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more_legal_areas arsenicInformation on arsenic has alarmed many families and caused the EPA''s announcement to phase out pressure treated wood due to the risk of arsenic poisoning. Arsenic fears continue to rise as the impact and exposure to the human carcinogen is realized more and more by families and scientists alike. Arsenic fears remain high despite the gradual elimination of pressure treated wood from consumer use due to the failure to address the potentially very large problem of arsenic contamination due to pressure treated wood disposal.
Currently, no special guidelines on pressure treated wood disposal exist. There are millions of board feet of pressure treated wood allowed into unlined landfills every year. The arsenic can contaminate the environment as well, allowing arsenic contamination in the soil and water. In order to line landfills already containing the pressure treated wood disposal would require an incredibly large financial implication.
In some areas, woodpiles are turned into mulch, allowing arsenic contamination to more easily occur when the mulch has originated from pressure treated wood. Many people do not realize the arsenic contamination risk factor by recycling the pressure treated wood and instead create a health hazard. The ill effects of arsenic poisoning due to pressure treated wood exposure was first noted to the pressure treated wood industry in the 1960s when workers were beginning to get ill.
Now, the pressure treated wood industry is suffering from the legal battles pursued by arsenic poisoned families suffering serious adverse health effects. In December 2002, the American Wood Preservatives Institute (AWPI) announced all employees would be laid off and operations were being handed over to a management firm. The AWPI was the national industry trade association representing the pressure treated wood industry.
Pressure treated wood using arsenic, an effective poison for hundreds of years, was used in deck construction for many years but is no longer sold for residential use. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned most uses of arsenic as a pesticide...