Re: FW: arsenic: reply quickly- Pressure treated decks and arsenic poisoning

February 2, 2002

Just yesterday I drove past a Dunn Lumber store which had the message

" Arsenic-free treated lumber " on its outside message board. Surprised me to see

it.

The book " Fateful Harvest " by Duff talks about the routine recycling of

toxic waste containing arsenic, cadmium, etc into fertilizer.

S

On Sat, 02 February 2002, " Ginger Houston-Ludlam " wrote:

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> This was sent to me by a good friend of mine whose child with DS has arsenic

poisoning. & nbsp; She is asking for help from anybody who has had their child

tested/chelated for heavy metals to provide metal poisoning data, specifically

on arsenic, for a newspaper article, and is issuing a warning about pressure

treated lumber and children with disabilities. & nbsp; Because of depressed

methylation from CBS overexpression, and decreased glutathione levels, I think

kids with DS are at particular risk for this if they are exposed. & nbsp; If you

have arsenic data on your child that you would be willing to share, please send

it to her at arsenic41@... as quickly as possible so she can show it to

the reporter who is writing up her story. & nbsp; You may forward this message to

other newsgroups dealing with Down syndrome and/or autism or any metal-related

group.

>

> G

>

> --begin forwarded message--

>

> & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; I have a six year old daughter with Down syndrome (DS). Her

name is

> . In December began to display some new neurological behaviors

> that are NOT associated with DS. Investigation into the cause of these

> behaviors found us with a diagnosis of acute arsenic poisoning. Her urinary

> arsenic level in an unprovoked test came back at 192.6 micrograms per gram of

> creatinine. The lab paper indicated that the level should be less than 50. I

> got lots of questioning from the doctor about the source of the arsenic. The

> types of questions I was being asked strongly let me know that they were

> thinking I may have intentionally poisoned my daughter. I confronted them on

> this issue. to which they replied, â€œhave you ever heard of Munchauserâ€™s by

> proxy?â€. To anyone who does not know what this means here is the definition:

> a Mother who intentionally makes her child sick because she enjoys the

> attention she gets by caring for a sick child. This was definitely not me! I

> had to find the source of her arsenic or I felt I stood the possibility, of

> interference from the child welfare department. We have well water and that

> tested negative to arsenic. We have no insecticides, pesticides, rat poison

> or ant traps in our home (all of these are sources of arsenic). I consulted

> with a DAN doctor and a DMSA challenge test was done. The urinary arsenic

> level rose to 280 micrograms per gram of creatinine with the challenge test.

> Chelation treatment was started immediately to remove the arsenic. While in

> the doctors office, I read an article that he had posted on his bulletin

> board. The article had been published in our local news paper this past

> November. The title was â€œLevels of Arsenic in treated lumber higher than

> fearedâ€ I would like to give you a few quotes from the article so that you

> are aware of this problem as this was totally new news to me. & nbsp; By

> Shogren; Los Angeles Times

>

> & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; â€œA study of commonly used pressure-treated lumber

purchased at home

> improvement & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; stores nationwide suggests that the risk of

arsenic exposure

> from the boards is higher than

> previously feared.â€

>

> & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; â€œThe Environmental Working Group, working with public

interest groups in

> 13 metropolitan areas and a government-approved laboratory, said it detected

> levels of arsenic high enough that one in 500 children who regularly play on

> arsenic-treated decks or playground equipment would be likely to develop lung

> or bladder cancer later in life.â€

>

> â€œFor the Environmental Working Group study, moist polyester wipes were

swiped

> across section of wood the size of a 4-year-oldâ€™s hand, or 100 square

> centimeters, and sent to a government-certified lab for analysis. Amounts of

> arsenic ranging from 18 to 1,020 micrograms were detected.â€

>

> â€œThe National Academy of Sciencesâ€™ National Research Council, in its

> September study for EPA on arsenic in drinking water, found that long-term

> arsenic exposures of 10 micrograms a day translate into a 1 to 300 risk of

> lung or bladder cancer. On average, the swipes used in the study measured 25

> times that, or 247 micrograms.â€

>

> Back to my story. This past fall, my husband sanded our pressure treated

> deck. We were unaware that such lumber contained arsenic. Our daughter, like

> many other children with developmental disabilities, puts her mouth on

> everything including our freshly sanded deck railing. This had to be the

> source of her arsenic exposure. I had a piece of our deck analyzed for

> arsenic and this is what we found. It contained 1680 parts per million of

> arsenic. To give you some reference point, the EPAâ€™s standard for arsenic in

> municipal water is not to exceed 0.01 parts per million. This means my deck

> contains roughly 170,000 times more arsenic than the water.

> & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; In an attempt to help educate others so that such

exposures do not

> happen to their children, I contacted several local TV news stations as well

> as our local paper. & nbsp; One TV station responded by sending out a film crew

to

> film my story for the local news. This story played on the network for the

> next 24 hours. This was helpful in educating people but they cut out several

> critical parts which I had mentioned during the filming interview. & nbsp; I

> included these pieces of information for you here now so that you can benefit

> from it. They made it sound like this was one isolated incidence of arsenic

> poisoning. I distinctly told them that this was a bigger issue than they were

> aware of. I presented data from other local families who have autistic

> children or Down syndrome children who have tested high for arsenic. I

> relayed to them the fact that our local DAN doctor is frequently finding high

> arsenic in the children coming in with autism. I went on to say that children

> who do oral stimming behaviors where they constantly put their hands(covered

> with arsenic from decks) in their mouths or who chew or lick everything they

> come in contact with are at increased risk for exposure. This little fact was

> also left out of the the news clip. I explained how there exists incredible

> variability from person to person in their ability to excrete/detoxify heavy

> metals and to the susceptibility of injury from varying degrees of exposure.

> I showed several medical papers to support this. Again this was not included

> in the broadcast news clip. Just as a side note: to those who follow the DS

> issue of poor methylation in DS children and MTHFR polymorphisims in the DS

> mothers, I have cited a study at the bottom of this e-mail showing increased

> neurotoxicity from arsenic in individuals with MTHFR deficiency. For anyone

> not following this issue just disregard that reference. The issue of poor

> doctor recognition of this problem resulting in failure to test for heavy

> metals was also left out. Not to mention the fact that many parents are

> paying out-of-pocket for their childâ€™s testing. All of this was left

out.

> & nbsp; & nbsp; On a brighter note, the interview I had for the news paper went

much

> better and I hope the final published writing will include some of the above

> mentioned deletions from the news broadcast. This is where I can use your

> help. I explained to the reporter that there have been many children who have

> been tested for metal problems and that many have shown elevated arsenic. I

> told her I would try to get some more information on just how many kids I can

> find. If you have a child who has been tested for heavy metals and was found

> to have elevated arsenic levels I really need to hear from you. I am well

> aware of the many issues of autism including the mercury and immunization

> issues. I am not trying to ignore or minimize these issues but this story is

> about arsenic and I can not stray from the topic. So please do not send me

> your stories about mercury poisoning. I am merely trying to use ANY door I

> can open to expose the entire heavy metal problem that exists for our

> children. If the media is willing to listen to stories about autism and

> arsenic then so be it. It is my hope that at least opening that avenue will

> lead to further investigation. If you are willing and able, I would be most

> appreciative if you could drop me an e-mail stating your childâ€™s main

> disability (ie. which of the abbreviation disorders your child has.... you

> know the DS, ASD, ADD, ADHD, PDD acronym stuff), your childâ€™s age, gender,

> arsenic level including whether that was a DMSA challenge level or a

> non-provocation level. You can include other metals that were elevated if you

> like even though the story is about arsenic it would be interesting to see

> what else is going on. Any other short comments that you feel would shed

> light on this subject are appreciated. You do not need to include your

> childâ€™s name unless of course you want to. I will not be using this

> information for any other purposes other than to let the reporter know the

> extent of this problem. I need this information quickly as the reporter will

> be publishing within the next week.

> & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and

remember....Do NOT

> sand your pressure treated deck. & nbsp; Laurette & nbsp; Temporary e-mail

address & nbsp; & nbsp;

> arsenic41@...

>

> 1: & nbsp; Brouwer OF, Onkenhout W, Edelbroek PM, de Kom JF, de Wolff FA, s

AC.

> Related Articles

>

> Increased neurotoxicity of arsenic in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase

> deficiency.

> Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 1992;94(4):307-10.

> PMID: 1335858 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

>

> 2: & nbsp; Ruan Y, MH, Wauson EM, Waes JG, Finnell RH, Vorce RL.

>

> Folic acid protects SWV/Fnn embryo fibroblasts against arsenic toxicity.

> Toxicol Lett. 2000 Nov 20;117(3):129-37.

> PMID: 11087978 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

>

> 3: & nbsp; PB, on JA, Ferrier IN, GA, Lett D, Tyrer SP, Day

JP,

> King SJ, Lilley JS.

>

> Gastrointestinal absorption of aluminum is increased in Down's syndrome.

> Biol Psychiatry. 1997 Feb 15;41(4):488-92.

> PMID: 9034543 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

>

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