News Coverage
Good Idea to Replace Arsenic Treated Wood
Published May 24, 2003
If you have an older fence, especially one that was constructed with green wood, you might want to consider replacing it as a safety precaution. Green wood, in the past, had been treated with arsenic.
Arsenic, a carcinogen frequently used in pesticides, had been commonly used on green wood to prevent the wood from rotting and to keep bugs away. A study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Healthy Building Network entitled The Poisonwood Rivals, however, found the levels of arsenic to be harmful. "An area of arsenic-treated wood the size of a four-year-old's hand contains an average of 120 times the amount of arsenic allowed in a 6-ounce glass of water by the U.S. EPA," the EWG says.
"Based on the average arsenic level detected in lumber from 18 Home Depot and Lowe's stores, EWG estimated that one of every 500 children who regularly play on playground equipment or decks made from pressure-treated wood can be expected to develop cancer later in life as a result of this exposure."
SAFE TO INSTALL
The EWG further stated that, "according to the National Academy of Sciences, exposure to arsenic causes lung, bladder, and skin cancer in humans, and is suspected as a cause of kidney, prostate, and nasal passage cancer."
You should not be concerned, however, when buying green wood today, according to R N M owner and operator Ryan Mitchell. He says that green wood that is on the market today is safe to install on your property.
"Just this year, they took the arsenic chemical out of the material that is here," he says. "They have this pressure-treated lumber for a long time, but just this year, they've taken the arsenic out of it. Now the material is called ACQ, and it doesn't have any of the arsenic in it, so it's a lot safer to use. It's a little bit more expensive than it used to be, but it's definitely more a safe thing."
"Most schools in the States and almost every school here, they've taken away all those play structures that were made out of that kind of green, just for the kids so they don't get their hands on it and then stick their hands in their mouths."
In fact, according to Mitchell, green wood is among the most popular materials to use when building a fence. "For Manitoba, the pressure-treated grain materials are most popular. Then you've got pressure-treated green, where it's been stained a brown-colour cedar-tone. Those are the most popular ones," he says.