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Assessing the performance of wood preservatives from biological tests - the European approach
1994 - IRG/WP 94-20040
The impetus for the European Standardisation Committee to undertake the development of a performance standard for characterising the effectiveness of wood preservatives from biological tests, lies in the Construction Products Directive. This is effectively the European Community law which provides the basis for Construction Products to be traded across all member states without technical or regula...
A F Bravery
Budget (revised) for 1994
1994 - IRG/WP 94-60035
IRG Secretariat
An investigation into the influence of soil cation exchange capacity on preservative component depletion
1994 - IRG/WP 94-20050
The mobility of preservative components from treated wood into the soil environment is regarded as an important determinant of preservative performance. Standard procedures for the investigation of this phenomenon have not been developed to any great extent. Soil bed studies conducted in this laboratory using natural soil and modified soil media have provided interesting comparative data on the in...
K J Archer, L Jin
Study of the degradation of retified wood through ultrasonic and gravimetric techniques
1994 - IRG/WP 94-40030
One of the non-polluting processes that increase the natural durability of wood is a thermal treatment in an atmosphere poor in oxygen, producing what is normally denominated "retified wood". In this study the validity of a non-destructive technique (ultrasound) in order to determine the biodegradation suffered by wood across time has been studied. For this reason, the behavior of a wood species (...
D T De Troya, A M Navarrete
The Biocidal Products Directive ( 98/8/EC ) - its consequences for the wood preservation industry
2001 - IRG/WP 01-50166-04
1. The Current Position
This European Union Directive is one of the most technically complex pieces of legislation that has been developed by the European Commission (EC). Although the Directive was to have been implemented in the legislation of individual Member States of the EU by May 2000 progress has been slow. A number of Member States have yet to declare the Competent Authority who will handle their legislation. The body text of the Directive cannot stand-alone and is dependent on ancillary regulations and the development of technical guidance for both the Competent Authorities in the Member States and also industry to understand their roles in the whole process for the regulation of biocides and the biocidal products containing them. The process is far from complete in terms of a piece of workable legislation and this leaves not only industry but also the Competent Authorities with significant areas of uncertainty. This is potentially economically and socially damaging to the marketing and use of biocides and biocidal products. Because of this evolutionary process this paper can only be written in general terms as by the time the symposium takes place some significant changes to the position at the time of writing may have occurred.
2. Background
The Biocidal Products Directive (98/8/EC), (BPD), is a directive which requires that biocides ( as active substances) are approved for use within the EU and the individual biocidal products containing these active substances are approved for use by the Competent Authority(s) of the Member State(s) in which it is intended to market the product. The product authorisation obtained in the first Member State should be mutually recognised by the other Member States in which application for authorisation to place the product on the market is sought. The Directive has to be seen in the context various other Directives, notably the Plant Protection Directive 91/414/EC). Biocidal products are grouped in the directive into twenty three "product types" and wood preservatives are Product Type 8. The intention of the directive is to harmonise the requirements for the placing of biocidal products and active ingredients on the market throughout the EU. EU wide use of so-called Common Principles are intended to be used to assess the dossiers in order to achieve a common approach and eliminate the current situation where individual Member States apply their own particular national approaches and criteria in the assessment and regulation of products . Annex IIA of the directive identifies the data requirements for the active substance and Annex II B for the biocidal product. There are additional data requirements identified in Annexes IIIA and IIIB for each product type reflecting potential for exposure to man and the environment.
3. Entry onto Annex I
Any new active substance will require approval before it or any biocidal products including it can be placed on the market. The dossier to be submitted to the EC will have to include additional data and risk assessments for the product types (as defined in the BPD) in which it will be intended to be used. For those active substances that are accepted as being existing substances on the market before May 2000 (say in wood preservatives) these will be ranked and prioritised. This process is being defined in the so-called: Review Regulations.
4. An environmental directive
There is no doubt that this Directive has a high environmental content in terms of the data and the associated risk assessments which are to be prepared. The protocols and the end points for some of these data requirements are still being developed. In general the EC considers that modelling exposure using human and environmental exposure scenarios covering the end use of the product is an acceptable approach . Data are required to enable these scenarios to be modelled and risk assessments made. It is necessary that regulators do not make decisions based on hazard assessment alone in the absence of fully worked out and agreed emission scenarios to define exposure levels which generate a realistic worst case risk assessment. Risk is a function of both hazard and exposure. A lot of work has been done in the development of Technical Notes for Guidance intended to help the regulator and the applicant in the submission and the interpretation of the data. Whilst it may be the case that the human toxicity data requirements still leave questions to be answered it is in the environmental aspects part of the regulatory process where there is still much work to be done. The Directive would seem to rely heavily on the development of Pass / Fail criteria in simulation tests. This is a big subject and of key importance to the risk assessment.
