Watching your child walk into your outstretched arms for the first time is something you will always remember as a parent. After walking you see your child beginning to run, jump, and climb and soon you’re wondering how your child got so mobile so fast! Many of your child’s motor skills will start to emerge around their first steps at about twelve months of age and as a parent you can help foster your child’s motor development by arranging environments that will encourage your child’s motor development. Parks are a great place to encourage your child’s gross motor development. Parks allow your child to gain experience with jungle gyms, which promote climbing over and under objects, jumping over and off objects, pushing, coordination, and balance. Parks also provide a number of open spaces which allows you to practice throwing, kicking, and catching with your child. The more opportunities you give your child to play outside using shovels, balls, swings, and things to climb on, the greater their skill development will be and the greater their level of physical fitness will be.
It is our team’s belief that John M. Patriarche Park located in East Lansing does an excellent job providing families the space, equipment, and safe environment to promote gross motor movement and physical activity. The park includes a volleyball court, four tennis courts, basketball court, and baseball/softball fields, as well as playground equipment, large play fields, benches, picnic tables, a covered pavilion, grills, and restrooms. For those parents worried about the traffic on Saginaw highway, you don’t have to worry about your kids playing in traffic because the park is completely enclosed by a metal fence. Also, there is a bridge across Saginaw highway, which allows for safe passage to the park for those kids who live in the neighborhood’s on the opposite side of the park. The park is centrally localized within friendly neighborhoods, St. Thomas Church, and many schools which are just within a few blocks. With the considerable amount of things to do, this park is welcoming to families of all backgrounds and individuals of all ages.
However, this park does pose one major concern for our team, and that is the chromated copper arsenate coating covering the wooden play structure. According to the city of East Lansing “the wooden play structure was constructed with CCA-treated wood, which contains arsenic. This play structure was built in 1995, when CCA-treated wood was the most common building material for playgrounds and home decks. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and high levels of exposures may be affiliated with a number of health issues.” I don’t know if this raises a red flag to anyone else, but parents should definitely be concerned about their children being exposed to arsenic. According to our research, CCA contains chromium, copper, and arsenic, and is used to protect wood from being destroyed by wood-boring insects, and is largely used to pressure treat lumber intended for outdoor use. The arsenic contained in CCA-treated wood has raised concern with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency because according to the National Academy of Sciences, arsenic exposure increases the risks for lung, bladder, and skin cancer. The scientific evidence for these health concerns were derived from epidemiological studies conducted in Taiwan where there are high levels of arsenic in drinking water. These studies have verified an increased risk of lung and bladder tumors in the Taiwan population due to exposure of arsenic in drinking water and from this staff members have been able to calculate the risk of lung and bladder cancer resulting from exposure to arsenic in CCA-treated wood. According to the calculation the increased risk for cancer ranges from 2 in a million to 100 in a million. This may appear as if your child has a minimal chance of developing cancer due to the exposure of arsenic in CCA-treated wood, but I’m sure those calculations don’t include the average daily intake of arsenic your child receives from the air, soil, and diet, which can range from 2-46 micrograms per day. In an effort to reduce the potential for arsenic exposure, the U.S. consumer Product Safety Commission recommends that CCA-treated playground equipment be painted or sealed with an oil-based sealer every two years. This may be one solution to reducing the risk of exposing our children to arsenic, but does it actually reduce the risk of arsenic exposure? To address this question, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency developed a protocol to assess the effectiveness of applying surface coatings in reducing the likelihood of dislodging chemicals from CCA-treated wood. They conducted a two year study in Maryland, testing 8 coatings on new CCA-treated wood minidecks exposed to natural weathering conditions. After one year of natural weathering, seven of the eight coatings tested showed a reduced level of available arsenic that was significantly lower than the control. However after two years, only three of the eights coatings had lower arsenic levels than the control. The team recognizes that a film-forming product was one of the most effective in reducing arsenic levels throughout the study, but also states that with time and weathering the film cracked and chipped, which required the surface to be scrapped or sanded prior to re-coating, resulting in an increased consumer exposure to arsenic. After reviewing this research, our team concluded that this study fails to validate the use of coatings on CCA-treated wood because it did not take into consideration other geographical locations and the weathering conditions in which they poses. Due to the lack of evidence supporting and validating the use of penetrating coatings on CCA-treated wood in reducing the risk of arsenic exposure, our team has agreed that the best solution to protecting our kids from arsenic exposure is to tear down the wooden play structure at Patriarche Park and replace it with a play structure made from recycled materials.
