Functional Medicine | Get Healthy Now, Naturally | Alternative Health Information Functional Medicine | Get Healthy Now, Naturally | Alternative Health Information Functional Medicine | Get Healthy Now, Naturally | Alternative Health Information Functional Medicine | Get Healthy Now, Naturally | Alternative Health Information Your Medical Detective

Are You Accidentally Poisoning Your Child?

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., M.S.
Print Page

Case Study Review:

An eight year child is playing on a wooden play set at your local park and suddenly complains of nausea, abdominal pain and muscle cramping.

As the day progresses, the child develops bloody diarrhea, vomiting and is having a difficult time swallowing.

Would you know what the problem is?

These symptoms are linked to acute intoxication of arsenic poisoning.

This eight year child was unfortunately playing on wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA).

According to Michael Shannon, M.D., of Children's Hospital in Boston, who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Environmental Health, notes that there's growing evidence to suggest children who routinely play on decks or playgrounds on pressure-treated wood are having an exposure to arsenic.

A study conducted in Canada shows that children who play on CCA-treated wooden play sets wind up with more arsenic on their hands than those playing on other wooden sets.

The study, published in the October 2004 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, looked at the hands of 66 children playing in eight CCA playgrounds and compared them with the hands of 64 children playing in eight non-CCA playgrounds.

After play they discovered that the kids playing in CCA playgrounds had more arsenic on their hands.

It was found that the children had on the average approximately 0.5 mcgs of arsenic compared to the accepted norm of 0.095. The study also revealed arsenic levels as high as 3.5 mcg.

This is 5 to 37 times higher than the accepted norm and has some researcher concerned about the potential risk of arsenic poisoning.

James Roberts, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, commented that arsenic in children's bodies is a long-term exposure and the outcomes are often cancer at a much later age."

Possible Solutions

  • Although a band-aid, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends applying oil- or water-based sealants on CCA-treated structures. The oil-based semitransparent sealants was found to reduce dislodgeable arsenic by about 90%.

  • Advise parents to make sure that kids wash their hands after playing on a structure treated with chromated copper arsenate.


Subscribe to Dr. Grisanti's Free Health News and Medical ALERTS


References

Townsend T, Dubey B, Tolaymat T, Solo-Gabriele H. Preservative leaching from weathered CCA-treated wood. J Environ Manage. 2005 Apr;75(2):105-13.

Ursitti F, Vanderlinden L, Watson R, Campbell M.Assessing and managing exposure from arsenic in CCA-treated wood play structures. Can J Public Health. 2004 Nov-Dec;95(6):429-33.

Kwon E, Zhang H, Wang Z, Jhangri GS, Lu X, Fok N, Gabos S, Li XF, Le XC.Arsenic on the hands of children after playing in playgrounds. Environ Health Perspect. 2004 Oct;112(14):1375-80.

Pike-Paris A.Arsenic in a child's world. Pediatr Nurs. 2004 May-Jun;30(3):215-8.

Tsuji JS, Benson R, Schoof RA, Hook GC. Health effect levels for risk assessment of childhood exposure to arsenic. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2004 Apr;39(2):99-110.

Related Articles