Health News

Wood Playgrounds and Picnic Tables: Arsenic Danger Zones?

May 25, 2001 (Washington) -- Arsenic, arsenic everywhere. Fear over arsenic exposure, from water and now from wood, is becoming a familiar national news topic.

In the wake of the Bush administration's suspension of former President Clinton's tough standards for arsenic in drinking water, environmental activists are now alleging big arsenic risks in the treated wood products used for family leisure.

As part of a chemical mixture called CCA, short for chromated copper arsenate, arsenic is often put into treated wood for decks, picnic tables, wooden playgrounds, gazebos, and other outdoor products. CCA protects wood from dry rot, fungi, molds, termites, and other pests.

If it's ingested, arsenic can lead to cancer, nerve damage, reproductive system damage -- and possibly death.

But it's not so clear that the treated wood actually allows ingestion of enough of the toxin.

This week, the Environmental Working Group asked the Consumer Products Safety Commission to ban the treated wood in playground equipment.

"We know that arsenic in drinking water is dangerous for children, but what we found was that the arsenic in lumber is an even greater risk," said the group's Renee Sharp. "In less than two weeks, an average 5-year-old playing on an arsenic-treated playset would exceed the lifetime cancer risk considered acceptable under federal pesticide law."

In response, the American Wood Preservers Institute said that the study was misleading and inflammatory. While it concedes that CCA chemicals can "leach" out of wood in trace amounts, it said the environmental group claims went too far. The American Wood Preservers Institute represents the wood treatment industry.

To reach the risks alleged by the environmental group, the institute said, a child would have to play on a wood playset every day for five years, CCA would have to be transferred to the child's hands at 100% of its concentration in the wood, and the child would have to lick 31% of that amount off his or her hands.

Mel Pine, spokesman for the wood treatment group, tells WebMD, "There is a long history of safe use, as CCA treatment of wood has been around since the 1930s. There is not a single study of anybody being harmed by normal use."

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D- Calif.) backs the ban, but the Environmental Protection Agency has its doubts.

An EPA spokeperson tells WebMD, "From all the science that we've seen, there's nothing out there that shows that this is a risk for anybody. Right now, all indications are that there are no health hazards."

At the same time, the EPA is examining CCA, its use in playground equipment, and its effect on children. The EPA has asked that wood treaters step up their efforts to fully inform the public of what's in treated wood and safety advice for working with the product.