Posted on 11/17/2010 5:10:00 AM PST by TSgt
The deck, if it was built before 2004, is likely made of wood that contains enough chemicals to kill you. And you can still buy that lumber. It's called CCA Treated Wood. Local 12's Rich Jaffe looks at the poison planks upon which one family's disastrous dreams are built.
Ten years ago, in the hills of Indiana, the McGuire family began building their dream home... but in months, their dream turned into a disaster which may eventually cost them their lives. Says Arthur McGuire, "This is a national issue, this ain't a Ripley County, Indiana issue, it ain't an Artie and Connie McGuire issue, this is a national issue."
The issue is arsenic a known poison and carcinogen. More than 80 percent of the treated wood manufactured in this country prior to December 2003 was treated with a process called CCA. Chromated copper arsenate... it's also called salt treated, or wolmanized. While effective, the preservatives are highly toxic. Experts say a 12 foot long CCA board contains enough arsenic to kill 250 people.
The McGuire family built their massive deck, entirely with CCA treated lumber. They also used it inside, framing the home. The McGuires had no idea that with every cut, they were exposing themselves to the poison within. "We'd learned in 2003 that arsenic was used in the wood by a tag but after calling the manufacturer, the retailer and the chemical company it was told to us it was no harm, no danger...so we never thought no more of it."
But that was 2003. Construction started in 2000... and within a year Arthur McGuire was critically ill. "I started passing out, numerous nose bleeds, severe headaches, loss of vision, loss of feeling in my hands and feet, would get numb around my mouth and nose...loss of hair...and October 2001 I was put on 24 hour care."
Two and a half months later, the McGuire's 16 year old son was in the hospital with a heart attack and other family members were sick as well. Says Connie McGuire, "Little things was going on with me, I just thought was normal, but Artie kept getting worse and I would get a little bit worse... then this happened with my son, I had no idea what to face next."
Confronted by a growing medical mystery, in 2006 doctors discovered extremely high levels of arsenic in the McGuires blood, urine and tissue samples. State and county officials like Wayne Peace were called in for testing. "We noticed some kittens, and it was a rainy day, and there was water puddles on the deck and they were drinking the water, and they looked pretty sick, I even made a comment about it."
Tests showed the McGuire's deck boards contained arsenic levels thousands of times higher than those allowed in humans. Toxic salts can still be seen on the decking. During construction the McGuires tracked the poison into their home. Once the roof was up they cut wood inside... blowing toxic sawdust into every crevice. They used wood scraps for campfires, cooking over them, not knowing the poisonous smoke could destroy their lungs and stomachs.
In December of 2003 under a threatened ban from the EPA, CCA manufacturers voluntarily agreed to stop making it for residential use... however they still minimize the risk. The Wood Preservative Science Council says "Studies have established that the potential level of arsenic exposure from CCA-treated wood is significantly lower than the levels adults and children are exposed to each day from background sources such as food and drinking water. It is important to keep in mind that the arsenic component of CCA is complexed within the wood itself and is intended to remain within the wood."
But it doesn't... it leaches out.
While the industry agreed to the ban in 2003 of CAA treated lumber for residential uses, we found that wood treated with the same poisonous chemicals is still readily available. It's sold as posts and timbers...even advertised as "CCA" but it's supposed to carry warning labels. We checked these posts at two Indiana stores, many had no warning labels at all, and clerks were unaware of any dangers with the toxic timbers.
The U.S. EPA tells me while they regulate the "pesticide, preservative product..." meaning the arsenic, the "treated articles" meaning the posts...are "exempted from regulation." The industry is supposed to do that. "The same that went on in 2000, 2001 all the while we was building this is the same thing going on today. Wood is being sold made of CCA chemicals, no end tags on it,no consumer awareness program given out to the public that was agreed upon, and if there's no information out there how does the consumer know not only what he's buying but what precautions to take?"
Health experts allowed the McGuires to live in their basement. The rest of their dream home is sealed off... resting above their heads as a tragic reminder of what could have been and what is. "Ten years from now Artie and I could both be diagnosed with some sort of cancer we just don't know what the effects are we're gonna have with it...but this was our home, and arsenic took it from us."
County health departments can test for arsenic. If your deck was built before 2004, seal it each year and never use acid washes. Do not burn treated lumber - a teaspoon of CCA wood ash could kill a person.
Ignorance isn’t the same as stupidity.
After all, the guy called and asked about it (supposedly). He was told, “it’s safe,” not “it’s safe as long as you don’t saw it inside your house, you don’t burn it, you don’t put it anywhere it might leech and contaminate anyting...”
