NorCal ADPSR - Dialog

Questions & Answers about
Pressure Treated Wood
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What the Critics of
the Use of
Pressure Treated Wood
Have to Say

1/30/2001 What's Wrong With Pressure Treated Wood?

Chromium Copper Arsenate - EPA Website

CCA in Playgrounds - Final EPA Report

Arsenic and CCA P/T Wood

Arsenic Facts - US Dept of HHS

Consumer Info Safety Sheet - CCA Wood

CCA Studies - University of Florida

Arsenic Fact Sheet - Healthy Building Network

Arsenic and P/T Wood - CN Ag Station

Disposal of P/T Lumber

2/10/2001 Is There an alternative to Arsenic treated wood?

2/11/2001 ACQ and Others

2/13/2002 EPA and Wood Preservative Industry agree to a Phase-out of CCA treated wood for Residential Use.

What the
Pressure Treated Wood
Industry Has to Say

		Hickson Corp - Wolmanized Wood
		The Wood Preserver's Institute
		American Council for Science and Health

The Critics Response

2/11/2002

CCA Alternatives
Several pressure treated wood formulations which do not contain arsenic are available right now. Your lumberyard may carry these under the trade names of "ACQ" or "Kodiak Wood", or they may be listed as preserved with ACQ (Ammoniacial Copper Quaternary), copper azole and/or copper citrate. All are arsenic-free and effective against rot and insects: the US EPA says they are safe, and the American Wood Preservers Association says they work. If your lumberyard does not stock these, they can order them. You might be interested to know that these are the wood-preservation formulas used in Japan and Europe, where CCA treated wood is banned.
Other alternatives include using recycled plastic lumber such as TREX or Choicedek by Weyerhauser. Use landscape blocks for retaining walls instead of treated wood. For structures in or around water, use metal for some applications such as dock materials and steel pilings filled with concrete in place of creosote-treated underground construction pilings.

2/13/2002

EPA and Wood Preservative Industry agree to a Phase-out of CCA Wood for Residential Use.
Chemical and home-improvement industry executives have agreed to a two-year phaseout of the use of an arsenic-based preservative in pressure-treated wood that is widely used for fences, decks, playground equipment and boardwalks in homes and on playgrounds. Arsenic is a known human carcinogen, and the Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a study to determine whether children who repeatedly come in contact with the preservative -- known as chromated copper arsenate or CCA -- face a heightened risk of developing cancer, as some environmental and consumer groups contend. EPA officials state that it is premature to say whether CCA presents health risks. The agency will publish a preliminary risk assessment next year. "Basically, we did it for market reasons," said John Taylor of Osmose Inc., one of the three chemical manufacturers that agreed to discontinue production of CCA within 22 months. The agreement applies to treated wood products used for homes and playgrounds, but will not affect wood used for utility poles, guard rails and other commercial applications. The gradual phaseout gives the country's 350 wood treatment plants time to retool and begin using alternative preservatives such as ACQ (alkaline, recycled copper and quat, a fungicide), which contains no carcinogens or other dangerous substances. The Washington Post, 13 Feb 2002, p A02, by Eric Pianin, and The Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb 2002, by Elizabeth Shogren.