[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 24 (Monday, February 10, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S2122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. NELSON of Florida:
  S. 337. A bill to amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 
Rodenticide Act and the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the use of 
arsenic-treated lumber as mulch, compost, or a soil amendment, and to 
prohibit the manufacture of arsenic-treated wood for use as playground 
equipment for children, fences, walkways, or decks or for other 
residential or occupational purposes, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an 
issue I've fought long and hard on--the risk posed to children by 
arsenic-treated wood playground equipment.
  There is now a government study which demonstrates the link between 
wood laced with an arsenic preservative called chromated copper 
arsenate or CCA and an increased risk of lung and bladder cancer.
  Last Friday, the scientists at the Consumer Product Safety Commission 
issued a report that concluded that 2 to 100 children out of 1 million 
will get bladder and lung cancer from their exposure to arsenic-treated 
wood playground equipment.
  This is disturbing.
  Especially since CCA was used to preserve 98 percent of the wood 
produced for residential uses in the United States in 2001.
  Since March of 2001, when media reports emerged about elevated levels 
of arsenic in playground soil and numerous playgrounds in the State of 
Florida closed as a result, I have been pushing the Environmental 
Protection Agency to complete its long-awaited study on the dangers 
posed by this arsenic preservative.
  I am still waiting.
  To spur action on this issue, in the last 2 years, I have filed 
legislation mandating warning labels on all arsenic-treated wood to 
inform consumers that the wood they were purchasing contained a 
carcinogen.
  Further, my past legislation required the EPA to complete its study, 
begun long before the CPSC started its study, regarding the risks posed 
by arsenic-treated wood.
  And, finally, I introduced legislation to ban the residential uses of 
arsenic-treated wood.
  Meanwhile, EPA reached an agreement with the wood preserving industry 
to voluntarily phase out the manufacture of CCA-treated wood for 
residential purposes by December 31, 2003.
  However, a year has passed since EPA reached that agreement and they 
still have not published a final rule in the Federal Register making 
the phase-out permanent, they still have not completed their own risk 
assessment of the dangers posed to children playing on CCA-treated 
equipment and a New York Times article in December 2002, reported that 
the administration may be reconsidering the phaseout.
  For those reasons, today I again introduce legislation to ban the 
manufacture of arsenic-treated wood for residential uses, including use 
as a mulch, to set a date certain for completion of EPA's risk 
assessment and to require the EPA to conduct a public education program 
to inform the public about how they can decrease their risk of 
contracting cancer from CCA-treated wood.
  The legislation also provides for the safe disposal of CCA-treated 
wood to prevent arsenic from contaminating our groundwater.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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