I think it should be left on the market, but I think it should have labels explaining what CCA means, and detailing what are safe and unsafe uses, and I think each piece of lumber sold should have some indicator that the wood has been treated with CCA, so decades from now, when whatever was once built with CCA is weathered splinters, someone will still know what it once was. And if the thought of a small CCA brand every foot along the underside of a board is too disquieting for a builder, maybe that builder shouldn’t be using CCA.
The carpenter’s union will use this to push a law saying you need to be a pro and have a license to buy this stuff. Then you’ll have to hire a carpenter just to re-do your deck, no more DIY.
My parents gave me a outside table and bench set that’s p.t. It isn’t green though so I think it’s okay.
I’ve never worried about it and I certainly wouldn’t burn it, not even in my huge brush piles that I burn in the winter time.
Any retard knows you do not burn it or eat it. It is perfectly safe for use within the home, unless the home is on fire; then you have bigger problems than hanging out sniffing fumes as you may slowly roast.
Same as raw cedar and kimbara, it has stuff that will make you sick if you burn it under your chicken wings.
That is the selling point, it kills termites and saves millions of cedar and redwood trees from being hacked up and turned into decking. Most PT comes from southern Yellow pine, a tree more abundant and structurally stronger than the cedars and reds we all love to look at.
Aside... Ten feet of PVC pipe that burns can kill a dozen people in a contained area in three minutes.
Think about that hazard next time you ride an elevator.
“I’m 71, used pressure treated wood for years, raised 5 children around it and never saw any such thing. You could buy it at any lumber yard. I think there’s something hinky about this article. This guys property wasn’t threatened by the rising ocean too, was it?”
A voice of sanity! Who did the studies? Was it a leftie professor who wanted money for a new lab? We’ve been conned by these people for decades. Remember the so-called Apple Scare? It was a lie and the lefties won a bundle plus got many homes off their coastal land which is coveted by the oligarch. So many lies over the years we’ve got to recheck everything we’ve been told...
Ebony is rot resistant too.
However, if you built your average 10x16 deck it would cost more than the house it was attached to.
IPE, Redwood, Cedar, Garapa, Jatoba, Black Walnut, Black Locust, Cumaru, Rosewood, Purpleheart, Cyrpress all have natural rot resistant qualities. The reason most of these species are not used is their cost and density.
IPE is terrible to work with. You need to predrill every hole and you will still break stainless steel screws. Cedar reacts with galvenized screws. That is why composite deckings have become popular. However, the composite does not have the strength to be used as a joist or load bearing member.
CCA treatment was used for years. They stopped using it because of fear of lawsuits if some idiot did exactly what the article describes. Do not eat your wooden treated deck and you will be OK. It is the same reason MCD’s puts a warning on their coffee cup that states contents are HOT !
JW
BS Wood Products Engineering Major
The most harm ever done to my body (and Earth) came from Malaysian Kimbra, a hard cedar. I believe that even though it is as hard as steel, it is defined as a soft wood. Long ago I gave up on caring about such man made definitions.
The dust from that incredibly salt/bug resistant hard wood took a decade off of my life. Five years later my lungs and sinuses have not recovered.
Oak sawdust is bad too. Black walnut and deep chestnut are the finest woods, as far as asthesitsc IMO.
They say ABS plastic pipe is far worse!
Do not forget the toxic fumes from burning carpet, foam padding, upolstry...
Coal tar is the highly poisonous waste material from a coke oven (where metallurgical coal is turned into coke to make steel.) Creosote is a “licensed” product by EPA. Only four companies in the US control the sale and distribution of creosote.
Creosote is used to treat utility poles, railroad ties and marine pilings. Installation crews receive training on the handling of this product to avoid being poisoned.
Used railroad ties are resold at lumber yards and come into public contact. Railroad ties are often found in landscaping and vegetable garden situations.
Several states have passed legislation banning creosote treated wood in marine pilings and in the resale market.
Creosote treated wood should not be burned and its use should be limited to where it will not further contaminate the landscape.
geez I hate being right! When I first learned thet they used arsenic in treated wood, I predicted this. and it’s gonna get worse before it gets better - before too long they won’t let you send treated wood to the dump - it’ll have to be treated as hazardous waste.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16010195
A 2005 mortality study of creosote workers found no evidence supporting an increased risk of cancer death, as a result of exposure to creosote. Based on the findings of the largest mortality study to date of workers employed in creosote wood treating plants, there is no evidence that employment at creosote wood-treating plants or exposure to creosote-based preservatives was associated with any significant mortality increase from either site-specific cancers or non-malignant diseases. The study consisted of 2,179 employees at eleven plants in the United States where wood was treated with creosote preservatives. Some workers began work in the 1940s to 1950s. The observation period of the study covered 1979- 2001. The average length of employment was 12.5 years. One third of the study subjects were employed for over 15 years.
