News Coverage
Study refutes EPA stance on CCA-treated wood
Published September 25, 2002
A new report issued by the Environmental Working Group asserts the public remains at risk from high levels of arsenic leaching out of pressure-treated wood in older decks, playsets and picnic tables.
Study findings reported in EWG's All Hands on Deck indicate the EPA may have misled the public in February by stating that existing backyard structures treated with chromated copper arsenate did not pose health threats.
The EPA stated there was no reason to remove or replace arsenic-treated structures. But new data collected from consumers across the country show that consumers with old wood structures remain at risk from arsenic that easily wipes off the wood surface, the EWG report says. Children who play on arsenic-treated playsets and decks are at particularly high risk. Since last November, consumers across the country have tested 263 decks, playsets, and picnic tables - along with the soil beneath them - with a sampling kit sold through the EWG's website. The samples were analyzed by the University of North Carolina at Asheville's Environmental Quality Institute.
According to the report, the testing showed:
- Older decks and playsets, from seven to 15 years old, expose people to just as much arsenic on the wood surface as newer structures. The amount of arsenic that testers wiped off a 100 square centimeter area of wood - about the size of a 4-year-old's handprint -typically far exceeds what the EPA allows in a glass of water under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
- Arsenic in the soil from 40 percent of backyards or parks tested exceeds the EPA's Superfund cleanup standard of 20 parts per million.
- Commercial wood sealants lose their effectiveness at trapping arsenic after about 6 months, which limits long-term protection from arsenic exposure.
"Consumers had to take it upon themselves to conduct a testing program that should have been done long ago," said Sean Gray of the EWG.
"Now consumers are taking steps to protect their families, as they learn that arsenic levels on backyard decks and playsets remain high for 20 years," Gray said.
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.
Numerous studies show that arsenic sticks to children's hands when they play on treated wood, and is absorbed through the skin and ingested when they put their hands in their mouths.
In February, the EPA announced that most uses of arsenic wood treatments will be phased out by 2004, but said existing playsets and other structures did not need to be replaced.
"The EPA's advice has misled millions of consumers about the safety of existing arsenic treated wood," said Jane Houlihan of the EWG. "It's time that the agency act to protect and inform consumers."