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Toxicologists say burning allows some arsenic to vaporize and become more easily inhaled.
It concentrates the rest in the ash. Nobody knows how often treated wood is burned in fireplaces and back yards, or at farms or construction sites. But a Sun search through medical journals and government files found several incidents where burning the wood reportedly led to injury. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, a Wisconsin family that burned pressure-treated wood scraps in their stove to keep warm developed blackouts, seizures, cramps, headaches and fatigue. According to the Journal of Veterinary and Human Toxicology, seven cows near Valdosta, Ga., died in May 1997 after eating treated-wood ashes.