Public health drama: arsenic and old waste

This week members of the Maine House and Senate will cast their final votes on An Act to Protect the Public Health by Reducing Human Exposure to Arsenic (LD 1309). Under the bill, Realtors in Maine will provide prospective homebuyers the opportunity to test for levels of arsenic in domestic drinking water wells. Prospective buyers will also be told about uses of pressure-treated wood containing arsenic on the premises. This wood is preferred for decks, porches or backyard play equipment.

The bill accelerates the timetable, required under an industry-Environmental Protection Agency nationwide agreement to halt the manufacture of arsenic-treated wood for residential use by Dec. 31. LD 1309 speeds up the elimination of arsenic-treated lumber by requiring that no further arsenic- treated wood be added to existing retail inventories as of October. It also requires that sales of remaining arsenic-treated stock would cease after April 2004, giving the lumberyards almost a year from now to deplete their inventories. This action could prevent an estimated additional 10 million board feet of arsenic-treated wood from entering Maine’s marketplace and environment.

While all other elements of the legislation are widely supported, the “ban” on arsenic-treated wood sales is generating debate in Augusta and bringing an economic boom for lobbyists called into action on behalf of out-of-state industries. These industries are worried that Maine will become yet another state taking action to reduce the public health risk from arsenic-treated wood, and thereby increase the manufacturer’s liability for producing a product associated with cancer risks.

But, as it turns out, on this issue Maine is but a small player in a much larger public health drama quietly unfolding around the world. Years ago several countries, including Switzerland, Vietnam and Indonesia, banned arsenic-treated wood, while Japan, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and Australia have limited its use. The European Union is assessing the long-term behavior of arsenic-treated wood in landfills. New York banned the use of arsenic-treated wood for public playground equipment and California does not permit government funds to be spent on its purchase. Many states, like Maine, are in the midst of developing policies to reduce the risk to public health and safety from a product we all once thought was harmless, and for which there are now readily available and affordable alternatives.

Why such a hubbub about arsenic- treated wood?

Sixteen months ago, EPA announced that pressure-treated wood manufacturers voluntarily agreed that, by Dec. 31, chromate copper arsenate (CCA) would no longer be used as a preservative and pesticide in lumber. The national agreement affects virtually all residential uses of arsenic-treated wood, including wood used in playground structures, decks, picnic tables, landscaping timbers, residential fencing, patios and boardwalks. CCA is a pesticide regulated by the EPA, which requires strict handling, use and disposal guidelines similar to other hazardous materials. In 1980, EPA listed inorganic arsenic as a hazardous air pollutant based on scientific findings that inhaled arsenic is carcinogenic. Therefore, burning pressure-treated wood under any nonapproved conditions is illegal in all 50 states.

Arsenic, when absorbed through ingestion or inhalation, can cause humans to exhibit a broad range of symptoms including chronic health effects, possible organ damage and several forms of cancer. Had the pressure-treated wood industry not “volunteered” to terminate production of arsenic-treated lumber it would have inevitably faced an outright ban by the EPA.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned recently that arsenic-treated wood “poses a significant cancer risk to children” and urges that children’s hands be “thoroughly washed with soap and water immediately after playing on arsenic-treated wood playground equipment and to ensure that children not eat while playing on treated wood play sets.” It further recommends that pressure-treated wood be sealed every year to reduce the likelihood that the arsenic will rub off on people’s hands or leach into the surrounding soil. Unfortunately, the same arsenic-treated wood that has, since the 1970s, been the material of choice for playground equipment for schoolyards and public parks, is also widely used by homeowners in the construction of decks, picnic tables and other residential projects.

Ironically, arsenic, widely used for agricultural pesticides in the first half of the 20th century, was largely replaced after World War II due to its recognized toxicity to agricultural workers and the availability of substitute pesticides. By the 1970s arsenic use declined to its lowest point since 1910.

Legislative support for LD 1309 is important in not only protecting the environment from toxic arsenic, but would also limit the exposure of our children to toxic arsenic from treated wood. A cost-competitive nonarsenic pressure-treated wood is now available throughout the state, and its use should be encouraged by limiting the availability of arsenic-treated lumber nearly a year from now. Please call your legislators and encourage them to join me in expediting the removal of this material from Maine as soon as possible.

Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, and Rep. Ted Koffman, D-Bar Harbor, chair the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee.