[Alagirl]

Can somebody point me to research results?

Other than Organic Gardening.....

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Regarding what? Growing food in raised beds? Fencing and horses chewing?

There are different ways to treat lumber. I think TCS still sells one version wheras other box stores sell the "new" version, etc. Which treatment?

[cowgirljenn]

If you can tell me what you are looking for, I can talk to Mr. Dr. CGJ. That kind of research is what he does for a living (until the music career takes off anyway ).

Do you want to know about arsenic leaching out of treated lumber into the ground or ground water? Or how much arsenic is in treated lumber? Or?

[PRS]

Lumber used to be regularly treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate. Once the wood is dry the chemicals aren't dangerous to humans or animals in casual contact. Manufacturers recommended that people not use wood treated with CCA for animal feeders and that animals shouldn't eat it. Then a group of people got scairt because of the name arsenic (which occurs naturally in the environment) and despite no proof that even one single person was poisoned by arsenic from treated wood CCA was banned from most uses.
http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/

[clanter]

CCA has not been used in treated lumber for consumers for nearly a decade

"Manufacturers of CCA reached a voluntary agreement with EPA to end the manufacture of CCA-treated wood for most consumer applications by December 31, 2003."

http://www.cpsc.gov/phth/ccafact.html

[Alagirl]

Thanks guys.
I had bought the BSA booklet about gardening a few weeks back and thumbed through it.
Now granted, my trade school days are a few years behind me, I noticed a few things that were not so true, not to mention the 'don't used treated lumber it leeches arsenic', looking through the bibliography, I am sure it's from the Rodale Press archives.

I did recall having read about studies disproving the statement as long as 10 or 15 years ago, but I did not remember where.

Should I teach this merit badge, I do not intend to spread more misinformation if I can help it.

[merrygoround]

Be assured that if there is a one in 10 trillion chance of anything being in any way toxic, someone somewhere will blow it out of proportion.

That said, 20 years ago we used treated posts aand boards on our farm. None of the fence chewers died of fence chewing, darn it.

[PRS]

I work at sawmill where we used to have a pressure treating facility. We stopped treating lumber when CCA was banned. We used to tell hysterical parents that called in when they realized that there was arsenic in treated lumber that their child was far more likely to be harmed by a splinter festering and going septic than from any chemical used to treat the wood.