Florida Group Finds No Risk to Arsenic-Treated Playground Equipment
A six-member panel of physicians in Florida issued a report earlier this month that found no health risks associated with playgrounds and backyard furniture made out of arsenic-treated wood. The arsenic is used as part of a treatment for wood that makes it resist pest damage and other decay.
The Florida Physicians Arsenic Workgroup, set up by the state of Florida to investigate the matter, found that any exposure to arsenic that children might conceivably get from treated wood “is not significant compared to natural sources and will not result in detectable arsenic intake.”
They physicians group also noted that the arsenic-treated wood had been in use since the 1960s and there is no evidence linking it to any health problems.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency is also conducting a review of arsenic-treated lumber which his expected to be released sometime in 2003.
Both it and the Florida study are largely irrelevant at this point, because the EPA reached an agreement with manufacturers to end the sale of arsenic-treated lumber by the end of 2003. Nothing like working to rid the world of something and then later deciding whether or not it really poses a threat.
Source:
Doctors: Amount of arsenic in playground wood not harmful. Associated Press, August 8, 2002.
Tags: Miscellaneous Health Scares