood today."
But in the early 1990s, Health Canada decided instead to base its approvals on U.S. research, which found the risks low.
A Health Canada spokesman said the department did an evaluation of the U.S. studies and agreed with their conclusions.
But concerns across the continent have led some communities to ban play structures made of pressure treated wood, and now Health Canada says it is re-evaluating its approval.
The 10-year old Riedel study will be taken into consideration during the re-evaluation, which is due out in the spring.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Source url; http://www.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/10/29/press_wood011029
Well Mr. Helliker, when will you start to protect the people rather than the POISON "industry" profits - and/or - when will it be "legal" to use safe and far more efffective (unregistered) alternatives to actually control pest problems?
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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