Editorials

WASHINGTON — Two environmental groups asked the government Wednesday to ban a common wood preservative containing 22 percent arsenic from all playground equipment and to study whether it is safe for other consumer uses. 

The Environmental Working Group and the Healthy Building Network petitioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban use of chromated copper arsenate, a powerful pesticide that is put into lumber under pressure in a factory to protect the wood against termites, beetles and humidity.  

The groups say the commission’s 1990 study underestimates the risk of cancer. 

“It’s something we will look at and take seriously,” commission spokeswoman Jane Francis said.  

“We’ve always stood behind that study but if there’s something new out there we want to take a look at that.” 

Arsenic has become a hot topic in light of the Bush administration’s decision to suspend until early next year and do more studies on former President Clinton’s proposal to tighten the standard for arsenic in drinking water. 

Its use in pesticides extends to nearly all the treated lumber found in the United States, going into the making of playgrounds, decks, railings, picnic tables, fences and docks.  

The Environmental Working Group says studies by the commission and the Environmental Protection Agency fail to account for the risks of CCA-treated wood rubbing off onto skin or leaching into places where it can be ingested by people and animals. 

The environmentalists’ report concludes that an average 5-year-old who spends less than two weeks on a playset built with CCA-treated wood will already have exceeded the level of one-in-1-million cancer risk that federal pesticide law considers acceptable for an entire lifetime. 

“Even if they manage to strengthen the drinking water standard, they’ll still be missing the boat if they don’t get arsenic out of wood,” said Jane Houlihan, research director for the Environmental Working Group. 

Although sold across the country, CCA-treated wood is especially common in states such as Florida with high humidity. In March, sections of three Miami-area parks were closed after researchers found that arsenic had leached into the soil from pressure-treated wood. 

However, Scott Ramminger, president of the American Wood Preservers Institute, said the environmental groups were resorting to junk science and scare tactics. 

“It’s totally irresponsible,” he said. “People don’t need to be worried about it. It’s a safe product, it’s got 60 years of safe use.” 

The EPA banned most inorganic arsenic pesticides in 1986 but allowed the use of CCA to continue in pressure-treated wood. The agency classified it as a “restricted use” pesticide to protect factory workers, while manufacturers agreed to voluntarily distribute consumer “fact sheets” about its use. 

The EPA is now studying the use of CCA-treated wood as part of a routine reassessment of pesticides and told environmental groups it is speeding up its look at the use of such wood in children’s playsets. It expects to complete an internal review in June. 

Agency officials met May 9 with environmental groups, state officials and wood preservers, discussing ways to improve the “fact sheets” so that they reflect more recent scientific studies and are better distributed. 

Switzerland, Vietnam and Indonesia have banned CCA-treated wood. Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Australia and New Zealand have either limited its use or proposed restrictions. 

On the Net: 

Environmental Working Group: http://www.ewg.org 

Healthy Building Network: http://www.healthybuilding.net 

American Wood Preservers Institute: http://www.awpi.org 

EPA: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/citizens/1file.htm 

CPSC: http://www.cpsc.gov