From May 11, 2001
EPA Pledges to
Speed Up Risk Assessment of CCA Wood Preservative
At a meeting on May
9, 2001, between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), two state
officials from Florida, Beyond Pesticides and the Environmental Working
Group, EPA said that it would speed up its review process of copper chromium
arsenic (CCA) wood preservative. This statement came after years of delay
on the part of the Agency. As part of this new effort, EPA has pledged
to complete a review of the special risks that children face from exposure
to wood treated with CCA and make that document available to the public
in a matter of weeks. CCA treated lumber is used to make playground equipment,
decks, boardwalks, pilings and utility poles.
The main focus of
the meeting was the voluntary Consumer Awareness Program (CAP), put in
place by EPA in 1986, that was supposed to provide consumers with information
about the risks associated with exposure to CCA treated wood. The wood
treatment industry agreed to provide consumers of CCA treated wood with
a Consumer Information Sheet (CIS) at the point of purchase. EPA has admitted
that it has no authority to enforce a voluntary program. Beyond Pesticides
asked EPA whether it was time to impose a mandatory CAP, given that the
voluntary program has been an utter failure. The agency responded that
it had not given up hope on the voluntary CAP.
Beyond Pesticides
has been following and commenting on the progress of EPA's reassessment
of the wood preservatives since the mid-1980s. At that time, EPA published
a Notice of Intent to Cancel Registration for the three major wood preservatives,
namely CCA, pentachlorophenol and creosote. EPA originally proposed a
mandatory CAP that would have required the wood treatment industry to
provide retailers, and thus consumers, with information about the hazards
associated with the use of CCA treated wood and precautionary measure
designed to minimize exposure. By 1986, that mandatory program had been
negotiated away be industry. Instead, industry vowed to establish and
maintain a voluntary CAP. Industry itself admitted to EPA that the voluntary
CAP was a failure as early as 1994. In other words, neither industry nor
EPA lived up to the terms of the 1986 agreement. The result, consumers
have been left in the dark about the risks of CCA treated wood.
Since CCA hit the
headlines in the State of Florida (see stories in the St. Petersburg Times,
and the Gainesville Sun), EPA has suddenly become very interested in the
failure of the voluntary CAP. The meeting on May 9th provided the invitees
to list their concerns about the failed program. The 1986 agreement called
for industry to provide EPA with annual reports measuring compliance with
the CAP. Beyond Pesticides asked EPA if the agency had any such reports.
EPA responded that due to office reorganization and the comings and goings
of EPA staff, the agency was unable to put its fingers on the documents,
although EPA assured attendees at that meeting that the documents did
exist.
Studies show that
between 10% and 20% of the arsenic that is originally pumped into the
treated wood leaches out into the soil and/or becomes available on the
surface of the wood and can be picked up on hands as children and adults
touch the wood. For information about recent studies of arsenic leaching
from wood, visit the
website of the Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management.
Beyond Pesticides has published two reports on wood preservatives, Poison
Poles and Pole Pollution, both reports are available
on the Beyond Pesticides website.