Re: Pressurized timbers

**"* T* <m*@hort.net>**

> -----Original Message-----
> From Carol  Hughes
> Also  a scientist in California who says arsenic from CCA wood
stunts plant
> growth and turns leaves yellow.

Now, I find this most interesting.  I grew veggies for 20 years in
raised beds edged with treated landscape timbers.  Ate the resulting
produce; no negative effects  on me and the plants were all green and
healthy (well, as healthy as the bugs would let them be).  Have quite
a few beds edged with treated bender board - plants all healthy -
green and happy.   My deck has treated base columns, deck boards and
rail near which and upon which grow numerous green and healthy plants
including a very healthy wisteria twining around treated lumber
columns and treated lumber trellis - it's grown there for nearly 30
years and would like to eat the house.

I have to wonder just what kind of test this scientist in CA used to
get these results.  What plants were grown under what conditions and
in what kind of contact with said lumber?  Was the lumber off the
shelf or specially treated for this test?

It appears to me that we, in the US, (and, it appears from this post,
other countries) must have major issues to create a fuss about and if
we don't get some as a natural result of life, we create them.  I
have to put the current hysteria about treated lumber in that
category.  Yes, of course, we should use some common sense (does
anybody still possess such a thing) and not burn treated lumber, sand
it or saw it without a mask nor munch on it, nor allow our infants to
chew it nor consume the soil adjacent to it - does anybody actually
monitor what their small children are doing these days? 

Treated lumber has always come with printed warnings against burning
and subjecting oneself to dust from it, washing hands, etc., but that
requires a modicum of intelligence and the ability to read on the
part of the user.  

However, since we (the public) do not seem able to read or follow
instructions and do not seem to have much sense about anything, AND
have a deep-seated need to blow any issue way out of proportion and
expect legislation to take the place of individual responsibility,
now treated lumber is making it to the top of the pariah list - we've
got to ban it.  

The list of things that people want to ban in this country grows
longer every day.  Think of anything; today or tomorrow there will be
a group of people (with not enough to occupy their time) screaming
for legislation or regulations to ban it.  Unfortunately, they often
make a louder noise than the few remaining people with some common
sense.

The industry is curtailing production of CCA lumber to save their
rears from lawsuits...this is a litigation happy country.  As noted,
it will still be available for commercial use because there is
NOTHING that keeps lumber from rotting when in contact with soil or
masonry as well as CCA treatment.  As far as I know, nothing has been
developed (except fake plastic lumber) that will last as long as CCA
treated lumber.  I do not do residential design and have not
researched the structural values of plastic lumber, so I don't know
if it will be able to replace structural members, but it is being
used for deck boards.  Now, since it is petroleum based, I expect it
will be only a matter of years - once it is used enough - when we see
some outcry because children are chewing on it and having adverse
reactions.    Nobody is saying anything about the toxicity of
penetrating stain...it's not a benign substance.

Let us research issues, using factual data from original sources.  I
do not consider reports in any form of media factual data, myself
unless they are reproducing the original research work in its
entirety.  The EPA is a necessary  agency in today's world, but it
has to justify its existence and provide something for its many
employees to do to earn their pay.  Treated lumber is a much easier
target than actually dealing with our polluted air and water and the
huge chemical messes we've dotted around the country.  

Yes, I'm feeling cranky tonight:-)

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
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