"Fleemo" wrote in message
om...
I faced the same question when it came time to build my raised beds.
The conclusion I came to was, here I am doing my best to garden
organically, not using pesticides or artificial fertilizers, yet I
was considering surrounding my plants with chemically treated lumber?
Even if it was trace amounts of arsenic, why take that chance? I bit
the bullet and spent the extra dough on redwood, which is naturally
rot resistent and beautiful to boot. I'm very glad I went the way I
did. But only you can make that decision for yourself.

I came to exactly the same conclusion. I ended-up using cedar and so making
the raised beds cost about twice what treated pine would have. But I just
couldn't see worrying about arsenic in food I was raising.

I thought I'd heard that the treated pine is being phased out because of the
contamination risks. Not being used for playground equipment anymore, etc.