Movies Bush wants state to stop using arsenic in wood Reports of arsenic leaching out of treated lumber close playground. The state makes its own pressure-treated lumber at a plant in Raiford.
State agencies use it for park boardwalks, highway guardrails and other outdoor structures.
Also Tuesday, responding to a special report on pressure-treated lumber in Sunday's St. Petersburg Times, Tarpon Springs temporarily closed its popular Discovery Playground, which was built by community volunteers in 1997. Tests by a laboratory hired by the Times turned up arsenic in the soil near five wooden community playgrounds. All of the tests showed arsenic at levels above the state's safety limit, prompting a flood of calls from worried parents to local officials all over Tampa Bay. At Tarpon Springs' Discovery Playground, the Times test found the arsenic level in the soil near a playground post was more than five times the state's safety limit. The city may reopen the playground, or build a new one, after officials gather more information.