Home Depot, Lowe's under Fire for Arsenic-Treated Wood

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Patti Bond
Published November 8, 2001

Home Depot and Lowe's are coming under pressure again for their sales of pressure-treated wood. A coalition of consumer activists is releasing a report Thursday that criticizes the two largest home improvement retailers for selling lumber treated with arsenic. Two groups pushing for a ban on the lumber -- the Environmental Working Group and the Healthy Building Network -- say they tested wood from the shelves at Home Depot and Lowe's in 13 cities and found arsenic levels higher than allowable standards for drinking water. The consumer groups tried to measure how much arsenic rubs off of wood. Testers swabbed two-by-fours and other pressure-treated products with wipes and sent the samples to labs for analysis. According to the report, the labs found an average of 247 micrograms of arsenic on the samples -- nearly 25 times the allowable amount of arsenic that the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed for drinking water. There's currently no health standard for arsenic in wood products, but the consumer groups hope to swayassessments by federal safety officials. Rising concern about chromated copper arsenate, a common wood preservative that contains arsenic, has prompted the EPA to reassess the health risks of pressure-treated lumber. The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission is looking into a possible ban on arsenic-treated playground equipment. The commission plans to measure arsenic levels in playgrounds later this year. Results from today's report will be used to stir up the debate and get more parents involved in the discussion, said Jane Houlihan, research director for Environment Working Group. The group is also turning up the heat on Home Depot and Lowe's as the two biggest sellers of arsenic-treated wood. "The regulatory arena is notoriously slow, so we're trying to keep the pressure on," Houlihan said. "Most people don't know that this wood even contains arsenic." Nearly every piece of wood that goes into the making of playgrounds, decks, fences and other outdoor structures is treated with arsenic, which can cause cancer, and the EPA has said that the public is not adequately aware of the health risks of handling the wood. The lumber should not be burned, for example, because smoke and ashes can be toxic. Consumers should wear dust masks, goggles and gloves when sawing the wood. The EPA also recommends that children wash off any exposed areas, including clothing, after playing on pressure-treated wood. After a push from the EPA, Home Depot and Lowe's recently expanded a safety information program at stores, including more warning signs and labels on each piece of pressure-treated lumber. "As a retailer, we have to rely on the EPA," said Ron Jarvis, global product merchant for Atlanta-based Home Depot. "(The safety issue) is between the EPA and the manufacturers." Lumber treaters claim their product is safe when handled properly. The Treated Wood Council issued a statement Wednesday, claiming that the Environmental Working Group was trying to alarm the public. "(The group's) sampling method was not a valid way of determining the actual level of exposure to chemicals in treated wood, and ... is not an appropriate basis for a risk assessment," the statement said. Meanwhile, representatives from Home Depot and Lowe's said they're looking into alternative products but have no plans to stop selling a popular product. Home Depot is carrying a decking product made of sawdust and recycled plastic, and Lowe's plans to sell picnic tables treated with a preservative commonly known as ACQ that doesn't contain arsenic. ACQ-treated wood is 30 percent to 40 percent more expensive than common pressure-treated wood, Jarvis noted. The Environmental Working Group planned to offer at-home arsenic testing kits on its Web site today, but consumers will have a hard time gauging what to do with the results. "The EPA regulates CCA as a pesticide, and there are no specific standards for residues on wood or in the soil," said EPA spokesman Dave Deegan. The agency is working on a comprehensive assessment that will provide guidelines for health and environmental risks. The draft report is due out next spring, Deegan said.