I have a notion the problem is PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which
does all the nasty things that you'd expect from something with a name like
that. Benzene's more of a petrol (but not diesel) problem, istr.

You can still buy creosote, and creosote sleepers, but EU legiislation is
indeed closing in on it.

Shame, I suspect the very nastiness of it is the reason why it works so
well.

Jack
I


Paul D.Smith wrote in message
et...
Any idea what the compound was or what the exposure rate was? I remember
years ago when I was still a chemist being told that benzene was
considered
dangerous but toluene (benzene plus CH3 replacing one H) was not. My
teacher claimed that the only definite benzene deaths were people who
worked
in the benzene production industry i.e. having high, prolonged exposures.

Of course it's always possible that the problem is groundwater
contamination
and the like but given the amount of creosote used per annum, if it was
that
bad, surely we'd all be keeling over by now?

Paul DS.