Toad Lickers & Tleated Lumber

(Continued from page 54 ) get a hallucinogenic high by squeezing the poison glands on the heads of certain large toads and then licking the secretion.

Toad licking was a reporter's dream. It even beat killer bees. The press went wild. The Weekly World News ran an article, "Rare Toad Keeps Druggies Hopping." The stuffy New York Tlnes responded with "Terror Toads." Toad licking articles appeared in Discover, Chicago Tribune, Vancouver Province, Palm Beach Post and Albany Times Union The tv shows Beavis and Butthead ar'd L.A. Law featured toad licking. A rock group changed its name to Mojo Nixon and the Toad Lickers.

As the enthusiastic press spread the word about the "new drug," near lethal cases of toad licking followed. Legislators went berserk. In Georgia, a bill was introduced warning of "the extreme dangers of toad licking becoming the designer drug of choice of today's sophisticated society."

But the toad licking story wasn't true. The press had fingered the wrong toad! They had heard some rumors about toad licking, fired up enthusiasm for the pastime by reporting about it, and had sent a bunch of comatose people to hospital emergency rooms. The trouble was that the alleged culprit, a toad called Bufo marinus, the one that the weirdos began licking, was not hallucinogenic at all. It was only very poisonous, potentially lethal. Scientists later found the psychedelic toad. It turned out to be a different species from a different part of the world. But by then, the media had done their damage. (Don't ask me for the guilty toad's true identity. We don't need any hallucinating building supply dealers.)

The CCA issue is rather like the toad licking fad in that neither was based on hard data, and both have been driven by the press, not by the data. For example, a recent article from a Florida newspaper about CCA treated wood is typical of much that has been published. It begins, "Silent Killer. Arsenic poisoning often takes months or years to become lethal or debilitating. It can be easily misdiag- nosed. Continued exposure can be fatal." Okay, the reporter probably read an article on arsenic in an encyclopedia. But where is the evidence that CCA is as dangerous as certain other forms of arsenic? Arsenic poisoning has symptoms. Does anybody with a CCA deck show symptoms? Has any house with CCA treated plates over its foundation harmed anyone? If CCA really is dangerous, why is the EPA not requiring all CCA decks and fences to be torn down immediately?

As with the African bees, continued exposure canbe fatal. But what's the point? Is the attack on CCA useful information to protect the public, or only a way of increasing a newspaper's or TV network's revenue?

As part of this negative publicity about CCA, some have suggested that preservatives containing arsenic be replaced with "safer alternatives" that are arsenic free. Most alternatives are less proven and more expensive than CCA, and if history is any guide, it will only be a matter of time before they, too, come under attack for the copper they contain.

Homicides, suicides, auto acci- dents and malnutrition (causes of death about which something actually can be done) are together responsible for about 100,000 deaths in the U.S. per year. But where are the data on the dangers of CCA? USA Today has reported that testing of the health risks of CCA products used for playground equipment, decks, fences and other residential uses will cease if the present plan is implemented. Thus, the public will never know if there were any real risks in a product that has apparently served the public well for half a century.

A recent anti-CCA press release stated that swabs from wipe tests on CCA treated lumber had nearly 25 times the allowable amount of arsenic that the EPA had recommended for drinking water. So what? Is Junior really going to sit there day after day licking his swing set? Has deck licking become the "designer toxin for today's sophisticated society"? Is Junior going to eat enough sand from under his CCA treated swing set to be harmed by any arsenic the sand might contain? He'd be dead from eating sand first.

So how plausible is a scenario like the following?:

Parent (to child on playground): "Junior, stop that! This is the third bucket of sand you've eaten this morning!"

Junior: "Burpl"

Some time after the killer bee and toad licker flap, the press reported a group of scientists had tested beefsteaks grilled over a charcoal fire and found that the steaks contained carcinogens. Will there now be a movement to outlaw charcoal briquettes? Probably, if attitudes don't change. Despite their findings, however, the scientists were reported to have eaten the steaks. They were realists.

Portland Firms Swap Land

Hampton Affiliates subsidiary Mid-Valley Resources Inc. agreed to sell 93,500 acres of timberland in southwest Washington to the Campbell Group LLC, on behalf of Lincoln Timber LLC, for cash and forestland.

The majority of the forestland Campbell is acquiring is located in Cowlitz and Lewis counties. MidValley will receive approximately 68,000 acres now owned by Lincoln in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties.

Ron Parker, c.e.o. of Hampton Affiliates, said the new timberlands will provide a valuable base of supply for its recently acquired mill in Darrington, Wa.

Managing over 800,000 acres in the Pacific Northwest, Campbell is the second-largest forestland investment management organization in the

U.S., overseeing assets in excess of $1.75 billion.

Hampton owns more than 180,000 acres of softwood timberland in the Northwest, plus six mills in Oregon and Washington and distribution operations.

Depot Workers Now Teachers

The Tukwila, Wa., Home Depot has teamed up with the local Sea-Tac Occupational Skills Center to help high school students learn construction technology skills.

In addition to providing $5,000 along with tools and supplies, Home Depot furnished employees who will teach 12 classes dealing with new industry skills.

The mission of the Burien, Wa., educational center is to provide technical skills training to local high school students.