Safety concerns cut down treated lumber used by millions

USA Today ^ | 28 Dec 03 | Peter Eisler

[SLB]

In three days, the pressure-treated lumber used for millions of backyard decks, fences and play sets will head into extinction, its production halted because its arsenic-laced preservatives are considered a cancer risk.

No one is ready for what comes next.

[FrankR]

"Plastic decking?"

I have heard that the "cereal companies" stated the rumor about cholesterol in eggs, to sell more breakfast ceral; and I heard the maker of that new coolant started the rumors about freon and the ozone layer.

Now, do you 'spose those fake deck folks are behind this new "discovery"?

Most "cancer scares" over the past few years have later been disproven, and recanted...this one will be too. Unless you saw off about 3 feet of this lumber and eat it, I seriously doubt if there is more than an ice cube's chance in hell of getting cancer from it.

Every time I see these "scares", I think of George Carlin saying", "...scientist have discovered that saliva causes cancer...but only when swallowed in small amounts over a long period of time.".

[ChefKeith]

When is the EPA gonna outlaw themselves and the rest of the nanny-govt.????????????

[Chu Gary]

Isn't it just so amazing that such a large number of us who were born before the nanny state got totally out of control have survived our really poor upbringing. Why, I just cringe every time I think about how I used to play in a hayloft, ride pigs, throw rocks, play in the woods and in streams - I was just so, so environmentally naive. God, how I wish, that Nancy Pelosi or Hillary could have steered me correctly so I wouldn't have done all those dangerous things.

[Chu Gary]

"You can't use it for loadbearing structures, either. It can be used for decking, with joists at 16" centers, but not for the joists themselves, or over wider spans."

Well, so much for my idea that it could be used if Hillary needed artificial lower limbs.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Comments?

Sure...this whole thing is bunk. My father-in-law has been a carpenter for 20+ years, has been around treated lumber, cut it, inhaled it (sawdust), and built decks and stairs with it for years. He has never heard of anyone he's worked with get cancer or any other ailment from being around and working with treated lumber.

My analysis? The nanny state surfaces its head again, "for the children", making the cost to do business more expensive and the ease to do business more of a pain in the arse. WOO! HOO!

[Ophiucus]

I think you mean Cyanide, but really it is a similar compound called amygdalin, which was the active ingredient in Laetrile, which is the only commercial drug that ever cured cancer, and so it had to be out-lawed to keep the AMA from going broke.

Laetrile is "a substance allegedly synthesized by Ernst T. Krebs, Jr., and registered with the U.S. Patent Office for the treatment of 'disorders of intestinal fermentation.' " It has been around since 1830 and marketed as a miracle cure for a number of ailments. Krebs was responsible for the quackery surrounding laetrile and cancer even though he flunked out of medical school, had to repeat his first year, flunked again his second year and was expelled. The rest of his "academic" career existed of:

After taking courses in five different colleges and achieving low or failing grades in his science courses, he finally received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois in 1942 [3]. In 1973, after giving a 1-hour lecture on Laetrile, he obtained a "Doctor of Science" degree from American Christian College, a small, now-defunct Bible college in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The school, founded by evangelist Billy James Hargis, had no science department and lacked authority from Oklahoma to grant any doctoral degrees. (source)

Laetrile was first proposed as a cure for cancer under a bogus theory, then it was claimed to control cancer under another invalied theory, and finally it was touted as a cancer preventative as a vitamin supplement and an analgesic for cancer sufferers - without one shred of medical evidence.

Krebs claimed that he had good results in animal tests but sorry, he couldn't prove it because "the records had been destroyed." He also claimed "spectacular results" in patients but again no proof, and no other source to confirm it.

A cancer commission from the Calfornian Medical Association tried to duplicate his results using his claimed methods and his recommendations - 44 patients in the study and 19 died and the others showed zero improvement.

The major marketer for Laetrile was Andrew McNaughton. McNaughton, a staunch Castro supporter and gun-runner for Castro's rebels, founded a company for Laetrile distribution. His business style was one of fraud:

In 1972, he was permanently enjoined from selling Biozymes stock in the United States as a result of a suit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 1973, he was charged by Italian police with having taken part in a $17 million swindle involving purchasers of Biozymes stock who were under the impression that they were investing in an Italian Laetrile factory. In 1974, in a Canadian courtroom, McNaughton was found guilty of stock fraud involving a company named Pan American Mines. It appears that $5 million had mysteriously disappeared. McNaughton was fined $10,000 and sentenced to serve one day in jail. A warrant for his arrest was issued after he refused to pay the fine and left Canada without serving his sentence. (source)

Laetrile got a boost in the 70's during use in Mexico by the Electronic Medical Foundation, a company convicted many times of fraud for marketing quack medical devices. The physician and "research" done in Mexico were later found to be frauds as well - no records, no evidence could be given, it was either not kept or 'destroyed.' However, there were plenty of dead patients. Krebs, Beard, and McNaughton faced more convictions and more fines and jail time.

