As of this Friday (1/1/2004) the federal government will no longer allow the production of traditional pressure treated lumber (the light green tinted stuff) that most people have in their yards as decks, swing sets, etc.

The reason for this is that the lumber is treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), an arsenic containing compound, to retard rotting and insect damage, and make it useful as an outdoor product.

The lifetime risk of an arsenic-related cancer for children who play frequently on this type of wood is 10 times higher than the one-in-a-million threshold that the EPA usually considers a public health threat.

…Lemm worried about the play set her daughter used in the yard of their home in Scottsdale, Ariz. Nearby shrubs were dying, and she suspected the treated wood. So she got [an] arsenic test kit from the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization that had pushed for a ban on CCA-treated wood.

Soil from under the play set had arsenic levels about 50% higher than the EPA's cleanup standard for arsenic at Superfund pollution sites…

Children who put their hands in their mouths after playing on the CCA-treated wood have even higher risks.

There are two new type of pressure treated lumber to replace CCA. One uses alkaline copper quat (ACQ) and another uses acid copper chromate (ACC). The EPA is still not sure about ACC because it contains high amounts of a cancer-causing compound for the first few months after it is produced.

[source story: USA Today]