PRESS RELEASE
Brian Connell, MP For Rakaia
Spokesperson for Forestry

21 November 2003

Treated timber cleared by experts

National’s Forestry spokesman, Brian Connell, has welcomed the publication of another report dismissing safety concerns over the use of timber treated with Copper Chromium Arsenate (CCA).

The report involved leading Australasian toxicologists such as Dr Wayne Temple, Director of the National Poisons Centre at Otago University.

“The report said plainly that handling of and exposure to CCA-treated wood in homes and playgrounds does ‘…not pose a significant health risk to children.’”

“ERMA had already cleared CCA and now we have that opinion reconfirmed. We’ve used CCA timber for more than fifty years and we know it’s safe. Now the experts are backing us up!”

”Safety has always been a top priority for our timber companies which is why Sue Kedgley has been irresponsible for scaremongering.”

“The Greens have been exposed to the wrong sort of chemicals if she thinks CCA is dangerous. They should read reports before they attack them.”

“Sue says that we need to ‘take a precautionary approach’, which surprised me because that’s never been their line when it came to recreational drug use!”

“These comments are hard to take seriously, coming as they do from a Party which has consistently advocated the recreational use of chemicals known to have harmful effects on the body.”

“Perhaps now the Greens will let the Timber industry get back to what it does best – providing great timber, jobs and export earnings for all New Zealanders.”

Ends

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