Photo Stories
December 20, 2002 - On December 10, 2002, Beyond Pesticides, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Center for Environmental Health, and a victim family from Florida filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court to stop the use of arsenic and dioxin-laden wood preservatives, which are used to treat lumber, utility poles and railroad ties. The litigation charges that the chemicals, known carcinogenic agents, hurt utility workers exposed to treated poles, children playing near treated structures, and the environment, and cites the availability of alternatives.
This photo shows CCA,
a chemical cited in the lawsuit, leaking from pressure-treated lumber.
The complaint seeks to stop the continued use of the wood preservatives chromated copper arsenate (CCA), commonly used in pressure-treated lumber and utility poles; pentachlorophenol (penta), used most commonly in utlility poles; and creosote, used most commonly in railroad ties. The groups say that EPA has overwhelming data on the wood preservatives' health and environmental risks and is aware of widely available and economically viable alternatives that compel the agency to stop use, rather than continue reviews that have gone on for over 20 years.
"EPA action to protect the public, workers and the environment from these wood preservatives is long overdue, and this lawsuit seeks to compel the agency to do its job," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. President Morton Bahr of the Communications Workers of America said, "Because of the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to act, tens of thousands of our members continue to be exposed daily to dangerous chemical wood preservatives that have severe and debilitating effects on workers' long term health. This is a serious workplace issue that must be addressed." The groups cite high cancer risks from exposure to treated wood, contaminated soil and worker risks. They say that the voluntary action to remove certain uses of arsenic-treated wood, announced by the wood preservers and EPA in February, 2002, does not offer sufficient public, worker and environmental protection and only affects a small portion of the pesticide-treated wood in use.
The lawsuit also cites EPA's test results that indicate that continued disposal of treated wood in municipal landfills does not provide necessary protection and violates EPA's hazardous waste regulations. Beyond Pesticides has filed a separate petition urging EPA to reclassify pesticide-treated wood waste as hazardous, citing requirements in law.
Since the lawsuit was filed, two major institutions of the wood preservatives industry have fallen. First, on December 13, the American Wood Preservatives Institute (AWPI), the national industry trade association representing the pressure-treated wood industry, announced that it would be laying off all of its employees and handing operations over to a management firm. Then, on December 16, the Kerr-McGee Corporation, the nation's largest creosote producer, announced that it would be leaving the forest products business and closing at least four of it's five forest products plants immediately.
Backyard decks are
commonly made with CCA-treated wood.
The three wood preservatives targeted by the lawsuit are linked to a wide range of health problems including cancer, birth defects, kidney and liver damage, disruption of the endocrine system and death. In fact, two of the components of CCA, arsenic and chromium (VI), are classified as known human carcinogens. Penta, classified as a probable carcinogen and a known endocrine disruptor in its own right, is contaminated with dioxins that the National Institutes of Health has classified as known human carcinogens. Creosote, a mix of toxic chemicals, is a cancer-causing agent and is neurotoxic.
EPA has calculated that children exposed to soil contaminated with penta leaching out of utility poles face a risk of cancer that is 220 times higher than the agency's acceptable level. According to EPA's own data, a typical worker who paints penta onto poles in the field faces more than a 100% lifetime risk of cancer. Other categories of workers, such as utility pole installers, also face risks many times above EPA's "acceptable" level. The practice of allowing the disposal of treated wood in unlined dumps or its recycling into mulch is exacerbating contamination and risk factors, according to the lawsuit.
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