Huh huh. Huh huh. You said ‘wood’.
From http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/26/health/26ARSE.html
“HERNANDO, Miss., June 19 – It took six hospitalizations and a number of misdiagnoses before Lynn Milam learned what was causing the vomiting and diarrhea that almost killed her in 1999. The arsenic levels in her body, her doctor said, were about 100 times what they should have been.
Ms. Milam was relieved to have a diagnosis, however terrifying. That relief vanished when the police arrived. “They said someone was trying to kill me, and they were almost 100 percent sure it was Tom,” her husband, Ms. Milam said.
But she refused to believe it. “I know the man,” she said. “If he were going to kill me, he’d just shoot me.””
Well, it turns out that after testing the husband that he had even more arsenic in his system than she did. They had been doing some home improvements with treated wood.
“Vicki S. Wood, one of the Milams’ lawyers, said the couple were victims of chromated copper arsenate, or C.C.A., the predominant wood preservative in the United States and the subject of an emerging body of product liability lawsuits around the country. Some of the lumber for the Milams’ two-story cabin frame had been treated with C.C.A., which prevents decay and repels termites. It also contains arsenic.”
There is a whole lovely story about product liability and industry and so on and so forth. You know the drill. The industry sort of crossed the Ts and dotted the Is by putting the responsibility for handing out the warnings on the lumberyards, but:
“Mel Pine, a spokesman for the trade association, said that the industry had fulfilled its obligation to inform the public about the dangers of treated wood but that until recently, “at the retail stores the compliance was less than perfect.””
Been there, seen that every few months. The product is being phased-out with a replacement that doesn’t include arsenic.
“Mr. Brugge said the decision was based on “changes in perception, changes in the marketplace” and a new generation of preservatives without arsenic.”
(How much do you want to bet that the “new generation” of preservatives were around before, but were not as cheap as arsenic?)
No, what is interesting about the story is that attempted murder was suspected and a case was being prepared.
“The police here worked the case hard. They questioned the Milams repeatedly and always separately. They advised Ms. Milam, a 50-year-old computer programmer, to leave her husband, 46, or at least prepare her own food. They sought help from the F.B.I., and the district attorney went to a grand jury to have it consider a charge of attempted murder.
I felt like the Hernando Police Department came into it predetermined like it was attempted murder, and they had a pretty good little case,” Ms. Milam said. “It was really big for them.”
“Mr. Artis, the F.B.I. spokesman, said the case was dubious from the start, because it lacked a motive. “She was the breadwinner,” he said. “There’s no big insurance policy. There’s no girlfriend.””
So, without any of the tried-and-true motives present, why did the D.A. continue with the attempted murder scenario?
“He recalled being convinced by an F.B.I. analysis implicating the treated wood. On the other hand, a member of his staff had consulted the industry. “One of my investigators kept telling me that lumber companies had told him that this couldn’t be,” he said, meaning that the F.B.I. was wrong.”
Who says experts don’t lie? Calling for an unbiased opinion these days is more tricky than ever, I imagine.
Perhaps I’ve read far too many Agatha Christie mystery novels as a kid, but I need to research and see if it is true that ingesting small doses of arsenic over time lead to an immunity from the poison. This came up in a few novels I recall reading (Lord Nannybone of Soddom-on-Gamhora takes small doses of arsenic to build up an immunity, then he and his wife eat from the same hors de vour tray… intrepid detective outwits police by finding arsenic bottle under bush, etc. etc.).
The article makes me think no, but perhaps those dosages were too large… I was also under the impression that repeated arsenic ingestion leads to thickening nails, change in skin tone and other symptoms. Perhaps skin absorption is different.
I guess that the real problem is that they had not received any of the warnings that were supposed to go with purchasing the treated wood. I suppose big red and yellow stickers saying “DANGER. TOXIC WOOD!!!!” would have made for a lousy store display. I know that I would tend to promote the termite repelling qualities and downplay the HAZMAT aspects of putting in a new deck.
