Earlier this year, under federal orders, U.S. lumber suppliers phased out production of most old-style pressure-treated wood—the greenish type that had been a mainstay of outdoor decks, play sets, and other unpainted structures (SN: 1/31/04, p. 74: Danger on Deck?). The Environmental Protection Agency had decided that the pesticides pumped into these boards—especially arsenic—pose a cancer risk to children who contact the wood.
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