Wood preservatives, from pesticides

Pentachlorophenol-contaminated air, rain, snow, surface waters, drinking waters, groundwaters, and aquatic biota are common in the United States (Table 23.3) (Pignatello et al. 1983 Choudhury et al. 1986). Residues of PCP in food, water, and mammalian tissues may result from the direct use of PCP as a wood preservative and pesticide, or as a result of the use of other chemicals that... 

The boards should not be stored on treated wood of any kind, such as railroad ties or transport pallets, since those are likely to be contaminated with chlorophenols from wood preservatives or pesticides. 

Currently arsenic is a part of wood preservatives, some pesticides, non-ferrous alloys, and semiconductor manufacture. Arsenic may be released into the environment from metal smelting and coal burning, see also T OXICITY. 

Dinitrophenol is a member of the aromatic family of pesticides, many of which exhibit insecticide and fungicide activity. DNP is considered to be highly toxic to humans, with a lethal oral dose of 14 to 43mg/kg. Environmental exposure to DNP occurs primarily from pesticide runoff to water. DNP is used as a pesticide, wood preservative, and in the manufacture of dyes. DNP is an uncoupler, or has the ability to separate the flow of electrons and the pumping of ions for ATP synthesis. This means that the energy from electron transfer cannot be used for ATP synthesis [75,77]. The mechanism of action of DNP is believed to inhibit the formation of ATP by uncoupling oxidative phosphorylation. 

In the United States, about 80% of the 23 million kg of technical PCP produced annually — or about 46% of worldwide production — is used mainly for wood preservation, especially utility poles (Pignatello etal. 1983 Kinzell etal. 1985 Zischke etal. 1985 Choudhury etal. 1986 Mikesell and Boyd 1986 USPHS 1994). It is the third most heavily used pesticide, preceded only by the herbicides atrazine and alachlor (Kinzell et al. 1981). Pentachlorophenol is a restricted-use pesticide and is no longer available for home use (USPHS 1994). Before it became a restricted-use pesticide, annual environmental releases of PCP from production and use were 0.6 million kg to the atmosphere from wood preservation plants and cooling towers, 0.9 million kg to land from wood preservation use, and 17,000 kg to aquatic ecosystems in runoff waters of wood treatment plants (USPHS 1994). There are about 470 wood preservative facilities in the United States, scattered among 45 states. They are concentrated in the South, Southeast, and Northwest — presumably due to the availability of preferred timber species in those regions (Cirelli 1978). Livestock facilities are often constructed of wood treated with technical PCP about 50% of all dairy farms in Michigan used PCP-treated wood in the construction of various components of livestock facilities (Kinzell et al. 1985). The chemical is usually applied to wood products after dilution to 5% with solvents such as mineral spirits, No. 2 fuel oil, or kerosene. More than 98% of all wood processed is treated with preservative under pressure about 0.23 kg of PCP is needed to preserve 1 cubic foot of wood (Cirelli 1978). Lumber treated with PCP retains its natural appearance, has little or no odor, and can be painted as readily as natural wood (Wood et al. 1983). 

There are two useful side products. The H2Sip6 is shipped as a 20-25 % aqueous solution for fluoridation of drinking water. Fluorosilicate salts find use in ceramics, pesticides, wood preservatives, and concrete hardeners. Uranium, which occurs in many phosphate rocks in the range of 0.005-0.03% of UsOg, can be extracted from the dilute phosphoric acid after the filtration step, but this is not a primary source of the radioactive substance. The extraction plants are expensive and can only be justified when uranium prices are high. 

K listed wastes Wastes from specific manufacturing operations (usually chemical or pesticide manufacture) Wastes from wood preserving operations, manufacture of paints, and manufacture of organic chemicals... 

There are a few data that suggest that pesticides can undergo reactions indoors. For example, Wallace et al. (1996) observed that the aldrin levels inside a home decreased with time, whereas those of dieldrin did not. Dieldrin had been applied with aldrin but is also an oxidation product of aldrin. One of the reasons for the lack of change in dieldrin may be that it was being formed as the aldrin decayed however, this could not be differentiated from the effects of a lower vapor pressure of dieldrin, which could lead to lower overall removal rates. In the same study, pentachloroanisole was also measured inside the home and attributed to formation by degradation of pentachlorophenol, which is used as a wood preservative and termiticide. 

The use of arsenic and its organic derivatives as herbicides, pesticides, and wood preservatives has been increasing steadily each year. Large quantities of arsenical compounds are manufactured by the chemical industry and eventually find their way into the environment (l ). About seventy percent of these chemicals are inorganic in form and the rest are organoarsenicals (2). Of the organoarsenicals, the most important species from the point of view of use and health effects are monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsenic acid (DMA), and p-aminophenylarsonic acid (p-APA). 

A variety of human activities and products may contaminate estuaries with arsenic, including wood preservatives, pesticides, fertilizer manufacturing, mine drainage and wastes, coal utilization, runoff from slags used as road ballast, and arsenical paints from ships (Landrum, 1994 Davis, De Cumou and Eary, 1997), 370 (Pirrie et al., 2002 Mirlean et al., 2003). In some cases, specific arsenic sources cannot be identified (O Reilly Wiese, Bubb and Lester, 1995). Nevertheless, the cycling of arsenic between water and sediments in contaminated estuaries is often similar to cycles in pristine estuaries, open marine environments, and lakes. 

Current and past uses of arsenic include pesticides, wood preservatives, munitions, semiconductors, antimicrobials for growth promotion in animals, and anticancer agents (Table 4.2 Chapter 5). Although production of arsenic ceased in the United States in 1985, it was the world s largest consumer of arsenic in 2003 (ATSDR, 2007). People are exposed to arsenic from its use today as well as from its use years ago. 

Pollution with arsenic can also be due to human, industrial activity, and most of the arsenic in the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels. Arsenic has been used in fruit sprays, insecticides (lead arsenate), weedkillers (sodium or copper arsenite), rat poison, sheep dips, fly papers, wood preservative, and in glass-making. It is now also used in the semiconductor industry. Apparently, it was used as a pesticide by the Chinese centuries ago. Most of the arsenic used commercially in the world is probably contained in various pesticides. This inevitably leads to contamination of the environment. 

Current uses of arsenic are in pesticides, cotton desiccants, and wood preservatives. Arsenic is also used as a bronzing and decolorizing agent in the manufacture of glass, and in the production of semiconductors (Tanaka, 2004), as a desiccant and defoliant in agriculture, and as a byproduct of the smelting of nonferrous metals, particularly gold and copper, from coal residues (Hall, 2002). 

F-List - Hazardous wastes from non-specific sources (40 CFR 261.31). Five wastes from pesticide manufacturing or use and three from wood preserving processes are included. 

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