Residential Real EstateStudy Suggests Power Poles Cause Cancer
There is a new study out suggesting that high power lines, telephone lines and the like may indeed have an adverse health impact on children, not because of the power in the lines but because of the chemicals on the poles that hold the lines up.
According to the study, expected to be released by Environmental Protection
Agency, children exposed to soil around utility poles treated with
pentachlorophenol (penta), a wood preservative commonly used in pole
treatment, face a risk of cancer 220 times higher than the EPA"s acceptable
limit.
The study has not yet been released, but the preliminary results were obtained by a group calling itself "Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides."
An organization spokesman said, "The data means that two children born each
day are pre-destined to contracting cancer from this exposure alone."
Wooden utility poles often are treated with penta and other chemicals to
ward off rot and insects. Beyond Pesticides estimates there are 130 million
wooden poles currently in use nationwide.
Beyond Pesticides said it had recently surveyed more than 3,000 utilities in
the United States and Canada to learn more about the use, storage and
disposal of wood poles.
The survey showed that after poles are taken out of service, 69 percent of
utility companies would either give them away or sell them for alternative
public uses.
"I think it is fair to say that we are shocked to learn how the utilities
dispose of their old poles," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond
Pesticides.
One company received an award for donating and converting the contaminated
wood into such things as outdoor classrooms and bird boxes.
At least one utility that gave away old poles also distributed with them a
Material Safety Data Sheet, which points out that penta "has been found to
have toxic effects in laboratory animals" and that exposure should be avoided
during pregnancy.
Feldman said Beyond Pesticides would launch an effort to stop utilities from
using wooden poles and make sure they were disposed of properly.
"What these companies are doing is burying their heads in the sand," he said.
"Dozens of sites where the poles have been treated have become Superfund
sites.
"Also, the utilities store thousands of wood poles at their yards, creating
more contamination. And then, instead of properly destroying the old poles
when they take them out of service, they give them away to unsuspecting
farmers and homeowners who do not know the risk of handling or cutting the
poles."