EPA RELEASES ITS FY 2001 ANNUAL REPORT ON
REGULATING PESTICIDES
Subject: People are starting to pay attention..................
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 17:23:29 -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
The Ottawa Citizen - City stops purchasing toxic wood
-Director doesn't expect
The City of
The city is waiting until the the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and Health
The city, schools and parents are pondering what to do with pressure-treated wood playground equipment in the wake of increasing concerns about arsenic in the wood.
Last month, the EPA ordered the lumber industry to phase out residential use of the green-tinted wood.
Mr. Finnamore is expecting the agencies to release their results later this month. He has sent a memo to councillors saying he expects a final policy on arsenic-treated wood after those reports are released.
In the meantime, his branch's design and construction division "has adopted the position of not specifying CCA (chromated copper arsenate) treated wood products that may pose a threat, real or perceived, to the public or the environment."
Discussions on a Canadian ban are under way between Health
CCA is the chemical lumber companies use when they're pressure-treating wood to make it more resistant to the elements. Arsenic, one of the components in CCA, is poisonous.
CCA is a known carcinogen, and relatively small doses, such as those children might get from playing on damp wood and touching their fingers to their mouths, can cause stomach upset, weakened blood vessels and nerve damage.
Mr. Finnamore noted that most new playground equipment in the city hasn't been made with pressure-treated wood in some time.
"We've been using plastic and steel and so on. Treated wood turned out not to be very good for play structures. It's a dry wood, and it's subject to splits and roughness -- it causes splinters and things for kids."
Mr. Finnamore doesn't anticipate that the city will be removing playground equipment just because it's made of treated wood, though many such structures would be nearing the ends of their serviceable lives anyway.
Health watchdogs have known for years that
Retailers are aware of the concern. Soon after the U.S. ban
was announced, Home Depot said all of the stores in its chain, including those
in
Jeff Silverthorn, the program manager of design and
construction in
The city's interim policy only applies to wood under the jurisdiction of the real estate branch. Other departments, such as those responsible for road signs and retaining walls on city property, are not bound by the rules.
"The metal-and-plastic structures, using newer technology, have higher play values," Mr. Silverthorn said.
Metal and composite plastics are more flexible in design and can include better designs in smaller spaces than play structures made of large wooden beams.
Last fall, Dr. Robert Cushman, the city's medical officer of health, sent a letter to area agencies that run playgrounds, schools and day cares, warning them that pressure-treated wood might be dangerous and alerting them to the health studies.
The treated-wood scare coincides with ongoing worries about the general safety of school play structures. Last summer, school boards tore down more than a dozen playground structures because the old ones didn't conform to new safety standards put in place after two Canadian children strangled on playgrounds.
It's unlikely that any new play structures will be made of wood.
"To the best of my knowledge, that's all been taken
care of and all of them are composed of a plastic type of material," said
Linda Hunter, president of the board of Ottawa School Day Nurseries, which runs
10 day cares in
Parents at Westboro's
"I'm concerned about it, but I don't want to be hysterical about it," she said.
Her daughter is still allowed to play on the equipment, but with one stipulation.
"I've asked my daughter to wash her hands after playing on the structures, especially after playing with the sand," said Ms. Khan.
© Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen
Source url: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id=95CA169C-8F8D-4175-95CA-EFA05396DF54
Well Mr. Helliker, are you?
Respectfully,
Stephen L. Tvedten
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