News Coverage
Wood shop at heart of dispute set to reopen
Published April 16, 2004
The wood shop at the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education is poised to reopen Monday after being closed nearly two months during a dispute between parents and administrators over arsenic-treated wood used by students.
Tensions at the tiny private school, founded on the principles espoused by the pioneering turn-of-the-20th-century educator for whom it's named, erupted in February after several parents learned that their children had been working without protection around the wood, which some studies have suggested might increase the risk of cancer.
"We took action the next day ... and we closed the shop and we hired an engineering firm, said Janet Skooglund, president of the school's board of managers.
Skooglund said she remains confident that the students have not been harmed, but she added that when the shop reopens, they no longer will use pressure-treated wood and will wear goggles and other protective gear.
"We wouldn't go through this again for anything, she said.
Some criticize response:
But some board members and parents said they believe the school's response has been inadequate. They have been trying to get the school to pay for tests of the children and have called for the dismissal of the school's director and shop instructor, Henry Vest.
Environmentalists for years have raised questions about the health effects of the product -- chromated copper arsenate -- which has been used widely to prevent wood from rotting and decaying.
Under a pact with federal regulators, manufacturers agreed to phase out its sale for residential uses over a two-year period ending in December.
Parents and school officials differ over how many times children worked with the pressure-treated wood, but the school has acknowledged that children did not wear dust masks, gloves or other protective gear when they did.
Dirk Billie, a parent who serves on the board of managers, said the school's parent organization bought $400 worth of protective gear that Vest never used.
Billie has tried for weeks to get the board to dismiss Vest, who took over this year after a bitter and protracted fight over the decision to terminate his predecessor last year.
"I think he fooled the board. And he fooled a lot of parents into thinking he was Organic material, said Terry Osborne, a board member who resigned over the conflict.
Vest, who was off this week during students' spring break, could not be reached for comment. Skooglund issued a statement backing his leadership, calling him a fine man and a fine educator.
Experts debate safety:
Researchers have documented potential harm caused by CCA-treated wood, but experts disagree over its threat.
Neil Sass, the state toxicologist for Alabama, has told parents they have nothing to worry about. He said levels of arsenic, a cancer-causing substance in CCA, is probably below what you could measure in the children who worked with the lumber.
"The copper is an essential nutrient in the body. The chromium 6 is reduced (in the manufacturing process), and the arsenic is so tightly bound with the wood or the soil that it's essentially non-available, he said.
He said there is next to no risk at all.
Other experts strongly disagree.
"It's certainly not next to zero, said Jon Corsiglia, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group, which has pushed for a ban of CCA-treated wood. I can't imagine a worse situation for a child to be in.
Sean Gray, a research analyst for the EWG, said labels required for CCA-treated wood urge workers to wear protective gear when building with the lumber and warned of the dangers of burning it.
"Your state toxicologist is playing somebody else's game, if you ask me, he said. Their risk of cancer has just skyrocketed. ... All these children's chances have gone up by big numbers.
Officials at the environmental organization pointed to a Mississippi woman who nearly died from arsenic poisoning in 1999. According to a 2002 New York Times article, Hernando resident Lynn Milam was hospitalized six times with severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Medical tests finally revealed the culprit: arsenic levels in her body that were 100 times greater than normal.
The concentration was so alarming, according to the article, that police believed Milam's husband was poisoning her food, and the local district attorney presented the case to a grand jury. After FBI tests showed that Tom Milam had even higher levels of arsenic, investigators concluded that the cause was a cabin the couple had built with CCA-treated wood.
Dave Deegan, a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said his agency conducted a risk assessment of CCA-treated wood last year.
Although the investigation continues and the EPA has not issued final conclusions, Deegan said, the study indicated that long-term exposure to CCA can increase a child's chances of getting cancer. How much is difficult to determine because of a myriad of factors, he said.
The study focused on children coming into contact with playsets, decks, benches and other items made with pressure-treated lumber. Deegan said children in warmer climates are at greater risk, simply because they have more time for activities outdoors -- where items built with pressure-treated lumber are found.
The arsenate leaches off on the hands. Since children often touch their mouths, they can easily ingest the component.
Deegan and environmental activists said they are unaware of studies gauging the impact of sawing and sanding pressure-treated lumber and breathing sawdust from such wood.
Sass said he has reviewed studies that show no adverse impact on retired employees who worked at plants that manufactured CCA. He acknowledged that arsenic at a certain point would be harmful, but he said, it would be extremely difficult to reach the necessary exposure level.
"In toxicology, one of the foremost statements you'll hear is, the dose makes the poison. Almost anything at a given dose can be toxic, can be poison, he said. We are nowhere near the level of that being toxic.
Corsiglia and Gray of the Environmental Working Group said the impact on the retired workers likely would be much less than the effect on children because adults are less likely to put their hands in their mouths.
Gray also said that during the manufacturing process, CCA is injected after the wood is cut, reducing the exposure to sawdust.
Gray and Corsiglia said children's physiology makes them more susceptible to exposure. Corsiglia pointed to an EPA study about six months ago that showed children age 2 and younger exposed to any cancer-causing substance are 10 times as likely to develop cancer later in life. For children 3 to 15, the risk is 3 times as great, he said.
EPA phaseout:
Under the phaseout, Deegan said manufacturers stopped making CCA-treated wood at the end of last year, although stores are allowed to sell existing stock until next month. Deegan added that the product can continue to be used for highway barrier fences, pilings for docks, agricultural fence posts and other commercial enterprises.
Even before curtailing CCA's availability, Deegan said, the EPA long has recommended that people working with pressure-treated lumber wear gloves, protective eyewear, dust masks, long-sleeve shirts and other gear to reduce exposure.
People also should vigorously wash their hands with soap and water after coming into contact with it, Deegan said.
The EPA has no directive on the use of CCA-treated wood in schools, he said.
After learning that students had been exposed to CCA-treated wood in class, four board members tried to get the school to pay to test the chidden.
Skooglund, the Organic School board president, said in her statement that advice from the state toxicologist and others led a majority of board members to conclude that testing was unnecessary.
The school did hire Thompson Engineering to collect samples from the shop, but some parents have dismissed the results of that study as inaccurate because the area had been cleaned.
Two of the board members quit. Billie, who joined the board as the teachers' representative in January, considered quitting, but then decided to remain.
Billie filed a complaint with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in early February, before he knew about the CCA, based on concerns about the general condition of the wood shop.
OSHA cited the school for a serious violation after an investigator on Feb. 11 found accumulations of wood dust shavings around a radial arm saw.
Ken Atha, the area director of the OSHA, said the wood shavings posed a risk of injury.
Atha acknowledged that OSHA is investigating a second complaint regarding the use of CCA-treated wood. He said investigators have spoken to officials at the school and have sent dust samples to a lab for analysis, which should be completed to two to six weeks.
But Atha cautioned that the agency's jurisdiction extends only to regulating the safety of workplaces for employees. It has no jurisdiction to deal with potential risks to children.He also said the samples taken might be unreliable, since they were taken so long after the fact.
"It's very difficult for us to do our job in this case, he said.
Atha suggested that the Baldwin County Health Department might have jurisdiction. Teddy King, an environmental public health supervisor with the department, said he has deferred to the state toxicologist on the matter.
Sass, the toxicologist, said testing the children would provide little value. He said it would be impossible to determine whether arsenic from hair samples came from the CCA-treated wood or from naturally occurring sources.
But Gray, the Environmental Working Group analyst, said it still would be possible to get an idea of potential exposure by comparing findings with hair samples taken from children who were not exposed to the school's wood shop.