On May 23, 2003, the Healthy Building Network (HBN) and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) petitioned the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban arsenic-treated wood in playground equipment, and to review its use in other consumer items. The HBN and EWG had previously petitioned the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in the same regard in May 2001, but the CPSC deferred action on the petition. Most consumers don?EUR??,,????'???t know that nearly all lumber sold for outdoor use in the U.S. is pressure-treated and injected with chromated copper arsenate (CCA)?EUR??,,????'??+22 percent pure arsenic?EUR??,,????'??+to preserve the wood and prevent insect damage. According to the testimony of Jane Houlihan, the EWA vice president for research, a 12-foot section of pressure-treated lumber ?EUR??,,????'??contains about an ounce of arsenic, or enough to kill 250 people.?EUR??,,????'?? Ms. Houlihan noted that the ?EUR??,,????'??U.S. wood products industry is the world's largest consumer of the poison, using half of all arsenic produced worldwide.?EUR??,,????'?? Arsenic is banned for all agricultural and food uses. Renee Sharp, an EWG analyst and principal author of the report to the CPSC, asserts that the arsenic in wood is even a greater threat to children than arsenic in drinking water. "In less than two weeks, an average five-year-old playing on an arsenic-treated playset would exceed the lifetime cancer risk considered acceptable under federal pesticide law." Paul Bogart of the Healthy Building Network is not waiting for the Bush administration to act. He seeks to get public support to compel companies like Lowes and Home Depot to stock arsenic-free lumber. Meanwhile, in March 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered a fast-track review of the cancer risk from arsenic-treated wood. In February of 2003, the EPA released an external review draft of guidelines for assessing cancer susceptibility from early-life exposure to carcinogens, based on 23 peer-reviewed studies. That document concludes that infants up to the age of two are, on average, 10 times more vulnerable to carcinogenic chemicals that adults; children 2-15 years old are three times more vulnerable. The HBN and EWG recommend that wood structures be sealed every year with polyurethane or other hard lacquers; that wooden picnic tables not be eaten on, or at least covered with a coated tablecloth; and that children wash their hands after playing on arsenic-treated surfaces, particularly before eating.