5. Wood preservatives ---- a test case
Wood preservation has achieved a certain reputation. On the one hand it is said that a prime reason for the development of the Biocidal Products Directive arose from European problems in the regulation of the marketing and use of dangerous substances, notably wood preservatives. On the other hand because wood preservatives have been regulated by a number of Member States for many years it is believed they are well understood. The EC and the Member States also wanted to be seen to have achieved early success in the implementation of the Directive therefore the decision was taken to start, following failings with the speed of progress of the Plant Protection Products Directive, with a product type they knew all about i.e. wood preservatives. There is no doubt that there is a much greater understanding on the exposure scenarios, both human and environmental, for wood preservatives than many other product types. However, would it not have been better to have tackled some of the other product types where such an understanding is much less well developed? It is regrettable that the EC and Member States did not feel able to accept the results of an EC sponsored study (Haskoning report) on the assessment of risks for all the product types covered under the BPD. The results of this study clearly showed that wood preservatives did not constitute the most significant risk to man or the environment and in fact the risk was significantly greater for other product types.
6. Wood preservatives and the OECD Biocides Programme
Another speaker will be covering this subject in more detail. Suffice it to say that because of the perception there was good knowledge about wood preservatives again they were selected as the pilot for an OECD project looking at environmental and human exposure assessment under the OECD Biocides Programme. The findings from two OECD Workshops actually demonstrated there was still much to be learnt about wood preservatives in order to refine the risk assessments to a state where they would be sufficient for the requirements of the BPD. This work is ongoing but it clearly demonstrates the problems that both the regulator and industry will have in the preparation and the assessment of the dossiers for both the active substances and the biocidal products. This is especially the case for other biocidal products that have not been subject to the same kind of regulation that wood preservatives have subjected to in the past.
7. Inorganic and organic biocides
With current wood preservation technology there is still a dependence on inorganic chemicals such as copper (in conjunction with other biocides) or with chromium, as well as arsenic and boron for many end use applications. This is very much the case where a long term service life is a key factor in the use of treated wood for that end use. These substances are commodity chemicals and are also covered under the Existing Substances Regulations (EC) 1488/94. There is also work going on revising the Technical Notes for Guidance covering them . This includes a significant addition in the environmental risk assessment area. Efforts are being made to integrate and coordinate the requirements for both the BPD and the Existing Substances Regulations and OSPAR ( OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic). OSPAR refers to the Oslo Paris Convention. Whilst the BPD seems primarily aimed at the regulation of biocides based on organic chemicals wood preservative products may contain both inorganic and organic components. Indeed there are probably few wood preservative formulations on the market that contain only one active substance. This must have a significant impact on the way the dossiers are prepared for the active substance and the biocidal products and how they are assessed both at the EC and the Member State level.
8. Consequences of the BPD for the wood preservation industry
Whilst this paper addresses the consequences for the wood preservation industry per se, it must not be overlooked that there may be implications for the fabricaÈors of articles made from treated timber. Some current wood preservative formulations may over a period of time be withdrawn from the market because the risks and costs of generating the data and the preparation of the dossier make the product economically unviable. The presence of large working volumes of wood preservative solutions at treatment plants requires realistic withdrawal periods to avoid the unnecessary disposal and associated environmental risk of products that have been used satisfactorily for many years.
9. Availability of active substances
The structure of the industry has changed dramatically in the past few months and there is no doubt that other changes both within and outside the wood preservation industry itself are yet to happen. The original differentiation between formulator of wood preservatives and active substance suppliers to the wood preservation industry has become blurred. Some of the active substances used in wood preservation are used in other either other biocidal product types or in products regulated under another directive, e.g. Plant Protection Products Directive 91/414/EC.
