Spring/Summer 
2008 Issue

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Ecology for the Home

Summer on the Deck:
Hold the Arsenic

By Brigit Macomber
June/July Issue, 2004

If you are like me a single warm day in April will start spring garden fantasies that include spiffy new decks, raised beds, trellises, etc. Before you know it you’re heading to the local lumber store for pressure-treated lumber.

Wait, don’t jump in your car just yet. According to an article by Sandra Steingraber published in February on the Environmental Research Foundation’s (ERF) website (www.rachel.org) titled “Late Lessons From Pressure-Treated Wood,” new research shows that such lumber is hazardous. Pressure-treated means that the lumber has been injected with a mixture called chromated copper arsenate (CCA), often called “Wolmanized” lumber. Another type of arsenic lumber treatment is ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate (ACZA) also known as “Chemonite.”

Levels of arsenic, which has been linked to lung and bladder cancer, found on and in the soil around arsenic-treated lumber have been found to be higher than is deemed safe by the EPA. This lumber is especially hazardous to children and pets that are prone to ingesting the residue on it or playing in the soil or sand into which the chemicals have leached. Think cookies dropped and eaten, dogs licking their paws, children playing in sand boxes, or vegetables grown in raised beds. However anyone, particularly adults handling CCA during construction projects, is at risk

Think cookies dropped and eaten, dogs licking their paws, children playing in sand boxes...

The EPA has responded to this threat by announcing in Feb. 2002 that CCA production would be phased out over a 22-month period ending January 1, 2004. However, stores can still legally sell leftover stock after the deadline. And according to the ERF article, many home improvement stores are still “full of CCA lumber for sale to unsuspecting buyers.” This lumber is supposed to be labeled. If it’s not, and you want to avoid CCA-treated lumber, don’t buy it. Additionally, few of these stores are actually giving consumers the safety sheets on handling CCA required by law.

So when you head out to get lumber for your outdoor projects steer away from CCA. Good alternatives include using naturally rot-resistant lumber such as cedar, redwood, cypress, or fir. Or consider using lumber treated with ACQ, widely available in Europe and now being produced in the U.S. ACQ is a copper-based preservative that is a bit more expensive than CCA, due to a higher copper content, but does not contain arsenic. Other alternatives can be found on the Healthy Building Network (HBN) website: www.healthybuilding.net.

Now let’s return to those spring garden fantasies of kids and pets playing on a lovely new deck in the summer sun. But this time fantasize without the CCA lumber.

S I D E B A R :

Suspect Arsenic?

If you already have treated-lumber decks or structures follow these guidelines suggested by the HBN:

  1. Test it. If you don’t know if the wood is arsenic-treated you should test it. Test kits are available from the HBN web site;
  2. Replace it;
  3. Seal it. If you can’t replace it, thoroughly coat it at least every two years (annually or better in high traffic areas) with a waterproof sealant such as polyurethane or an oil-based penetrating sealer. Do not use acid deck wash or brighteners as these are suspected to accelerate the release of arsenic from arsenic-treated wood;
  4. Don’t burn it. Never burn treated wood. Arsenic-treated wood is hazardous and should be disposed of properly according to local environmental regulations.

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