Posted by Deborah (64.230.79.95) on August 31, 2002 at 14:41:15:
In Reply to: Help me convince my neighbors posted by Cory on August 30, 2002 at 22:42:53:
: Hello, I hope I am posting in the right place. I recently bought a new home in a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Of course, the big topic of discussion among the neighbors is the fence that we will be building this coming spring. After reading about the dangers of CCA wood, I decided that I would like to protect my two children by using cedar to build the fence and avoid the traditional "pressure treated". I was met with heavy resistance due to the cost and some disbelief of the dangers.
: Can someone point me to an article that I could circulate and possibly to a lower cost alternative to Cedar that could meet everyone's needs?
: Thank you in advance...
Hi Cory,
There are several things you can do to show your neighbors the wisdom of using a safer alternative. One, since the PMRA is removing this product for residential use as of Dec31 2003, you should ask them to look at why. Well they say there are better alternatives available. That is a nice story but seeing their own scientists warn of the danger it is one few believe. When do governments remove a product when a new one becomes available, they don't. The market would look after that. When all the studies are done ,and a new one was released two days ago, people , I believe will not want to buy property with treated wood. Perhaps your neighbors should consider their property value. It won't meean changing a cca fence in the future to satisfy a prospective buyer because they are becoming aware of the cost of soil cleanup from leached arsenic as well.
I will be posting a news story on the new study released by the Environmental Working Group THAthat cleary outlines the dangers, but you can just go to my main page and click on their link for soil kits and it will take you there directly.
I had a woman contact me from Ottawa a few days ago, who is poisoned from her deck she believes, as is her daughter. The family dog will have to be put down as it is so ill and losing it's hair.
No amount of savings spent on your fence will make up for the cost of treatment and heartache if you end up like her or others.
Chain link fencing is an option, as is ACQ, you will find under alternatives the link to the Floridas studies that show the huge difference in the toxicity of alternatives to cca wood. Personally I would stick with cedar as our children do not need exposed to chemicals
Below is a notE on where to get ACQ lumber in Toronto
Tke care and good luck and do not hesitate to email for any data or any to your questions or concerns
Deborah
We sell CA (copper, AZOLE) pressure treated lumber, which does not
contain any arsenic.
Visit the web site www.naturalselect.com. It is equal to or better than ACQ.
If you have any further enquiries, please do not hesitate to e-mail Blair
Taylor at blair@centralfairbank.com or call at 905-738-2111.