DEP's latest moves could bring a whole new group of people into the debate over CCA-treated wood. Recent news reports have examined the potential hazards to children playing on pressure-treated playground equipment and to consumers and carpenters who handle the wood. Now, a hodgepodge of businesses might get increased scrutiny from regulators. Florida environmental officials are worried about arsenic from pressure-treated wood contaminating thousands of patches of earth beneath decks and boardwalks and polluting groundwater beneath unlined landfills. Arsenic is highly toxic and known to cause cancer.
New studies show more arsenic is leaching from the wood than previously thought.
And yet, because of the federal exemption, millions of board feet of old decks and fences are dumped in unlined landfills in Florida every year. D.C. The EPA is reviewing CCA to see if it should be re-registered as a pesticide. The researchers are studying disposal issues. In a series of tests, UF researcher Tim Townsend found that sawdust from CCA-treated wood consistently met the government's criteria for what is considered to be hazardous waste. Cutting the wood into small particles allows more arsenic to be released, he said.