Other people joined the Laetrile money wagon scam as presumed doctors and researchers. All have lost their licenses, removed from universities, and gone to trial for charges from malpractice to tax fraud.

The National Cancer Institute did large group studies on the properties of Laetrile and concluded that "the results allow no definite conclusions supporting the anti-cancer activity of Laetrile." A Mayo Clinic study concluded that "the evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, is that it doesn't benefit patients with advanced cancer." Not one single patient was cured or stabilized. Moreover, patients were found to have lethal or near lethal blood levels of cynanide. This using Krebs et. al. recommended doses and procedure.

Laetrile is a scam. A pathetic quack cure used to steal money from desparate and ill people. Cries of a cancer cure squashed by the greedy government and AMA only come from under a tin foil hat or from the shyster after your wallet.

[editor-surveyor]

Or from the people cured of cancer after being told by the AMA Shamen that they were going to die. people are cured of cancer with amygdalin every day in other countries, and no tinfoil is involved. The AMA is the scam.

[dennisw]

Idiocy! This lumber is pressure treated with arsenic (poison) and you stay aware of it. You don't let your children (and other kids) suck in the poison and even if they do the amoumt is negligable.

[Ophiucus]

people are cured of cancer with amygdalin every day in other countries,

Sadly, that is an absolute falsehood. There has never been one single study, not even one single documented case anywhere in the world of Laetrile curing any type of cancer. Zero proof, zero evidence.

If it was a cure, there would have been a massive rush by doctors and researchers to prove the effectiveness and a stampede by the pharmaceutical companies to produce it, sell it, develop better versions with less side effects to patent and sell even more of the new drugs.

[Ophiucus]

You don't let your children (and other kids) suck in the poison and even if they do the amoumt is negligable.

Do you let your children or other kids play in the yard? Maybe dig in the garden or such? (while growing up, kids in my neighbourhood would dig holes and ramps for our Tonka trucks...)

There is arsenic in dirt everywhere but kids aren't falling over dead from digging little holes because the levels absorbed are miniscule compared to a dose that would have any effect.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Wrong.

It's emotional hype FORCED on the rest of us by "an environmental" group ...

Who NEVER let us in on the numbers behind their ASSUMED risks.

It's a lie .... from front to back.

And, the lumber that CAN'T be treated will fail under termite and rot, fungus and moisture, and will kill people.

But the enviro's don't care.

How many minutes a day to kids REALLY NEED to spend around lumber, times days per year, times 3-10 years (maybe!) .... to get how many milligrams (maybe!) of what chemicals?

These predictions have been based on rates (in other cases) where the kid would LITERALLY have to EAT 20 pounds of apple per day for thirty years to get a MEASUREABLE dose .... but even that measurable dose didn't indicate that there was a cancer risk.

[editor-surveyor]

Your ignorance smells like either pharmaceutical exec, or FDA 'doctor.' - Which is it?

Of course there are no 'studies,' The AMA, working in conjunction with pharms, through the FDA have made sure of that. Can't patent naturally occuring substances, so nobody makes any money off of them. Bad for business, so people have to die.

There are thousands of people who have been saved by amygdalin in Mexico alone (doctors run out of San Francisco and moved to Mexico). Doctors are hypocrites.

[editor-surveyor]

BTW, the only 'side effect' of amygdalin is an occasional cure of type 1 diabetes.

[cajun-jack]

comment??? you can't eat beef, pork, eggs, or drink coffee..can't use this ..can't use that...everything is gonna kill you!!!

consumer: well if everything is gonna kill me u stupid sumbitch, why am i paying taxes for you to tell me that everything is gonna kill me?? aren't you using the same products?? how do yo9u protect yourself and your family??

[databoss]

I was a carpenter for years and cut this stuff w/o masks gloves etc...had many health problems including respiratory, ms like symptoms and testicular cancer...good riddance....

[pageonetoo]

...It's emotional hype FORCED on the rest of us by "an environmental" group ...

Can you say Freon? DuPont had a patent running out on the old stuff, and suddenly it was forbidden...because it was going to destroy the world... Hmmmm?

Can you say $$$? Somebodys got a patent they want to sell!

I have a bridge...

[dc27]

The bad thing about plastic decking is the joist spacing is only 16". Makes for many more post holes.

[bigfootbob]

Hope you've recovered fully from your health problems. I wouldn't bet the farm however on your health issues resulting from treated wood products.

I've worked with the stuff for 25 years and have had no problems and my neighbor worked for Wycoff Industries, a wood treatment facility specializing with railroad ties and telephone poles, for 30 years until the EPA closed them down in 1997 without any cancer either.

How the hell did we and our parents survive with all the reckless cigarette smoking and lead based paints used in everything? Can you say "chicken little"?

You'll have plenty of work coming your way replacing decks and other outdoor wood items now that treated wood is banned and it's not PC to use redwood.

[Mamzelle]

Start cutting down the cedars and redwoods--we're going to need the lumber.