In article ,
(DavesVideo) wrote:

I have a lot of old 6 by 6 pressure treated wood that came from terraced
flower
beds. I was assuming that because of the arsenic content, I could not recycle
these for a raised vegetable garden. However, after doing a bit of research on
the net, I find that there is a difference of opinion with some people
claiming
that the arsenic leach is negligible.

Only the trade industry invested in selling it promotes the idea of it
being negligible, & their propoganda gets repeated especially on the web,
where vendors & wholesalers have found they can reach a bigger audience
telling whoppers than can scientists & physicians with data to the
contrary. This lumber was on the verge of being banned (it was previously
temporarily banned but the lumber industry is EXTREMELY powerful at
lobbying for their privilege of doing all sorts of environmentally unsafe
but highly profitable activities). To escape the inevitable legal ban of
this dangerous product, the industry promised to faze it out by the end of
2003, & growing amounts of pressure-treated wood now use alternatives to
aresenic. After this year you won't be able to endangerous your family &
pets by uknowingly building stuff out of deadly wood. Still, if I had some
laying around I'd probably use it, but nowhere near where pets or children
can get at it, & nowhere where gardening is for food.

Others recommend sealing the wood with a
coat of paint as an added protection.

This would work mainly where the wood is not in contact with soil -- where
it contacts soil, the soil environment will quickly go to work even on the
paint, & eventually be back in contact with the arsenic. But sealing it is
certainly helpful.

I guess I’m looking to see how other
gardeners feel about this subject. Another factor, and I don’t know if it is
of any relevance, is that the wood is probably more than 15 years old.
Dave
http://members.tripod.com/~VideoDave

If it was 15 years in perpetual contact with soil & rain, it's probably
leeched out the majority of what it ever will leech; but if it's been in a
tidy pile most, & especially if it's been kept dry & out of contact with
soil, it's still very toxic.

Contact with this lumber causes warts -- one of the great problems of
children playing barefoot on arsenic-treated playground equipment has been
warts on bottoms of feet & palms of hand. The amount of arsenic children
were exposed to was many times above safe levels. It is particularly
harmful to pets that are apt to chew the wood directly. Though this wood
CAN cause catastrophic illness up to & including cancer, it's still far
more dangerous to drive to the corner store & back in terms of
percentages. But even the more likely side-effect of dermal diseases is
bad enough, & Industry counter-arguments (similar to those used by the
tobacco industry) that the cancer risk is slight to absent never really
addresses the full range of risks.

I'll post separately some of the information assiduously avoided in
trade-interest propoganda safety promises.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/