Word: arsenicals
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From the CO2 emissions flip to the arsenic-standards flap to the energy-plan-rollout flop, George W. Bush has spent much of his presidency battling the popular impression that his White House, particularly on environmental issues, is operating under a corporate sponsorship. And some Republican poll-watchers think Bush?s only way to convince the public that his version of "balance" does more than pad Big Business? balance sheet is to borrow a page from Al Gore?s campaign handbook. "They haven?t given anyone a reason to believe Bush isn?t doing the bidding of corporate America...
...fact that the government has gone so easy on arsenic is, according to critics, a testament to the political muscle of the $4 billion-a-year wood-treatment industry. The industry counters that it has been left alone because it deserves to be--and the case it makes has some merit. If CCA were as deadly as some say, factory workers who make the stuff and carpenters who work with it ought to be falling ill in droves. Yet no one reports a measurable increase in disease among these groups. "Certainly, if there were a danger, it would show...
...foes don't buy this, pointing out that the EPA has already banned arsenic for all other pesticide applications--not the kind of thing the agency does lightly. In March, lawyers from Florida, New York, Washington and Indiana filed a class action against the industry and some retailers, hoping to force them to pay for sealing existing structures built with CCA and cleaning up contaminated sites. Such legal sword rattling may be having an effect. Last week PlayNation, a Georgia-based maker of playground equipment, announced that it will immediately switch to nonarsenic-based preservatives. According to several sources...
Consumers can help shape that market by voting with their wallets. In the meantime, activists are launching a nationwide campaign to encourage testing of playground equipment for arsenic. Next week the Consumer Product Safety Commission will begin a new study to assess the arsenic risk kids face in playgrounds, and the EPA plans similar investigations in the fall. The EPA is also reviewing more than 300 pesticides (including the arsenic in CCA) to decide whether it will continue to approve their use. With the current flap over CCA, there is a fair chance arsenic won't make...
Whatever CCA's ultimate fate, the existing problem will probably be with us for a long time. Even when a playground is torn down, the wood must still be disposed of--not an easy thing to do. Dumping it in an unlined landfill allows arsenic to seep underground. Mulching it scatters CCA on the surface. And burning it fills the air with toxic smoke. Leaving the structures to disintegrate on their own could take a while. CCA is such an effective preservative that those pressure-treated wooden forts and castles might still be standing a generation from now. In retrospect...