Penta Impacts Health

Grassroots Environmental Education, a Port Washington-based non-profit organization focused on the health impact of environmental toxins, has compiled a list of independent scientific studies showing that exposure to the chemical used to treat the recently-installed utility poles in several of our communities presents potentially serious human health risks.
“People should know that pentachlorophenol (penta), a chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide and wood preservative, is banned for use in 26 countries because of its extreme toxicity,” says Patti Wood, Executive Director of Grassroots. “Penta’s breakdown products and contaminants are ranked among the most potent cancer agents. Dermal exposures are a known risk to utility workers who install and climb the poles, and splinters can release the chemical directly into the bloodstream. Just last October, the National Toxicology Program released its new report on carcinogens and described pentachlorophenol—one of four new listings—as a chemical which increases risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in studies in humans and causes tumors in the liver and other organs in mice.”
An EPA draft review of penta found “extraordinary risks associated with typical exposure that a child might experience in communities across the United States that are dotted with pentachlorophenol-treated utility poles.”
The newly installed poles are near bus stops and infringe on sidewalks that are used frequently by parents and their young children, walking to and from school, after school activities and shopping.
From an environmental perspective, pentachlorophenol has also been shown to contaminate both surface and groundwater. “This is exactly the kind of chemical that should never be used on Long Island, where our drinking water comes from a sole source underground aquifer,” says Wood. “The leaching of penta will also result in concentrations of contaminated soil right at the base of the poles.”
Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth passed a law last year requiring PSEG-LI to install warning signs on any poles installed after January 2014, but to date the utility company has refused to comply and has in fact sued the Town. The case is still pending. The Town of North Hempstead Ecological Commission has also suggested that the poles be wrapped, to eliminate the possibility of children having direct hand contact with the chemical.
Many utilities around the country are using safer wood preservatives or alternative pole materials, including steel, composite and concrete.
“From a cradle-to-grave environmental and economic perspective, steel seems to be the best choice,” says Wood.
A list of the independent studies on pentachlorophenol can be found at the Grassroots website: www.grassrootsinfo.org/penta.html
Jill Minogue