Aug 29, 2008 11:30 pm US/Central
I-TEAM: Arsenic Found In Twin Cities Picnic Tables
(WCCO)
For hundreds of girls, "twilight" is the highlight of the year.
"First week in August, every year we have twilight camp," said Amy Goff, Girl Scouts Twilight Camp Director. "It started, probably close to 20 years now."
Girl Scouts gather at Lake Minnewashta Regional Park for crafts, camaraderie and corn.
"We try to use tablecloths," said Goff.
It turns out the Girl Scouts' use of tablecloths might be more important than one might think. That's because the tables they're eating on contain arsenic.
"I never thought of arsenic in picnic tables," said Goff.
Wood containing arsenic, chromium and copper is known as CCA-treated wood. Designed to withstand weathering, it was commonly used in picnic tables, decks and play structures until 2003. That's when the EPA said it should no longer be sold for consumer use due to health risks.
"Higher arsenic exposures are associated with cancer. Skin cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer, many forms of cancer," said Carl Herbrandson, a toxicologist with the Minnesota Department of Health.
Sitting at a picnic table a few times a season isn't likely to make a person sick. Long term exposure is the real concern. However, since a person can also be exposed to arsenic in water, play structures and decks, it is something to watch.
Unfortunately, there's no way to tell if a picnic table contains arsenic just by looking at it. Sometimes, tables with CCA-treated wood have a green tint, but WCCO found several across the Twin Cities that contain arsenic and weren't green.
The only way to really know is to test.
WCCO tested tables around the metro using a wipe test that shows if arsenic is coming out of the table surfaces. Tables were also scanned to learn how much arsenic was in the wood itself, using an XRF gun programmed to detect the element.
WCCO found that when wood tables were tested, more often than not they were made of CCA-treated wood. The lowest content levels came from those at Lake Minnetonka Regional Park. Despite the lower content internally, those same tables had some of the highest levels of arsenic coming out of the surface.
"We're going to have to maybe do our own testing and to be more aggressive on the sealing (of the tables) till we get everything replaced. It's an expensive proposition," said Margie Walz.
Walz is with the Three Rivers Park District which operates Lake Minnetonka Regional Park and the Lowry Nature Center, where we also found CCA-treated tables.
"We're just about just over 50 percent complete on replacing all of our materials. All of our tables," she added.
Three Rivers has been replacing tables with arsenic with tables made of recycled materials since the EPA first identified the risk.
The CCA-treated tables WCCO found at Lowry will be moved out of the children's play area. The park district is going back to the manufacturer of the tables at Minnetonka Regional Park because they're pretty new.
"We had the understanding that it was not a CCA product, or any arsenic in it," said Walz.
WCCO told the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum arsenic was found in some of its tables as well.
"Our evening grounds crew that same day removed the tables. So they haven't been used by the public since," said Peter Moe who is in charge of them.
The Arboretum is replacing the boards with cedar which is naturally resistant to the elements.
WCCO also found CCA-treated tables at the nine-hole golf course in St. Paul and at Minnehaha Falls. Tabletops at the Falls are being replaced.
"In terms of quantifying the exact amount (of arsenic) that you're getting from the residue from a table, it's extremely difficult to do," says Herbrandson of the Department of Health.
Carver County operates the Lake Minnewashta Regional Park where the Girl Scouts gathered. It's going to seal the affected tables, which is one of the things the EPA recommends if they can't be replaced.
Park visitors can take a lesson from the Girl Scouts too: lay down a tablecloth, just to be safe.
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