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Your choice of fencing material is a personal one and it is always a good idea to do your homework to find out what would work best for you. There are many alternatives that are available including cedar, wood/plastic composites, 100 per cent plastic, steel, iron, aluminium, and brick. When making a choice you should consider the following factors: cost, installation, maintenance/durability, and final disposal.
Here is some information which should help to address your questions regarding the safety of treated wood and point you in the right direction to gather more information to help with your selection.
Pressure-treated wood is the term used to refer to wood treated with a pesticide. Currently, most of the pressure-treated wood on the market is treated with a CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate) pesticide. It is treated with a pesticide to prevent rot and insect damage. As such, it is recommended that you only use treated wood were such protection is necessary; ex: in contact with the ground. This doesn't preclude you from using it elsewhere, it simply suggests that you consider whether or not the added protection is necessary/desirable for the application you are considering.
Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is the federal government body that regulates the use of CCA in Canada. On April 3, 2002 the PMRA announced a voluntary decision by CCA manufacturers in Canada to phase out the use of CCA for pressure-treated wood in non-industrial use by December 31, 2003. Already-built structures containing CCA-treated wood are not affected by this action. This follows a similar U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcement of February 12th, 2002 which stated "a voluntary decision by industry to move consumer use of treated lumber products away from a variety of pressure-treated wood that contains arsenic by Dec. 31, 2003, in favour of new alternative wood preservatives."
In both instances it is important to note that this is not a ban but rather a response to market demands. When used as recommended, wood pressure treated with the CCA pesticide has a long history of safe and durable use. Health Canada has not concluded that CCA-treated wood poses any unreasonable risk to the public or the environment. The Consumer Safety Information Sheet on CCA Preserved Wood at www.ccasafetyinfo.ca provides further steps to reduce human exposure to CCA and its release into the environment. We recommend consumers take precautions like they would in dealing with any pesticide. For example, you should wear gloves and a mask when sawing treated wood. Neither the PMRA or the EPA is recommending that existing structures made out of CCA pressure treated wood be replaced or otherwise removed.
In response to these announcements, the wood preservation industry will begin to make the new alternative preservatives available to the public. You may or may not be able to find them in your area. When buying treated wood, you should ask what the wood has been treated with and whether or not the treatment process included "fixation". When asking what it has been treated with, you must remember that there are numerous "brand" names but what you are looking for is the actual pesticide that was used; i.e. CCA, ACQ (copper, carbonate, and quaternary ammonium compound [quat]), copper azole, etc. "Fixation" is a chemical process that binds the preservative to the wood and will reduce the amount of leaching of the preservative from the wood. You should ask whether the treatment facility that provided the wood tests for fixation. Your retailer may not have this information and it might take some digging to get it.
You may look for more information regarding the safe handling and use of wood treated with the new generation of wood preservatives once it becomes available.
For more information regarding the safe handling and use of treated wood please contact the following:
Consumer Safety:
Canadian Institute of Treated Wood 1-866-679-0957
Consumer Safety Information
Consumer Health & Environmental Health
Health Canada/PMRA 1-800-267-6315
CCA Fact sheet (June 2003 - .pdf format, 92KB)
Environment Canada 1-800-668-6767
Environment Canada Wood Preservation Web site
Related EnviroZine Links:
Working with CCA-Treated Wood
We built a play structure for our son last year of pressure treated wood. What do I use to seal it or paint it to make it safe?
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