Who Is Paying This "Researcher"?
Click
Here to Add Comment Subject: Who Is Paying This "Researcher"?
Date:
Mon, 23 Dec 2002 06:34:18 -0500
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman
whitman.christine@epa.gov
cc: clearance@inl.co.nz
Untreated wood more risky than arsenic - researcher
MONDAY , 23 DECEMBER 2002
A ban on treated timber in children's playgrounds could create death traps as untreated timber structures rot, according to one researcher.
The Green Party has called for timber treated with chromate copper arsenate (arsenic) to be banned, after United States research suggested regular contact increased the risk of cancer.
The report singled out children who regularly touched wooden playground structures.
However, a ban would be a "dangerous over-reaction", according to Massey University Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health researcher Stuart McLaren.
"If you are going to remove arsenic-treated timber, the subsequent rotting - as we should already have learnt from the 'leaky building syndrome' - could be a death trap," he told this month's Massey (University) News.
"You will have children falling through platforms as they collapse."
Mr McLaren said untreated timber structures would need to be rigorously checked every three to six months for rotting, but he suspected the required vigilance would be lacking.
"You shouldn't run out and replace treated timber with an inferior product. It has to be balanced with acceptable risk," he said.
Soil scientist Nanthi Bolan told Massey News timber was arsenic treated to stop rapid deterioration and degradation by insects, and there was currently no alternative as effective.
The Government has announced its Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) will review the copper, chromium and arsenic (CCA) compounds involved in treated timber.
The Erma report, due at the end of February, will be used to see whether there are grounds to do a re-assessment of CCA, the normal process for reconsidering existing chemicals.
Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has said the Erma review's focus on the US research suggested the intent was to discredit the research, rather than taking a wider view of a "very toxic substance".
The Building Industry Authority (BIA) is also seeking Erma advice to see if CCA-treated timber should be classified alongside asbestos as a hazardous material in the building code.
© You may not copy, republish or distribute this page or the content from it without having obtained written permission from the copyright owner. To enquire about copyright clearances contact clearance@inl.co.nz
"ASK YOUR PEST CONTROL COMPANY OR STATE REGULATOR OR HIS "RESEARCHER" TO SHOW YOU ANYWHERE ON THE LABELS OF THE VARIOUS "REGISTERED" PESTICIDE POISONS THEY USE AND/OR RECOMMEND WHERE IT STATES THIS POISON IS SAFE FOR HUMANS AND/OR PETS."
If you would like to be included in our mailing list for continuing information on pesticides, please email us at list@safe2use.com.