Is EPA Taking A Deadly Turn With Chromium VI Wood Preservative?
(Beyond Pesticides, October 2, 2003) As the wood treatment industry stops using chromated copper arsenate (CCA) by January 1, 2004 to treat residential wood products (such as playground equipment and decks), under a February, 2002 phase-out agreement reached with EPA, reports are circulating that the Symrna, Georgia-based Arch Wood Protection, Inc. and other companies are attempting to bring back another deadly chromium-based wood preservative, acid copper chromate (ACC), to replace CCA. Agency officials acknowledged yesterday that two registration applications are pending before EPA for ACC. CCA drew public and media attention because of its arsenic component, but public health advocates have also pointed to the chromium component as resulting in exposure to a highly carcinogen compound. (See Action Alert.) Ironically, Osmose, Inc., a wood treater and supplier of wood preservatives to wood treating plants around the world, was the sole registrant for ACC but just recently submitted a
