Gloria Tilley's story - How her children were poisoned by CCA again and again and again... And how a ban on CCA could have prevented their fate

Editor’s Note: Gloria Tilley's story is one of several accounts of personal injuries from CCA that were submitted to the CPSC in March. She has granted us permission to publish excerpts from her letter to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission about the negative impact that her family experienced from their exposures to CCA wood.

Ms. Tilley is another consumer who has been able to 'connect the dots' between high arsenic readings in her children and their exposures to toxic CCA treated wood. In this account, we learn how her children were exposed to the toxins in CCA from multiple exposure pathways, including prenatal exposure, followed later by dermal, oral, and even inhalational exposure.

Her story comes straight from the heart, and spells out the unnecessary anguish that this toxic product, which the industry claims is "safe and environmentally sound", is really causing. Gloria sums it up eloquently when she states, "It would be a tragedy for anyone else to suffer a preventable fate such as ours." See for yourself what she means when you read her account in a mother's own words.

The comments in brackets and any italics and bolding in the letter were added during editing. Gloria's complete address, phone number and email were omitted for privacy reasons.

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Gloria Tilley
Lakeview, NY


March 28, 2003

Office of the Secretary
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Washington, DC 20207

Re: ACCA Ban Petition, Petition HP 01-3

I would like to bring to your attention a group of children who seem to have been missed in your 1/10,000 risk assessment for cancer - Special needs children. These children are not like typical children. They have different chemistry, different skill acquisition and different learning patterns. I feel that it is necessary to include this group of vulnerable individuals in your risk assessment study.

My own story of arsenic exposure began months before I conceived my twin boys. My husband and I built a garden in the spring of 1995. We edged our garden with landscaping timbers - three timbers high. We filled the garden with soil and planted our vegetables. All summer we nurtured our garden and enjoyed fresh salads and vegetables every day never knowing the danger that loomed. There were no warning labels on the lumber. No signs were posted at the store. We had no idea that we could be eating poison. We froze our excess 'chemical-free' harvest for the winter ahead.

In November of 1985, I became pregnant. Much to our surprise, we were having twins. They don't run in our family. I went into labor at 33 weeks...much too early, so the doctors stopped the labor. I spent the next two weeks in and out of labor and finally at 35 weeks, my uterus ruptured and I had an emergency c-section.

The following morning our world began crashing in. Kyle had Down Syndrome. Justin, it seemed was unaffected.

I spent the first year after their birth reading everything I could about Down Syndrome and biochemistry. I was determined that Kyle would excel and keep up with his brother but as time progressed, Justin did not.

I began to worry about Justin. He cried from the minute he was born until he was two. Most of his milestones were delayed. By the age of two he had nine surgeries. Two were to correct midline defects - a tongue tie and a tethered spinal cord. To make matters worse he was always sick. He received a diagnosis: Pervasive Developmental Delay. I now had two disabled children and all of our hopes and dreams had vanished.

I began reading everything I could about Justin's condition. I met with many doctors in order to combat all of Justin's medical issues. For his third birthday, I decided to have some specialized testing done on him. Since I learned that he shared many of the same concerns with the Down Syndrome community, I had his twin tested as well. Much to my surprise, both Justin and Kyle came up high in ARSENIC!

I began researching the sources of arsenic exposure. I explored where the exposure could have occurred. The city did not seem plausible. It must be our new house. As I read, I realized that CCA wood seemed to be everywhere we spent time. We built a pressure treated deck/ playpen for the boys when they were not yet walking. We figured this would keep them safe while they played outside. Once again, there were no warning labels on the lumber or at the store. As we cut the lumber for the railings, the boys crawled on the deck. We placed the baby pool on it and spent hours each day in our sunny safe haven.

I realized this was a mistake as I read the literature on arsenic and CCA treated wood. I thought back to when we would go out after it rained. I would sweep the puddles off the deck as fast as I could because Justin liked to lick them. I put towels around the pool to prevent the licking as well. We would often eat lunch on our CCA treated picnic table. The boys had difficulty with utensils and used their hands. Often the food would fall off their plates and onto the table. They ate it anyway.

Our pool had a CCA wood deck with an indoor/outdoor carpet on it. It was at least several years old when we bougt the house. Justin loved to jump into the water and roll on the deck while Kyle was content to sit on the deck and watch us in the water. I began to wonder how much arsenic was in our pool water and on the carpet.

The boys helped me put twenty bags of mulch around the front of the house. Justin began chewing on it. The boys frequently have their hands in their mouths even at the age of six. This behavior carried over to the playground that we go to. He would eat the wood chips. I tried to discourage it, but he preferred to play in the chips and skip the playground. When I found out that CCA wood is frequently found in mulch and wood chips, I almost lost it. This is how they explore their world. They mouth their toys and their clothes. Not at all unusual for a child with PDD or Down Syndrome.

I feel that the exposure to this toxic wood has negatively affected the lives of my boys and our family. I wonder how it might affect my husband, myself, and our two daughters. Our eldest was almost two when the boys were born. Our youngest was born when the boys were two. A year ago we found out she has problems too. She has Polyarticular Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is not responding well to treatment. My research has connected [exposure to heavy] metals to this condition. She and I will be tested soon.

I have a MTHFR polymorphism which makes it more likely that I can uptake metals. Several months ago, I thought about my own exposure to [heavy] metals. The garden popped into my head. Could it be that my eldest was saved from her siblings' fate because I had not yet been poisoned? Could my chemistry have been somehow changed by CCA wood and could this change cause problems with my pregnancy and my children? Is this why Justin was always so ill? The deck is right outside of his bedroom window. Is his air toxic because of the deck?

Arsenic is an anti-folant. Kyle's Down Syndrome and Justin's midline defects are both supported in the literature as results of maternal folate insufficiency. The possibility that I have three disabled children because of arsenic exposure repulses me. What bothers me even more is that special needs individuals are being poisoned [by CCA].

They are defective because that is who they are, right? Wrong. Their chemistry makes them more succeptible to injury and they must be considered when deciding whether CCA wood should be banned. I think it should be banned and removed from all public areas.

Please remember my family and how fragile human life is. It would be a tragedy for anyone else to suffer a preventable fate such as ours.

Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

Gloria R. Tilley