Subject: Wolmanized deck wood sap

From: [email-masked] (Jim Mcnelly)
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 94 12:16:00 +0600

Tom Kozma writes:

TK>Not exactly a gardening question, but maybe someone can offer a suggestion.
  >Our 1.5 yr-old  deck recently started oozing sap from the knots in the wood,
  >which is pressure-treated Ponderosa Pine.  Has anyone experienced this probl

Hi Tom,

I get a kick out of the term "Wolmanized". It really means "impregnated
with toxic levels of arsenic and lead with copper and chromium thrown in
for good measure but we will call it something useless like "wolmanized"
so people don't scream in horror when they buy it".

TK>before?  Can anything be done about it?  One guy at the local hardware store
  >said it was fairly common, just part of the wood-seasoning process, and ther
  >was nothing to do but wait until all the sap come out, which might take a
  >year.  Any advice appreciated.

The guy at the hardware store is a useless source of information about
hazardous materials in your backyard.  He (she?) has little more than
the "product data sheet" which is *supposed* to be handed out with
*every* arsenic laced piece of lumber they sell.  The fact that it is
leaching toxic goo is a sign that you and your family are being exposed
to skin cancer producing levels of arsenic in your own back yard from a
product that is supposedly "non-leaching" of arsenic.

The real story behind arsenic treated wood, which is what it SHOULD be
called, is that chemical companies have gobbled up vast stands of
southern pine forests and are impregnating it with arsenic levels 300
times the limit set by the EPA for the beneficial use of compost on farm
land.  Rather than kiln dry and cure the wood, they pressure treat it
and get a price twice that of ordinary pine.

They then launch a dis-information campaign touting the "non-leaching"
properties of this green (in more ways than one) lumber claiming that
it is "safe".

Your testimony about sap leaching out is clear evidence that this cheap
pine masquerading as long lasting lumber is a cruel hoax that is a part
of the doubling of skin cancer rates over the past twenty years.

What can I say?  You and millions of other consumers have been duped
and you are now exposed to hazardous levels of arsenic in the sap.

I don't know which is worse, the sap leaching out poisoning children,
the decks burning and poisoning the people down wind, the arsenic in the
water where the wood is impregnated, the arsenic in the un-lined
demolition landfills, or the householders decades from now when the rest
of the leaching arsenic is leaching into their gardens.

The product should be banned in my opinion.  I can' believe that the
rest of the environmental movement has been asleep about this problem.

"Sap leaching is common".  I could cry.

Mr Compost~~~

Jim~ McNelly
Granite Connection 612-259-0801
[email-masked]
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