Arsenic-Free Wood Preservative Receives EPA Award

Danielle Jackson

Charlotte, N.C. — Chemical Specialties Inc. (CSI) has received the 2002 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, D.C., for ACQ Preserve, a wood preservative used as an arsenic-free replacement to chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood.

As CSI’s consultant, Henry S. Cole & Associates Inc., Washington, D.C., was named co-recipient of the award.

The wood treatment industry has agreed to phase out residential use of CCA-treated wood by the end of the year because of arsenic’s potential dangers, although a recent study found no great risk between CCA-treated playground equipment and its effects on human health.