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  Discussion on Treated wood for fences
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 30, 2002 - 2:54 pm:

Recently there has been a bit of pressure on the EPA to restrict or eliminate the use of chromated copper arsenate (called CCA)in wood treatment, especially in playground equipment. I was wondering if there is any information on potential effects in horses (wood chewers?! if treated lumber is used). Especially concerned about pregnant mares.

Posted on Thursday, Jan 31, 2002 - 7:52 am:

Hello Lisa,
The only cases where I can find livestock poisoning by CCA is when the animals had access to the ashes of preserved wood. The burning greatly concentrates the CCA. There is no specific work on horses or pregnant mares. Many horses are kept in CCA treated wood. As long as other sources of forage are present chewing on the fences can be kept to a minimum. If it really worries you or you do have a confirmed chewer, run a hot wire around the top board of the fence.

Ahhh the EPA, combined with the inflammatory writing of Time magazine and you have a fine combination for irrational fears. I think an interesting study on CCA and other wood perservatives came from looking at a large number of workers, some have been working as long as 26 years with these products and as early as the 1960's when little protection was offered the worker. The mean time with working daily with the products was 6.5 years. Their conclusion was, "Review of all organ systems and laboratory data showed no clinically significant differences between exposed and nonexposed cohorts, although elevated hepatic enzymes in both groups merit further study. The results indicated no adverse health effects or increased incidence of mortality resulting from exposure to wood preservative chemicals in wood treaters who had worked in the industry for 0.33 to 26.3 years with a median of 6.5 years."

Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 1990 Jul-Aug;19(4):603-9
Effects of pentachlorophenol and other chemical preservatives on the health of wood-treating workers in Hawaii.
Gilbert FI Jr, Minn CE, Duncan RC, Wilkinson J.
Pacific Health Research Institute and Straub Clinic and Hospital, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.


I think most of the pressure to eliminate the CCA comes mostly due to ground water contamination and quite frankly I do not know enough to know if this is a valid concern.
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jan 31, 2002 - 8:46 am:

Thanks for your input. It was really an academic question because I am revising a course on pest management and am working on a chapter on wood treatment. Since I work in pest management (at least at the teaching level), I am well aware of the effects of public hue and outcry based on misinformation or no information at all :-).
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