Wooden Play Structures − Rakyat Biologi

Children enjoy climbing and playing on jungle gyms, swing sets and other climbing structures. Play structures are common features in public parks, school yards and home play areas. Often, they are built of wood and the treatments on that wood can represent chemical hazards. Children using play structures have frequent and intense dermal contact, especially with their hands. Because of the tendency of children to have high rates of hand mouth and object mouth activity, and occasionally actually chew on these structures, any surface treatments which are bioavailable are of potential concern.

For example, peeling brightly colored lead paint on play structures in a public park was found to be a source of lead poisoning of child in India with a blood lead level of 72.7 mg/dL.[i] When made aware of the problem, the municipality removed the leaded paint from these playground structures and repainted them with lead free products. Three weeks later, the child's lead level, though still elevated, had fallen to 49.5 mg/dL, and the improvement was attributed to the environmental intervention. Lead paint has also been found on play structures in the USA.[ii]

A second example of concern is chromated copper arsenate (CCA), a preservative used to increase the lifetime of wood used outside. Arsenic, a human carcinogen, leaches out of CCA-treated wood and appears on the surface as well as weathering into soil beneath the structures. Higher arsenic has been demonstrated on the hands of children playing on CCA-treated wood play structures compared to children not playing on CCA-treated wood play structures.[iii] This adds to cumulative exposure and raises concerns about incremental increased risk of cancer later in life. In addition, preliminary studies have shown that regular application of penetrating sealants every 1-2 years can reduce arsenic leaching by up to 90% from those structures made from CCA-treated prior to market removal.[iv]^,[v] In the USA, the wood industry removed CCA-treated wood from the market for residential uses in 2003 by voluntary agreement.[vi] The Agency has worked with pesticide manufacturers to voluntarily phase out CCA use for wood products around the home and in children's play areas. Effective December 31, 2003, no wood treater or manufacturer may treat wood with CCA for residential uses, with certain exceptions. In Europe, this was achieved through regulation. Directive 2003/2/EC[vii] prohibited the use of CCA treated wood in applications likely to result in repeated skin contact (including play equipment) from 30^th June 2004. However, this restriction does not apply to existing structures, such that a large number of items of play equipment constructed using CCA-treated wood remain in use in many parts of Europe. Penetrating sealants are available, but are by no means universally applied.

These two examples demonstrate acute and chronic risks from play structure surface treatments as well as several effective mechanisms to control or eliminate those risks.

[i] Kuruvilla A, Pillay VV, Venkatesh T, Adhikari P, Chakrapani M, Clark CS, D Souza H, Menezes G, Nayak N, Clark R, Sinha S. Portable lead analyzer to locate source of lead. Indian J Pediatr 2004;71:495-499

[ii] CPSC Staff Recommendations for Identifying and Controlling Lead Paint on Public Playground Equipment. October 1996. Available at http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/lead/6006.html Accessed 15 June 2006

[iii] 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.

[iv]US EPA Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) Sealant Studies. Available at http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/#sealants Accessed 20 June 2006

[v]CPCS/EPA Post Interim Study on CCA-treated Wood. May 11, 2005. Available at http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml05/05170.html Accessed 15 June 2006

[vi]US EPA. Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) Available at

http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/index.htm Accessed 20 June 2006

[vii] EC (2003) Directive 2003/2/EC of 6 January 2003 relating to the restrictions on marketing and use of arsenic (tenth adaptation to technical progress to Council Directive 76/769/EEC), Official Journal of the European Communities L4/9-11. Available at

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_004/l_00420030109en00090011.pdf Accessed 23 June 2006