10. Data protection
This continues to be a key issue for industry and some companies may find it strategically or financially necessary not to support an active substance in a particular product type thus leaving that sector without being able to use the active substance. The coming months will start to reveal which active substances are likely to be supported, at least through the notification process. Formulators are therefore in a close dialogue with their suppliers to try to determine their intentions on whether or not they intend to support their active substance. Today's wood preservative formulations are largely multi active substance based. Product costs, efficacy spectra, niche marketing and other considerations have made this process inevitable. New wood preservative formulations take time to research and develop and the continuity of availability of a choice of active substances is of key importance. A lack of adequate return on investment necessary to sustain the development of new products could have a negative impact on innovation and the rate of introduction of new products. It is extremely unlikely that any new active substance will be solely developed for use in wood preservation. This would be an effect contrary to expectations of the EC. The situation with wood preservatives is complicated by the fact that treated wood is a construction product and comes under the scope of the Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC) (CPD). Products under the scope of the CPD are required to meet certain so-called essential requirements and one of these is durability. Demonstration of compliance involves the extensive suite of CEN wood preservative efficacy tests. Even relatively small changes in formulations may require extensive re-testing under the EN 599 regime in some Member States.
11. Task Forces
Companies are encouraged by the EC to enter into Task Forces in order to reduce the burden of testing on animals and also to reduce the number of dossiers to be reviewed for each active substance. Ideally, and understandably, the EC would like one dossier per active substance. Parts of the wood preservation industry have been co-operating in Task Forces and much practical experience has been gained. Even closer co-operation will be required and this will enable companies to pool experience and expertise and manage their financial exposure to potentially high regulatory costs by sharing them amongst a larger number of parties.
12. Financial aspects
Industry will have to make some best guesses with respect to its investment programmes for supporting its portfolio of products. Formulators and active substance suppliers are likely to group into Task Forces in order to reduce their costs in terms of data generation and the fees likely to be charged at the EU and the Member State level for the assessment of the dossiers. The compilation of the dossiers requires specialist expertise to assist the industrial applicant(s). This is likely to cost in the order of £100,000 per active substance, not including the costs of generating any data. The Rapporteur State's costs for reviewing the dossier is also expected to be of the same order. Clearly these kinds of costs will impact on innovation. An adequate payback must be available to the company to justify this level of investment.
13. Will mutual recognition work?
Member States are required to recognise the authorisation of the biocidal product placed on the market in the first Member State when subsequent applications are made to place the product on the market. This is a fundamental principle of the BPD, although there is concern that Member States continue to have enough flexibility to prevent this happening if there are particular concerns in that Member State. Industry very much hopes this will not be the case and that mutual recognition, a fundamental principle of the BPD, will work in practice.
14. Environmental aspects
Biocidal products such as wood preservatives are generally applied in controlled situations and not over large areas. Consequently any emissions can be considered to be from discreet sources, such as treated timber or potentially from timber treatment plants. This is in contrast to plant protection products and some other biocidal products that are usually dispersed over a relatively large area. Because of this a lot of work is required to be done to re evaluate how the environmental aspects of biocidal products such as wood preservatives can be assessed in an objective manner. The criteria that define an emission and how the PEC (Predicted Environmental Concentration) for each environmental compartment is determined are critical. The wood preservation industry, through the EWPM (European Wood Preservative Manufacturers Group), has been working with institutes and other interested parties in a co-operation known as the EFG (Environment Focus Group) to progress the development of appropriate methodology. Data will be required for both primary and secondary exposure to treated timber. The protocols for this work are yet to be agreed. This work is being further progressed in the OECD together with input from CEN TC 38 WG27. This co-operation between the OECD and CEN is extremely significant in that it is, I believe, the first time such a co-operation has taken place in the development of an OECD Guideline. If one considers all of the end uses where treated timber may be found carrying out a risk assessment with few guidelines on how it should be done is a very uncertain process for both industry and the regulator. Reliance on so-called expert opinion may be inadequate.
15. Comparative assessment (the substitution principle)
This is a process whereby the health safety and environmental properties of acti_u101 ? substances used in the same product type could be compared and those with the most undesirable properties would not be placed on Annex I. Consequently biocidal products containing them would have to be removed from the market. This process is embodied in the BPD but it was initially considered that it would only be applied in the event of problems arising with active substances or products containing them rather than being used as a screening tool early on in the review process for active substances. This area is still an uncertain one with Member States having different interpretations of this principle. It is unfortunate that the wood preservation industry could be used to test out this concept at a European level. The consequences of this principle could be further losses of active substances available to the wood preservative formulators.
16. Substances of concern
The BPD is not only concerned with the active substances that are formulated into the biocidal product but also with so-called "substances of concern". These are defined as any substance, other than the active substance, which has the inherent capacity to cause an adverse effect on humans, animals or the environment and is present or is produced in a biocidal product in sufficient concentration to create such an effect. There are significant implications for the formulator of the biocidal product . The formulator may have to submit an extensive dossier containing toxicological and metabolic as well as ecological data on each of the substances of concern when seeking approval for the biocidal product. There may be classes of compounds that become unavailable to the formulator either because of the risks posed by the co-formulant or because the cost of generating data will be uneconomic.
