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Survey of Dioxin Emission from PCP-treated Wood
4 Selection of sampling material
4.1 Construction wood from the period 1960 - 1972
There have been selected samples of construction wood from five different houses. All houses are built in the period 1960 -
1972 and they still contain -at least partly - the original woodwork. Table 4.1 shows information about the selected samples of
construction wood.
A precondition for the selection of the samples has been that the history of the houses and the treatment of the woodwork were
well known.
Table 4.1: Data of selected samples of construction wood.
Sample number |
Origin of wood |
Year of construction |
Type of wood preservative(s) |
Number of preservations during 1960 - 1974 (1980) |
Weight /thickness of the selected sample 1) |
1 |
From shutter |
1960 |
Primer and wood preservation of the "Gori" brand, coloured
(brown) |
Assumed priming and 2 times preservation in the period of 1960 -
1968 and 1 preservation around 1970. 2) |
4 g/2cm |
2 |
From overhang |
1972 |
Primer of the "Gori" brand, non-coloured |
Priming in 1972. Next treatment in 1976/77, which likely was not
a PCP - treatment. |
2 g/2 cm |
3 |
From overhang |
1968 |
Primer and wood preservation of the "Pinotex" brand, coloured
(brown) |
Assumed priming and preservation in 1968. Extra preservation in
the beginning of the 1970'ties. Perhaps also late in the 1970'ties.
3) |
2 g/2 cm |
4 |
From overhang |
1970 |
Primer and wood preservation (coloured) of either the "Pinotex"
or the "Solignum" brand |
Priming and preservation in 1970. Painted again around 1976 with
emulsion paint |
10 g/2 cm |
5 |
From overhang |
1972 |
Primer and wood preservation of the "Pinotex" brand, coloured
(brown) |
Assumed priming and preservation in 1972. Extra preservation around
1975. Later painted with emulsion paint. |
4 g/2 cm |
1) Figures are approximate.
2) The present owner took over the house in 1968. The woodwork was well maintained. After around 1970 no more PCP
preservations were carried out.
3) The present owner took over the house with well maintained woodwork in 1970.
4) The present owner took over the house with well maintained woodwork in 1974.
4.2 Imported wood from disposable pallet boards
4.2.1 Selection of sampling material
Anti-sap-stain control with PCP leaves no visible signs on the pallet boards, and it is therefore not possible to visibly check if
the disposable pallet boards have been PCP-treated. The selection of sampling material has instead focused on where the pallet
boards came from or more precisely where the goods transported on the pallets came from. It was therefore chosen to select
samples from goods that were imported directly from Spain, Portugal and France - countries that are reported to still import
PCP for the use of for example anti-sap-stain control.
The samples have been taken from COOP Denmark's central storehouse for dry goods, which distribute dry goods to all
COOP supermarkets in Denmark. The pallets, chosen for sampling, have according to COOP's entry dock been imported
directly to COOP Denmark's central storehouse for dry goods from producers in Spain, France and Portugal [Larsen, 2003].
Two other major supermarket chains have been contacted, but it is not possible for these chains to locate disposable pallet
boards that origin Spain, Portugal and France. It is quite normal that goods are re-placed on other pallet boards once or several
times during the transport from Southern Europe to Denmark, and it can therefore be difficult to trace which goods that are
received on disposable pallet boards from the three countries.
4.2.2 The selected samples
Table 4.2 shows the 10 selected samples and information about the type of goods they have been used for and the country
from which the goods have been imported.
Table 4.2: Selected pallet board samples.
Sample number |
Date of selection |
Type of goods |
Country |
1 |
14.10. 2003 |
Wine |
Spain |
2 |
14.10.2003 |
Port wine |
Portugal |
3 |
14.10. 2003 |
Champagne |
France |
4 |
14.10.2003 |
Wine |
Spain |
5 |
10.11.2003 |
Langostillos claw in pickle |
Spain |
6 |
10.11.2003 |
Green olives a la Provence |
France |
7 |
10.11.2003 |
Green olives |
Spain |
8 |
30.11.2003 |
Olives |
Spain |
9 |
30.11.2003 |
Wine |
France |
10 |
30.11.2003 |
Port Wine |
Portugal |
Table 4.2 shows that the samples cover all three European countries still expected to be using Na-PCP. Because of the limited
number of samples it is not possible to make a reliable evaluation of the extent of the use of PCP in disposable pallet boards
from each of the three countries. It can, however, give an indication of whether PCP can be found in imported disposable pallet
boards.
The sampling material was as a first step analysed for PCP in the wood. Based on the results of the PCP-screening the dioxin
analysis was made on the sample with the highest measured concentration of PCP. The method for analyzing is further
described in Appendix A. Each sample had a weight of approximately 10 grams.
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Version 1.0 Juli 2004, © Danish Environmental Protection Agency
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