Playground arsenic dose relatively low

摘要

Parents should encourage their children to go play outside despite the modem-day risk of playing on wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA). A new ES&T study (Enuiron. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/esl00128n) finds that arsenic exposure from CCA play-rngrounds is minuscule compared with that from other sources, such as food. Washing hands after playing on CCA-treated wood can reduce arsenic exposure even further; however, some scientists still advocate a precautionary approach by removing the wood from playgrounds.