Now that EPA exists, they are on a roll and have to continually add new things to prove that they should continue to exist. Its job security at its best. Most Govt. agencies do exactly the same thing.
Years ago they took away Penta for treating wood, on the erroneous finding that some cows must have eaten their Penta-treated stall wood (Michigan) because Penta was discovered in the milk, and it was traced back to these cows. Only after the initial media and EPA hype, and after Penta was cast as a 'dangerous' treatment, and after it was too late to stop the stampede to get rid of Penta, was it discovered that someone mistakenly mixed Penta chemicals in the feed that was later fed to the cows. By then it was too late. Real people tried to say how many pounds and tons of Penta-treated wood a cow would have to eat to get any significant amount of Penta into the milk, but this honest information falls on deaf ears of the scare mongers.
Alternative chemicals (CCA being one of them) were then used in an attempt to replace Penta, but cost the industry (and ultimately the public) a lot of money for mediocre wood treatments. Now we waste the wood that our forests produced, because we let it decay in applications that it could be protected. (Also, an oil treatment of wood will not keep it from decaying)
The hype list is endless (asbestos is one of them), and we will continue to pay through the nose for the ways of the Govt. agencies gone wild. Nuff soapbox.
