deal to end arsenic use in lumber
...ome under fire recently among reports that arsenic from the wood can transfer from the wood to children’s hands as they play on playgrounds and decks. Investigations also showed that arsenic spreads from the contaminated wood to surrounding soil. Now, since wood treaters are facing lawsuits, made a deal with the Environmental Protection Agency to phase out chromated copper arsenate (CCA) in outdoor consumer products, which is an arsenic-laced preservative. Currently the EPA is analyzing CCA because it also is known to rub off pressure treated woods. The EPA will continue their evaluation on consumer health risks involved with CCA. Only, as of now, the EPA has not concluded that CCA treated lumber is harmless to consumers. To fully understand this article, one may need to know chemica...