What kind of wood do you have? - Page 1

Pedigree Database

Premium classified

This is a placeholder text
Group text

Premium classified

This is a placeholder text
Group text

Premium classified

This is a placeholder text
Group text

Premium classified

This is a placeholder text
Group text

justcurious

by justcurious on 23 August 2008 - 17:08

I wanted to share this youtube video about CCA wood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ShRRkPUGSE This wood is so dangerous and yet 5 yrs after the EPA banned the manufacturing of it so many people still don't know about it and are suffering due to long term exposure to it. It is Pressure Treated Lumber aka PT or CCA and has been widely manufactured and used since the '70. At the end of 2003 manufacturing was banned though stockpiles are continuing to be sold off. It has been estimated that in the neighborhood of 90% of all outdoor wood structure - decks, walkways, tables, gardening timbers ... were made from this wood, so most of us have it in our yards.

We had a court case a few years back but were given a gag order and threatened with a countersuit if we did not abide by it. I am unclear just what I am legally allowed to say about the specifics of our case but I am sure I can give some facts as long as I don't go into the details like where we got the wood or how this wood impacted our family including our dogs.

So s few facts: In 1995 we built wood deck in our backyard. In 2002, we became aware of the dangers of CCA wood. We ran tests and found
the wood was indeed CCA and the arsenic leeching from it was well above safe level. set by the EPA. We also tested the soil beneath the deck and found arsenic accumulated and after 7 year was 3 times "SuperFund Clean Up" levels - the levels the State & Federal Government set for them to step in and clean -up (but only if it is a company like a manufacturing site, they will not assist private citizen) and nearly 8x the back ground levels of arsenic in our yard. These tests were run by a company in compliance with the EPA. To give you an idea of how toxic these levels are a tsp could have killed our then 18 mo daughter.

This is very dangerous wood. Harm can come from skin contact and even more harm if it is burned or if sawdust is inhaled. If you, your dogs and/or kids have long-term exposure to this wood - by walking, eating, sleeping ... on it - the chemicals - chromium (and not the good stuff you find in supplements but hexavalent - the stuff erin brockavich(sp?) brought to national attention), cooper & arsenic - are easily absorbed; and the impact is very detrimental to health and well being.

It's important to realize just how easily these chemicals are absorbed. Just by simple touch e,g, the dogs pads,
the soles of your feet, the palms of your hand, licking, chewing the wood, chewing on a bone or a toy on the wood, pressure washing it ... These chemical can potentially cause a myriad of chronic health and behavior problems. These problem can be muscular, digestive; cancers, seizures, aggression, skin problems, organ failure ... This stuffwas banned because it is dangerous and IMO is a nightmare and can devastate ones life, I hope this video is informative.

Susan


by Abhay on 23 August 2008 - 17:08

Morning


Two Moons

by Two Moons on 23 August 2008 - 19:08

Good afternoon,

I have BIG WOOD !!!  

Justcurious,

I've worked with treated lumber my whole life, yeah it's been changed finally.   But it's everywhere and not anymore a hazard than most other toxin's in building material's around the home. Its a long list.   In 20 years we'll find out the replacement was no better.    It's a nasty world we live in and we did it to ourselve's didn't we.

Brent.


yellowrose of Texas

by yellowrose of Texas on 23 August 2008 - 19:08

We sure did. We want instant this and instant that , even dog food out of a sack , that someone else dried up and put chemicals in it, because its too much trouble to cook or feed a dog real food from out kitchen..Same with kids, and hubbys   feed um a tv dinner, an instant cup of java, instant oatmeal, decaffenated coffee, and use artificial sugar, all very harmful to body. Instant anything is dangerous.Pasturized anything is dangerous...Our homes are built out of formaldeyde in carpet, paneling, and light bulbs with harmful gas in them...Oh well   chew away of thou dog...we pay a vet to get you back and a Dr. to settle our nerves on how to handle all this....

Hey Good looking.... keep the faith...


justcurious

by justcurious on 23 August 2008 - 21:08

There are a lot of toxic products out there - buyer beware - and that's my point. If you are aware of just how dangerous products like Pressure Treated Lumber are you can avoid much of it if you so choose - aka - vote with your dollars:) The key is becoming aware so you can make the best choice for your individual situation. For me a good rule of thumb is simply avoid all pesticides except for in the most urgent needs - where the burden the pests pose is far greater than the burden the pesticides pose (a situation I have yet to experience but I have learned never to say never:)

With wood applications I find using woods like redwood and cedar are better choices even though intially they are more expensive. And Brent I wouldn't so flippantly group this product as one of the many toxic products in and around our homes. Yes there are many toxic building materials but some like CCA are significantly more dangerous and this needs to become common knowledge. if you have ever seen what it does to someone who has had long-term daily contact with this stuff, if you've seen children have seizures due to heavy metal uptake, or dogs die of kidney failure due to heavy metal overload, liver problems that prevent the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients, muscle deterioration and ligament wasting ... I think you would run from this product as fast as you could and clean up anything it had come into contact with.

