Play safe: arsenic-treated wood and our children's health. (Parenting).

A parent's most important priority is the health and safety of their children. Virtually every action taken by a parent is intended to enhance a child's ability to grow into a strong, healthy, intelligent, and productive adult. Unfortunately, sometimes the best intentions of parents are undermined without their knowledge or consent.

An example is the use of CCA-treated wood used in building playgrounds, decks, picnic tables, stadium benches, and fences. In almost every instance, this wood is used in places promoting a child's ability to interact with other children, encouraging children to get the necessary physical exercise, or eating food. In fact, CCA-treated wood--also known as arsenic-treated wood--is used to build more than 90 percent of outdoor structures in the United States. What most parents don't know is that CCA-treated wood is injected with a deadly pesticide called chromated copper arsenate (CCA) to kill insects and prevent rot.

Arsenic is a known carcinogen, linked to skin, bladder, and lung cancers. Even very low levels of arsenic may change hormone functions, which can affect growth and development. Children are exposed to this chemical by playing on or touching CCA-treated wood. When exposed to rain and weather, arsenic leaches to the surface of the wood. When children play on a playground or deck made of treated wood, they get the arsenic on their skin.

As every parent knows, hand-to-mouth contact is a virtually unavoidable habit of most children. Arsenic sticks to children's hands when they play on treated wood and is absorbed through the skin or accidentally ingested when they put their hands in the mouth. Children's bodies are growing and are generally more sensitive than adults' bodies. They should not be needlessly exposed to toxic and cancer-causing substances.

In a recent national sampling of arsenic-treated wood, unsafe levels of arsenic were easily wiped off the treated wood bought from well-known home improvement stores in thirteen major metropolitan areas.

The sampling revealed considerably more arsenic in an area the size of a typical four year old's hand than the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed 10 [micro]g per day allowable exposure level for arsenic in drinking water. The EPA bans all other uses of arsenic as a pesticide.

Even zoos have stopped the use of arsenic-treated wood out of concern for the animals' health. But thanks to heavy lobbying by the treated wood industry, millions of pounds of arsenic containing CCA is injected into wood and sold to families throughout the country.

Efforts are underway in many states and communities, as well as on a national level, to ban the sale of arsenic treated wood.

The good news is that alternatives to arsenic-treated wood exist. Families, schools, municipalities, and other entities looking to build wooden structures that can withstand rot, insects, time, and use can look for safer alternatives. These alternatives include metal, sustainably logged wood, and recycled plastics. Where possible, existing structures can be replaced with these less toxic wood or nonwood alternatives.

If an arsenic-treated structure is identified, immediate danger can be reduced in the short term by sealing arsenic-treated wood using any number of products--including latex paint--on a regular basis to help reduce exposure to the leaching arsenic.

Parents should have the right to prevent harm from coming to their children. Exposing children to arsenic in places where they eat, play, or relax can and should be prevented.

Testing kits for identifying arsenic-treated wood can be obtained through www.Healthy Building.net.

--Niaz Dorry, activist and writer, works with the Alliance For A Healthy Tomorrow and can be reached at niazdorry@earthlink. net. The Alliance For A Healthy Tomorrow is a coalition of citizen organizations, health professionals and educators formed to establish new policies to prevent harm from toxic hazards. The Alliance For A Healthy Tomorrow can be reached at [phone] or www.Healthy Tomorrow.org.