What work is CPSC doing related to CCA-treated wood?
In May 2001, CPSC was petitioned by the Environmental Working Group and the Healthy Building Network to ban the use of CCA-treated wood for playground equipment. In response to this petition, and to define the risk to children, the CPSC staff is evaluating the amount of CCA (in particular, arsenic) that a child might be exposed to while playing on CCA-treated playground equipment. CPSC staff is currently evaluating the amount of CCA released from both newly purchased, unused CCA-treated wood that might be used for building playground structures and from “used” or “older” wood. CPSC staff is particularly interested in knowing the amount of arsenic that children can be exposed to when they play on CCA-treated wood playground equipment. CPSC staff studies are being conducted by wiping the surface of the wood to measure the amount of arsenic on the wood’s surface. The wipe samples are used to estimate the amount of arsenic that might be accessible to children when they rub their hands on t