The body can handle a fair amount of toxins - it amazing that way - but this product is so full of heavy metals/pesticides that the EPA finally banned it - it's akin to breaking one of those old mercury thermometer and sucking out it's mercury (some people could handle it and some people it would kill all depends on your toxic burden). The replacement product is most likely equally as dangerous, but hopefully it won't take 30 yrs. for the government to figure it out. I hope you and your loved ones never know just how dangerous this product is. But we each have the right to choose the risks we are willing to take, and I would never tell anyone else just what is best for them. But I am very glad that the information is becoming more well known so we can all make an informed choice regarding this wood.


my best,

Susan


AhSighEE

by AhSighEE on 23 August 2008 - 21:08

Susan : government doesnt care if we get sick  . Half of them have money invested in pharmachutical and companies which supply the chemicals that are used in food,  FDA< for example> and other supplies we use so they would never disclose anything that would cost them their income..no no no...feed those americans, get them sick  keep em sick.

more money in pockets,,who cares if they die or have malformed kids.

 


by dawgma on 23 August 2008 - 23:08

Helmut


Two Moons

by Two Moons on 24 August 2008 - 09:08

Susan,

I would flippantly group this product with a world full of toxin's that we all eat, drink, breath, walk on, wear, throw out with our trash and on and on and on.    look into it all you like... you'll finaly become too scared to open your eye's.  

We did this, all of us.   Go ahead and cut down the very last redwood tree so we can sit on our deck's and have some pretty lawn chair's to sit on.    Everything's going synthetic now anyway, wait until you figure out what's in that.  

I've been a builder and carpenter most of my life, I've been exposed to it all, I know what's out there trust me.

I've also been exposed to every farm chemical and pesticide ever used in this country, I've been sprayed by plane's, had the wind follow me thru the field's carrying the cloud's from my own sprayer's.  Mixed it with my hand's.

The factories I've worked in and the crap they put you in it's all bad.

I'm not disagreeing with you Susan, I'm only pointing out that you have found a grain of sand in the desert.  One star in a universe.   While your having soil test's done, test for lead too.

There's no answer to any of it.   And it's nothing new.  Even if we got rid of all toxin's where would we put them, and what could we do with what's already in our environment.....  Our great great grandfather's should have thought about this centuries ago

Don't let your dog's chew on the wood, or the soil.   Don't let them drink ground water.  And seal your deck .

You let EPA test your property and you may end up homeless.

Moon's.


justcurious

by justcurious on 24 August 2008 - 18:08

Brent you’re not saying anything that hasn't been talked about for a long time. My dad gave me Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" when I was very young - one of the first books I ever read - unfortunately there’s more profit in using toxic chemicals; so you’re preaching to the choir:) YR I agree you got the motive right we want everything to be instant - cheap - no-brainer - I blame the school system:))

Just an FYI there are things you can do to clean up your personal environment. For example we actually cleaned up the mess this nasty wood made - we participated in an EPA funded study on phytoremediation of soils; and it worked beautifully. So when we sold the property it was cleaned plus we even provided full disclosure, which did slowed the sale down because folks didn’t want to take the time to understand the test results. But we had a honest sale because we did the right thing, something the fed courts refused to make the manufacturer and seller do. Just because our government supports these practices (e.g. selling toxic products without full disclosure, making a mess and not cleaning it up ...) doesn't mean as individuals we must follow suit.

Just to get back on track - my original post had nothing to do with any great revelation about our toxic world. I posted about a specific product commonly used both privately and publicly (many state & fed parks have railings, tables etc made from this wood) A product many folks still have around their homes, so have direct contact with, often on daily basis, yet are unaware of the dangers it poses. It’s important to know this product will remain horrifically toxic so must be sealed, tiled over or removed.

I could shut up and act like this is SSDD:) but why do that when we can actually do something about it. Why act as if we've reached the point of no return? Should we all just hang our heads in shame or better yet just roll over and die? I can’t get myself to do that I'm just not a very good victim:) So instead I identified a problem and found a way out and I wanted to let others know about it as well. This product IS insidious because the illness creeps slowly into literally every fiber of your being slowly weakening you then you end up chronically sick for “no apparent reason”.

Bottom line: Most folks have built their outdoor structures using this readily available and inexpensive material, which their dogs live, eat, play on ... and are absorbing these chemical through their pads and tongues creating an unnecessary toxic burden, which will eventually not only reduce their quality of life but dramatically shorten it. If you know about the problem then you can do something about, if so inclined. But if we sit back and keep it to ourselves throwing our hands up accepting life a SSDD then nothing ever changes for us. The truth is it has not been publicized that CCA is in fact a faulty product. It is/was sold as if the chemical are permanently bonded to the wood and they are not- fact these chemicals are continuosly leeching out; and folks need to know about it and how to identify the wood (the video does this) so they can take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their loved ones.

best wishes,

Susan






 


Contact information  Disclaimer  Privacy Statement  Copyright Information  Terms of Service  Cookie policy  ↑ Back to top