Chromated Copper Arsenate Litigation

Both the California Attorney General and the Center for Environmental Health have targeted companies that manufacture outdoor wooden play equipment that used chromated copper arsenic as a pesticide. The complaint filed by the Attorney General, People v. Hedstrom Corp. et al., SF Super. Ct. no. 324887 (9/26/01), alleges that the structures expose users to arsenic and hexavalent chromium.

CEH filed a number of additional suits in early October, and announced that three national manufacturers had agreed to stop using arsenic in pressure treated lumber by the end of the year.  In a September 2001 proposed consent judgment reached in CEH v. Chlidlife, Inc., the defendant agreed to reformulate the wood in its children's wooden products shipped to California to copper boron azole by December 7, 2001, and agreed to reformulate all nationally-shipped products by February 7, 2002. The defendant agreed to pay $35,000 to CEH, and that payment would be waived if the reformulation dates were met. Other payments included $4,000 in investigation costs, $16,000 for other CEH activities, and $15,000 in attorney's fees.