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Arsenic
in wood
Take Action!
Keep
the Pressure on With Regard to Arsenic-Treated Wood
Your
letters and e-mails really do make a difference. After all, they helped us
win us a major victory at the beginning of 2002, spurring a phase-out of
use of the toxic chromated copper arsenate (CCA) in pressure-treated wood.
Thanks in
large part to a joint effort in conjunction with Environmental Working
Group and Healthy Building
Network yielded 20,000 letters to retailers—a huge percentage of them
from Generation Green members and supporters. And that doesn’t include
the many other letters that went out from you to officials in the EPA and
other government bodies.
Also,
during our campaign against CCA-treated wood, Generation Green
representatives spoke to 10,000 people directly, provided interviews to
the media, and attended events like the National PTA conference in
Baltimore, the All About Kids Expo in Cincinnati and the Women’s Health
and Fitness Expo in Minneapolis.
But there
is still one thing that the industry doesn’t want to see, and that is
risk assessments of arsenic-treated wood. Those who produce and sell
lumber and lumber-related products would prefer to see the issue fade away
now that a phase-out is in progress.
But the
arsenic-treated wood that has already been sold and used is still out
there even though a phase-out has been negotiated. And it will still be
there when the phase-out is complete.
We need
to quantify what kind of risk that wood poses to our families, and we need
to know how best to dispose of CCA-treated materials. So we need a
thorough risk assessment. We need to keep the pressure the EPA to follow
through with these assessments, which Generation Green and allied
organizations have been insisting on for years.
“We
have momentum going now,” says Rochelle Davis, executive director of
Generation Green. “We have to make sure the EPA takes action, and
quickly.”
Below
is a sample letter for you to send to EPA Administrator Christine Todd
Whitman. Or, if you prefer, you can write your own. Either way, you can
reach Whitman at:
Christine
Todd Whitman, Administrator
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
1101A
USEPA
Headquarters
Ariel
Rios Building
1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington,
DC 20460
If you
would prefer to send your comments to her via e-mail, you can do so via: Whitman.Christine@epamail.epa.gov
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Administrator
Whitman:
I am writing for two
reasons. One is to thank you and the efforts of your agency to mandate a
phase out of the use of CCA-treated wood. The nation will be a safer place
for our children without it.
The
second reason is to remind you that with all the contaminated wood that is
still out there, we need a thorough CCA risk assessment by the EPA, so
that we know what threats we still face. Also, we need measures to ensure
that arsenic-treated wood is disposed of safely.
The
lumber industry caught a huge break in 1984 when it was allowed to use
arsenic in wood. Please don’t allow the opportunity to conduct a full
risk assessment slip by in the new millennium..
Sincerely,
Your
Name
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