comments and Are you eating arsenic with your picnic?

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I am bit surprised that people think this is fearmongering. Having worked on

this issue and having helped bring in bans and phase-outs in well over 30

countries I know it is not. I have arsenic poisoning. There is enough inorganic

arsenic in one 2x6x12 to kill 250 people and it’s leaching. You may just get a

sick stomach, feel like you have the flu or too much sun after taking it in. You

aren’t even likely to think of the park bench you ate on. You may feel nothing.

Arsenic accumulates in your body. About ¼ of every dose you take in will remain

in your brain bones and tissue. Someday you may have an arsenic induced stroke,

heart attack, cancer, diabetes, or any number of diseases. Maybe you will be

fine but do you really want to risk that for yourself or your children. Add to

that exposure every deck, boardwalk, fence or other structure you have touched.

Yes, it is transdermal. If you have had contact get a toenail test and make

sure. No, blood and

urine do not show accumulated amounts and please don’t listen to those making

money selling you poison. They have every reason to cry, fearmongering.

 Deborah Elaine Barrie

 

 

Are you eating arsenic with your picnic?

By Sharon Beder

August 13, 2008 04:19am

 

THEY'RE panicking in Indiana, US. When TV news show 13 Investigates tested the

surface of picnic tables there recently, it found high levels of arsenic.

Now, thousands of picnic tables are being removed from parks or painted with an

oil-based stain.

The picnic tables are made of timber treated with copper chrome arsenate (CCA),

used in most of Australia's park picnic tables.

Should we also be panicking?

Scientists have demonstrated that arsenic leaks out of CCA-treated timber, even

20 years after it has been treated. It is also known that exposure to arsenic

can cause cancer.

According to the World Health Organisation, arsenic is a known carcinogen and is

acutely toxic. It can cause lung, bladder and skin cancer, as well as

reproductive and neurological problems. But is there enough arsenic in

Australian picnic tables to cause such dire consequences?

We don't really know because no one has done wipe tests. Without such data, and

given the high levels of arsenic found by such studies overseas, can we be

complacent about the risks involved?

Some nations have taken a precautionary approach. CCA-treated timber has been

banned altogether in Switzerland, Vietnam and Indonesia and severely restricted

in Japan and Europe.

In 2005 the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority cancelled

the use of CCA for treating timber destined for garden furniture, picnic tables,

exterior seating, children's play equipment, patio and domestic decking and

handrails.

But should we be worried about the picnic tables (and play equipment) already

out there in our parks and on our beaches?

Should our councils be allowing parents and children to eat food off treated

timber picnic tables that could be coated in arsenic?

People can be exposed to arsenic through touching CCA-treated timber because

surface arsenic sticks to human skin. It then can be transferred to the mouth,

for example by subsequent handling of food.

It also can be transferred to the mouth by eating food placed directly on

CCA-treated surfaces.

Yet how many people think twice about eating off council picnic tables? Surely

that is what they are there for?

The APVMA claims it has no power to control how people use the structures made

from CCA-treated timber. It is local councils that control the ongoing use of

existing picnic tables. Local councils may be comforted by the fact that picnic

tables have been around for many years and no one has yet set out to prove that

they got cancer from them.

But who would dream that their lung or bladder or skin cancer might have been

caused by eating off picnic tables in their youth? Especially given that

Australian authorities didn't admit to the potential problem until recently.

The lack of past lawsuits will not provide comfort to the wider community.

Perhaps only tests showing picnic tables are arsenic-free will do that.

Otherwise there might be good reason to follow Indiana park authorities and do

something about all those picnic tables.

Sharon Beder is a professor at the School of Social Sciences, Media and

Communication, University of Wollongong.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24169575-5007146,00.html#

posted byhttp://www.noccawood.ca

Deborah Elaine Barrie

4 Catherine Street

Smiths Falls, On

Canada

K7A 3Z8

(613)284-8259

deborah

http://www.noccawood.ca

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world

remains and is immortal.

Albert Pine