17. The wood preservation Industry's view on the BPD
Industry has supported the development of the BPD since its conception in 1989. It is still supportive it but believes that the degree of complexity is disproportionate to the level of risk when it comes to wood preservatives. After all wood preservatives have been regulated for a long time and in reality there have been few significant health safety and environmental problems associated with them. Industry believes there is no need to determine an absolute understanding about a biocide and its application but rather there is a need to determine the level of understanding that will enable characterisation so that a risk assessment can be made. The wood preservation industry has sought either directly or through representative bodies a pro-active and collaborative approach with the regulators although at times this appears to have encouraged inappropriate demands. The regulators have invariably responded positively to this however they may not always understand the burden in both time and resource in having made wood preservatives the test case. Industry hopes that its efforts to be pro-active will be recognised and will be dealt with equitably when considered before the other product types defined in the Biocidal Products Directive.
D Aston
Results of survey conducted at Orlando to solicit attendee feedback on program design
1994 - IRG/WP 94-60026
J N R Ruddick
Preservation of two Indonesian timber species for marine environment purposes
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10079
This paper deal with the experiment of CCA full cell processed two non-durable Indonesian species for placed in the marine environment. 80 samples of 5 x 5 x 60 cm³ dried durian (Durio zibethinus) and mahogany (Swietenia mahagony) timber were CCA-full cell processed using 4 combination treatment of: without steaming; one hour steaming; 3% and 5% CCA solution concentration. 40 samples of them were...
P Permadi, I M Padlinurjaji, F Rasmita
Wood protection processes in the Asean countries
1994 - IRG/WP 94-40034
This paper presents the wood processing practices in the Asean countries composing Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand except Brunei. The development of wood preservation industry in these countries started as early as 1922 to 1960. As in other industrial countries, treatment pressure with creosote of utility poles, railway sleepers, and marine pilings are the prime commoditi...
F R Siriban
Newsletter 4-94
1994 -
IRG Secretariat
Performance of copper-based wood preservatives in above ground and ground contact tests
1994 - IRG/WP 94-30057
The relative performance of a range of copper-based wood preservatives was compared using above ground and ground contact procedures. The data, accumulated after several years' testing, show that on an equivalent active ingredient basis, differences in performance of the preservative systems tested can vary quite markedly. The contribution of co-biocides to the overall performance of thes...
A F Preston, K J Archer, L Jin, W Metzner, D Seepe
Newsletter 1-94
1994 -
IRG Secretariat
Newsletter 2-94
1994 -
IRG Secretariat
Remediation of pentachlorophenol- and creosote-contaminated soils using wood-degrading fungi
1994 - IRG/WP 94-50021
Microbiological treatment of hazardous wastes has generally been associated with the use of bacteria. During the past decade a significant body of evidence has accumulated that demonstrates that fungi, in particular white-rot fungi, have the ability to degrade a wide range of hazardous organic compounds (xenobiotics) and thus might also be useful for treatment of materials contaminated with these ...
R T Lamar, T K Kirk
An evaluation of the potential of ion mobility spectrometry for detection of organic wood preservative components in solutions and treated wood
1994 - IRG/WP 94-20038
For the disposal of wood waste under ecological sound conditions information about its hazardous potential is required. Until now, no highly sensitive rapid analytical methods are available for the detection of wood preservatives under industrial process conditions. Preliminary experiments showed that Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) could be a promising method for rapid detection of organic preser...
A Voss, J N R Ruddick, W J Homan, H Militz, H Willeitner
Improving the weather resistance of glue-laminated jarrah and karri
1994 - IRG/WP 94-40017
Surface modification and dimensional stabilisation significantly increased the dry and wet shear strength of karri and jarrah lap-shear specimens (laminates) bonded with resorcinol formaldehyde. The combination of surface modification (sanding/sodium hydroxide treatment), and furfurylation produced the highest dry and wet shear strengths. Acetylated laminates had the lowest dry bond strength, but ...
J Balfas, P D Evans
Evidence for wood cell wall degradation by the blue stain fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10077
Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat., a world wide ubiquitous polyfagus sapstain fungus, was found able to destroy the cell walls of birch fibres (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) but not Caribbean (Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis Barr. and Golf.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) tracheids. The fungus caused characteristic erosion of fibre cell walls similar to soft rot type 2; destruction of the S1 - S2 int...
