Health Hazards Of Pressure-Treated Wood

CBO Morning Radio Transcript 16oct01

JOHN LACHARITY (CBO): I've heard in our local news, Health Canada wants warning labels on every stick of pressure-treated lumber. People will be warned to handle this specially treated lumber with gloves and a mask because it contains pesticides. It comes after a long, controversial debate about the safety of using pressure-treated wood to build decks, play structures and fences. Amanda Pfeffer has been following the story. Amanda's in the studio this morning. Good morning Amanda.

AMANDA PFEFFER (Reporter): Good morning John.

LACHARITY: So, I'm not sure; why is this label programming considered necessary now?

PFEFFER: Well, the most common pressure-treated wood is called Chromated Copper Arsenate or CCA and it's the green wood you see people using to build their own desks or playground equipment. Now chromated copper arsenate is a pesticide and it's used to preserve the wood but it does contain heavy metals. It contains chromium and arsenic of course which we're familiar with. Now, when you start cutting into the wood, the chemicals are in the sawdust and they can be inhaled and that's considered dangerous.

Now industry is supposed to tell customers to wear gloves and a mask. John Worgan is associated director at the Health Evaluation Division at the Pest Management regulatory agency within Health Canada.

JOHN WORGAN (Health Evaluation Division, Health Canada): We do not feel that the information was consistently available to all that would need that kind of information. And therefore, as a result of that, you know, we are working on that work crew to develop a... enhanced consumer protection information, materials and sheets and tags and the like.

LACHARITY: Okay, and thus the labels but what will the labels say exactly?

PFEFFER: Well basically, CCA is a pesticide, that's why John Worgan is at the Health Evaluation Division at Pest Management regulatory agency.

LACHARITY: M'hm.

PFEFFER: So they'll basically tell you to wear gloves when you're working with the product, as well as a mask, especially if you're sawing into it. And of course, it will tell you not to burn pressure-treated wood, the smoke is very toxic. And it'll give out a 1-800 number to give out some more information on it.

LACHARITY: Well, it still leaves that question: just how dangerous is this product?

PFEFFER: It depends who you talk to. Now, I did speak to Jim Parker. He's with the union representing wood workers in Canada, the IWA, and he says chromated copper arsenate is dangerous stuff, it just depends how much you're working with it.

I looked at a case study at the University of Wisconsin, it looked at a couple in the U.S. who builds picnic tables. They were given this by the state to build some picnic tables for the park. And they built them in a closed garage and they suffered very bad headaches, sinus problems, bleeding from the nose, aching muscles, serious stomach problems. One of them had to get blood infusions, it was quite a serious case.

So Parker says his union has been trying to make sure employees inform... employers inform their workers about this product and how to work with it for about a decade now. And so, he questions why it took so long to tell consumers.

JIM PARKER (Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada Spokesperson): Well, I think it's well-passed time that people did... were informed of what they're using. It's well-recognized that there's a right to know about any hazardous material you have in the workplace and so that should extend to consumers too.

LACHARITY: Okay. How about, talking about consumers, how is the retailer feeling about this move?

PFEFFER: Well, I should point out that more than 80 percent of pressure-treated wood is not used by industry. It's used by you and me building a deck or small contractors going out and buying pressure-treated wood from Home Depot. So I asked Ron Krowchuk(sp?) about these warning labels. He's the head purchaser for lumber products at Home Depot. Now, he questions what all of this debate is doing to public confidence in this product.

RON KROWCHUK (Head Purchaser, Home Depot): We see all this hype in this media and we... you know, sometimes we wonder all of these people that have been doing it for a long time and they seemed all be(sic) very conformable with it. And they're all family people and they're all people that buy it and work with it and they're all fine. And then we see, you know, just these oddball stories out there where's dogs dying or a pile(?) of cattle are dying and something else has gone it. And it takes the blame and I really don't... I don't see it. I don't think I'm blind to it because I care more for my family and friends than I do necessarily for my job, so if I had to pull it I would but I don't see that need. I don't see the danger at all as long as we do it well.

PFEFFER: And Home Depot does it... the selling very well. They've sold $200 million worth of pressure-treated wood last year. In fact, close to half of lumber sales at Home Depot is pressure-treated wood. And Ron Krowchuk estimates, he buys 10 percent of Canada's wood products.

LACHARITY: What did he say though about the accusation that industry has failed to adequately tell the public about how to handle the wood safely?

PFEFFER: Well, he says in the last year, that was not the case at Home Depot. Now, Krowchuk says they put out more than $100,000... er, 100,000 pieces of information, literature on pressure-treated wood that they gave it out to customers. Now, he can seize perhaps not all that information was getting to customers. We have a colleague I won't name who recently built a deck, not knowing he was supposed to wear gloves or a mask, so obvi... and he bought his wood at Home Depot. So still... erm, Krowchuk stands behind this product despite the fact Health Canada hasn't even completed its evaluation.

LACHARITY: I think a lot of people have stories like that or knows someone, know somebody for sure. It's anecdotal but it's out there. So what happens now, Amanda?

PFEFFER: Well, the labels will come out in a couple of weeks at great expense, I must add, to industry. And in fact, this was a partly... this is an event partly initiated by industry. They sit on a committee with Health Canada helping them come up with these responses. And this is all before Health Canada completes its revaluation of this product and that's going to take place this spring. But I just wanted to read from... quickly, from a document put out by this subcommittee at Health Canada which includes industry and in it, it says... on average, the arsenic that's lost over the 20-year lifetime is estimated at 10 percent of this product. And what Health Canada is going to start evaluating is what does that mean, where is that arsenic going and what happens with it. And so, that will come out this spring and we'll find out... We're talking about heavy metals that remain in the soil for a long time and that evaluation will be ready this spring.

LACHARITY: Okay. Well, it looks like something we all took for granted. It's just a little more dangerous than we though. Thanks for that, Amanda.

PFEFFER: Thanks, John.

LACHARITY: Amanda Pfeffer as we approach five minutes before seven o'clock.