This article is BS .....
From http://www.strongtie.com/productuse/PTWoodFAQs.html
Tell me a little about CCA.
Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) has been used successfully for a number of decades for pressure treating wood. Several types of CCA have been used, however, CCA-C (type C) has been the predominant preservative used for wood likely to come in contact with the products Simpson manufactures.
Why was the use of CCA discontinued for residential and general consumer use?
In recent years pressure treated wood received negative publicity mainly focused on the use of arsenic in CCA. The increasing pressure to eliminate the use of CCA resulted in the treated wood products industry voluntarily transitioning from CCA to alternative preservative systems.
CCA is no longer being produced for residential or general consumer use.
What products are still manufactured using CCA?
CCA treated wood products are still produced for use in some industrial, highway, and agricultural applications. These uses will include wood used as poles, piles, guardrail posts, and wood used in saltwater marine exposures.
What products took the place of CCA-C?
A number of alternative preservatives are available. These include ACQ-C (Alkaline Copper Quat Type C), ACQ-D Carbonate (Alkaline Copper Quat Type D, Carbonate formulation), CBA-A and CA-B (Copper Azole Types A and B), as well as SBX/DOT (Sodium Borate) and Zinc Borate preservatives. As mentioned earlier, each preservative usually has a number of variations available so care should be exercised when specifying treated wood.
It is expected that the formulations used in these products will continue to undergo periodic modifications so once again, care should be exercised when specifying any treated wood.
Thanks Eric. I really appreciate your very informative response.
OMG, you’re probably right. That’s where the impending lawsuit will go.
PT lumber can shrink and split more too as it dries. Seems like that would wreak havoc with your drywall if used for studs.
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Creosote is actually far less dangerous than the inorganic compounds in preservatives like CCA. It is 100% organic, so if it DOES spread into the environment it biodegrades just like any other organic matter. The reason it works as a preservative in the wood is that it stays concentrated in the wood. Leachation from the wood breaks down in a matter of months.
You use lots of buzzwords and phrases like “among the most hazardous common chemicals in use in the US”. First off, it’s not that common. Second, I can pull stuff out of the cabinets of ANY home in the US that is FAR more dangerous.
It is ONLY considered to be a “known carcinogen” by the state of California, and their judgment and a buck will buy you a cup of coffee.
Quit buying into the Greenpeace view of things. I actually run a creosote plant. Been here most of twenty years. One of my employees has been here longer than that. The man who ran the plant before me and retired 20 years ago is now 85 years old and was around the creosote treating business for over 30 years all told and he’s still going strong, doing strenuous work like building fence and working cows on his farm.
NONE of us have had any adverse health effects from working around creosote and NONE of us have ever worn “moon suits” to work around it. Stupid, bureaucratic, corruption- and graft-crippled large corps like IP come up with all sorts of stupid crap for their employees to do as a sop to the unions and the regulatory agencies.
Quit spouting off on subjects you know nothing about like you’re some sort of expert.
You might check your facts.
I sell my residual oil into the RR tie and utility pole treating industry (which uses the oil as a carrier and extender for creosote) and have dealt with this industry extensively for decades.
I also have a background in thermal and met coal and know exactly how and where the product is produced and the companies who deal in it internationally.
Creosote is a EPA registered chemical and every ounce used in the US is accounted for. I’m the last person to trumpet anything from Greenpeace, but the fact is, creosote can be absorbed through the skin and will cause cancer.
Suggest you rub some on your scrotum and see how long your nuts remain attached.
Funny, you couldn’t concretely refute anything I corrected you on, except for your dogged insistence on referring to creosote as a known carcinogen. I repeat: It is only a “known carcinogen” in the state of California, and anyone with half a brain knows how whack-a-doo CA is and how they overreact about everything that even MIGHT be a little dangerous.
Dude, I work around creosote every day. I’ve had it on just about every part of my body, including the part you mentioned, and everything is still attached and in working order, thank you very much. From the context of what you’ve written, I strongly suspect you’re reaching all the way back to the long-discredited “study” of British chimney sweeps and their incidence of scrotal and/or testicular cancer. A similar study was ALSO made of German chimney sweeps and they were found to NOT have any higher incidence of said cancers than the population at large. The reason was, the British chimney sweeps were filthy and rarely ever BATHED.
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