O Encinas, G F Daniel
Evaluation of the corrosivity of the treated wood - Laboratory vs field test methodologies
2000 - IRG/WP 00-20211
The corrosivity of treated wood to fasteners has been evaluated using laboratory test procedures, including AWPA Standard E12-94. The standard method was modified in order to allow detailed study of commercial metal fasteners in terms of sample types, installation configuration and exposure conditions. Parallel field tests were also performed. The experimental results generated from these tests su...
L Jin, A F Preston
Chlorpyrifos as a wood treatment temiticide
1994 - IRG/WP 94-30047
Chlorpyrifos, O,O-diethyl O-(3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridyl) phosphorothioate, is a broad-spectrum insecticide used worldwide for the control of many insect pests. As a wood preservative, chlorpyrifos is registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency for protection of seasoned and green lumber and logs from attack by wood destroying insects such as termites, carpenter ants, ambrosia ...
R D Fears
Experiences from a Danish large scale test by means of a new method of treatment by attack of true dry rot fungus (Serpula lacrymans) in buildings
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10064
Experiences from a new and epoch-making method of treatment in connection with the repair of attack of the true dry rot fungus, Serpula lacrymans (Fr.) S.F. Gray, are described. The paper presents the background of a large scale test comprising repair of more than 150 Danish buildings over a period of approximate 5 years. The method being both gentle to the building and presenting savings of at le...
O Munck, H Sundberg
Aggregation and collection of large numbers of Mastotermes darwiniensis Froggatt for laboratory work
1994 - IRG/WP 94-20022
A method of collecting large numbers of Mastotermes darwiniensis Froggatt is described. Termites are aggregated in, and subsequently extracted from, 200-litre steel drums. Yield per drum is as high as 5.95 kg (ca 148,750 termites). Compared with other collection methods, the process requires little effort, and losses sustained due to the extraction procedure are minimal. The method is applicable t...
L R Miller
Generic code of good practices for wood preservation facilities
1994 - IRG/WP 94-50037
Wood preservation chemicals are designed to be toxic to wood destroying organisms. This toxicity, however, may not be limited to target organisms but the use of these chemicals can potentially harm various biota and humans as well. This fact dictates that adequate precautionary measures be employed to prevent any harmful effects to humans and the environment. The extensive experience with wood tre...
V N P Mathur, G Das
Biological resistance of aldehyde-treated wood
1994 - IRG/WP 94-40018
Biological resistance of wood treated with aldehyde cross-linking agents such as glyoxal, glutaraldehyde and dimethylol dihydroxy ethyleneurea (DMDHEU) were investigated. Sapwood blocks of Japanese cedar and Japanese beech, measuring 20 x 20 x 10 mm³ (T x R x L), were vacuum-impregnated at room temperature with 5-25% of aldehyde solutions. Blocks were kept in the solution for 1 week to gain the o...
S Yusuf, Y Imamura, M Takahashi, K Minato
Comparative study on leaching of CCA from treated timber: Modelling of emission data
1994 - IRG/WP 94-50027
Results of a comparative study on leaching of CCA from treated timber are reported. The study aims at investigating the applicability of prestandard leaching test methods for modelling purposes. Prestandards used are the European standard proposed by CEN/TC38/WG11 and NEN 7345 (Dutch prestandard for building materials). Parameters of study are type of fixation, wood species (pine - spruce), specim...
G M F Van Eetvelde, M Stevens, L Van der Mijnsbrugge
The influence of copper (II) chemicals on the weathering of treated wood. Part 1: ACQ treatment of wood on its weathering
1994 - IRG/WP 94-30040
Wood weathering can be accelerated by alkylammonium compound (AAC) treatment, and slowed by ammoniacal copper quat (ACQ) treatment. This study aims at investigating the influence of ACQ treatment of wood, especially the present of copper (II), on its weathering. ACQ, CCA and DDAC treated microtomed sections of southern yellow pine earlywood were prepared and naturally weathered for five periods, t...
Ruiying Liu, J N R Ruddick, L Jin
Effect of Scytalidium lignicola on decay resistance and strength of wood
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10061
We reported previously that in laboratory tests, pretreatment of Douglas-fir and Southern Pine blocks with Scytalidium lignicola prevented decay. In the present work, we determined 1) the ability of Scytalidium lignicola to colonize and survive in wood exposed in the field, 2) the decay resistance of blocks removed from previously treated Scytalidium lignicola wood and 3) the effect of Scytalidium...
T L Highley