If granted the $10,000, our team plans to remove the wooden play structure at Patriarche Park and replace it with one of similar quality and build. We have broken up our renovations into a three year plan to allow us enough time to produce the extra funds we would need to build a play structure which appeals to children ages 2-12. Due to the limited funds, we plan to install a basic play structure during the first year and add additional structures the following years. Our goal is to replace the equipment that will be torn down as well as put in additional playground equipment that appeals to children of varying physical competence and development levels. In the end we hope to have built a playground that is just as appealing to children as the former playground, only safer. The environment and available facilities are a huge contribution to physical activity. The city of East Lansing is fortunate to have Patriarch Park within the community, but improvements on the play structure are needed for health concerns. We are proud to say it’s located in a safe area with many transportation options, such as sidewalks, Saginaw Highway Bridge, and a CATA bus station right outside the park fence. The current play structures, sports areas, and equipment promote physical activity, but we believe there is more it can provide for the community. Our goal is to replace the dangerous wood play structure with a colorful recycled material structure, update and upkeep the sidewalks and sports areas, and promote the facility to increase the usage of Patriarche Park and physical activity among our community members.
Questions:
- What are the effects of exposure to arsenic?
- Are the children in danger from the parks location near Saginaw Highway?
- How are children exposed to arsenic from playground equipment?
- What can parents do to decrease the risk of their child's exposure to the chemicals found in CCA-treated wood?
- What action has been taken by the CCA chemical manufacturers concerning CCA-treated wood?
- Are there other alternative to tearing down the wooden play structure, and if so how cost effective are they?
- Are there alternatives to CCA-treated wood?
- Is there any scientific study backing the health claims associated with arsenic exposure?
Barbour, Ann. (1999). The Impact of Playground Design on the Play Behaviors of Children With Differing Levels of Physical Competence. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14. Retrieved Fromhttp://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=272055&_user=1111158&_pii=S0885200699800076&_check=y&_origin=&_coverDate=31-Dec-1999&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlV-zSkWz&md5=5fd20b29dc94320b3373d14df130729c/1-s2.0-S0885200699800076-main.pdf.
This article describes the relationship between the different types of playground structures and their impact on a child’s physical competence. There are three main types of playground structures traditional, adventure, and contemporary and each structure brings different components that stimulate a child’s motor development. In this study they chose two different playgrounds and analyzed how the design of them impacted a child’s physical development opportunities. Not only does the playground equipment affect physical development it also depends on the amount of space in the play area. This information is extremely important in knowing what is important when building or designing a park playground.
BYO Recreation. (2011). Commercial Playgrounds. Retrieved from http://www.byoplayground.com/?gclid=CMvs8ZiMq6wCFQMUKgodpjKN3A.
The information retrieved from this site gave us information about different playgrounds and the prices of these playgrounds. It also gave information about the benefits of the different play structures. This site was useful for determining prices for our budget.
CCA-Treated Wood Questions and Answers. (n.d.). CPSC Home Page | cpsc.gov . Retrieved November 11, 2011, from http://www.cpsc.gov/phth/cca.html
This website has a list of questions and answers regarding CCA-treated wood. The website explains what Chromated Copper Arsenate is, the work CPSC is doing in regards to CCA-treated wood, how children can be exposed to arsenic from playground equipment, the health effects of arsenic exposure, and the risk your child has from playing on CCA-treated wood.
Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) | Pesticides | US EPA. (2011, July 8). US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved November 9, 2011, from http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/
This website provides a brief description on what CCA is, its uses, and the harmful effects that come from CCA exposure. It also provides information on when CCA-treated wood stopped being used for residential use,and links to alternatives to CCA-treated wood,sealant studies,general consumer information, risk assessments and reviews, technical guidance, and use cancellations.
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Surface Coatings in Reducing Dislodgeable Arsenic from New Wood Pressure-Treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA). (n.d.). Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Surface Coatings in Reducing Dislodgeable Arsenic from New Wood Pressure-Treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA). Retrieved November 10, 2011, from www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia07/os/cca.pdf
This article talks about a study conducted by the CPSC staff in Gaithersburg, Maryland over a two year period.The study tested eight different coatings on new CCA-treated wood in order to determine if there were any reduced levels of available arsenic exposure. After two years, only three of the coatings showed lower arsenic levels than the control.
Fact Sheet: Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) -Treated Wood Used in Playground Equipment. (n.d.). CPSC Home Page | cpsc.gov . Retrieved November 11, 2011, from http://www.cpsc.gov/phth/ccafact.html
This website provided information on the amount of arsenic children are exposed to daily through the soil, air, and their diet, as well as the amount of arsenic exposure they recieve from coming in contact with CCA-treated playground structures. It also talks about epidemiological studies conducted in Taiwan in regards to arsenic levels in drinking water and how these studies can be used to calculate the increased risk of lung and bladder cancer due to exposure from arsenic in CCA-treated play structures.
http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/eh/hlthhaz/fs/TrtdWood.htm.
From this website we obtained information about the harmful effects of CCA wood coating. This source was very reliable in knowing the long term effects of arsenic. It also gave information on how children are exposed to it and what to do to prevent the long term effects.
