Your search resulted in 3032 documents. Displaying 25 entries per page.
Damage by wood-attacking insects in buildings in Sao Paulo State - Brazil. (including errata slip)
1978 - IRG/WP 175
From 1974 to 1978 up to 602 buildings attacked by wood-boring insects were inspected by Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnologicas in Sao Paulo State - Brazil. Damage was caused mainly by subterranean termites, dry-wood termites and wood-attacking beetles. Up to US $ 1000,000 is the amount needed to control such insects in the buildings inspected...
A T De Lelis
Evaluation and approval of wood preservatives in Japan
1988 - IRG/WP 2303
Japanese standardized decay test methods, performance requirements and approving system are briefly described. JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) A 9302, which is related to a testing method for evaluating effectiveness of wood preservatives when applied to pressure treatment, is fundamentally a sand-block laboratory test method. According to performance requirements in JIS A 9201, mean percentage...
K Tsunoda
Effect of felling time related to lunar calendar on the durability of wood and bamboo
-Fungal degradation during above ground exposure test for 2 years- (Preliminary report)
2005 - IRG/WP 05-20311
Current study was carried out to know whether the felling time of trees and bamboos based on lunar calendar affects natural durability of felled wood-bamboo or not. Each of one sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) tree of 28 years old and one Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla) of around 3 years old was cut 12 times between February and December in 2003. Six sets of sugi tree and bamboo were felled in ...
K Yamamoto, S Uesugi, K Kawakami
EPR investigations of interactions between ammoniacal Cu(II) octanoate and wood
1996 - IRG/WP 96-30110
Ammoniacal solutions of copper(II) octanoate [ C u . h l f . 2 . r h l f.(O2CC7H15)4], interactions of these solutions with wood and wood components, and leaching of copper(II) octanoate from impregnated wood samples, have been studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) method. It is still not clear if in the Cu(II) octanoate - water - ammonia system, Cu(II) remains in a (copper(II) octanoat...
F Dagarin, M Petric, F Pohleven, M Sentjurc
End grain sealants for wood preservation studies
1985 - IRG/WP 3341
The results of tests with possible end grain sealants for wood preservation studies are reported. The epoxy resins used gave satisfactory performance on wet or dry Sitka spruce and have been used with success for diffusion treatment studies....
R J Murphy, N A Summers
Status of the Working Group on Preservation of Wood in the Marine Environment - Questionnaire results
1977 - IRG/WP 434
At the joint meeting of the IRG and COIPM dealing with preservation of wood in the marine environment, it was suggested that a Marine Group should be formally recognised within IRG. It was agreed that a questionnaire (Document No: IRG/WP/424) should be circulated to determine the views of the membership on the future status of this group. The results of this questionnaire are presented....
R A Eaton
Copper based water-borne preservatives: The use of a thin section technique to compare the protection of wood by copper based preservatives against soft-rot and bacterial decay
1987 - IRG/WP 2286
This paper describes the techniques developed and gives examples of results obtained for the performance of copper based wood preservatives against both the bacterial and fungal hazards....
A M Wyles, D J Dickinson
Available iron promotes brown rot of treated wood
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1526
Exposure of treated wood blocks to rusting iron increased the toxic threshold of chromated copper arsenate and ammoniacal copper arsenate to a brown-rot fungus Leucogyrophana sp. This supports the hypothesis that the movement of iron ions into wood contributes to the unexpectedly high decay rate of treated wood at the stake test site at Westham Island BC. To what extent this phenomenon may occur e...
P I Morris
Biodeterioration and preservation of rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis)
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10084
Plantation-grown rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) in the tropics is fast emerging as a significant provider of quality hardwood for a variety of non-structural products, as the aesthetics of the timber is its creamed colour resembling perhaps the priced but depleting Ramin wood or even American beechwood. However rubberwood logs and sawn materials are highly sensitive to sapstain, fungal decay an...
L T Hong, A H H Wong
Current models used by the European Health Authorities to evaluate the volatilization of active ingredients from treated wood used inside dwellings. A case study: Volatilization of azaconazole and propiconazole from treated wood
1990 - IRG/WP 3565
The use of wood preservatives inside houses may result in measurable aerial concentrations of active ingredients. These airborne contaminants may be inhaled by the inhabitants over periods lasting from a couple of days to several months. To assess the potential health hazard of preservative residues in the air, various risk-assessment models have been worked out. Three schemes, currently used by t...
A R Valcke, L Van Leemput
Electronic noses for detection of rot in wood
1996 - IRG/WP 96-20098
In an ongoing project an electronic nose is being studied and developed for detection of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted from wood colonised and decayed by fungi. The electronic nose consists of an array of gas sensors with different selectivity patterns for different groups of volatile organic compounds (VOC). The use of pattern recognition routines implemented by artificial neural netwo...
K Nilsson
Practical consideration in developing an international hazard class standard: The hazards and risks
1996 - IRG/WP 96-20091
This paper discusses the concept of hazards and risks in relation to the way in which the hazard class philosophy may be used for international standardization. The difference between hazard and risk is considered as a basis for a simple classification of biological hazards for timber in use based upon its service environment. The paper proposes that the moderating influences within a service envi...
R J Orsler
Preliminary note on the fungal problem of rubber wood
1983 - IRG/WP 3246
Susceptibility of rubber wood to fungal attack limits its wider utilisation. Fungal problems encountered in treating rubber wood with boron compounds by diffusion process have been discussed. Sodium pentachlorophenoxide and 2-thiocyanomethylthio benzothioazole (TCMTB) were investigated for possible control of fungal growth during diffusion storage and their performance has been reported....
R Gnanaharan
Production of treated wood in Brazil in 1984
1986 - IRG/WP 3357
The data of the Brazilian production of sleepers, poles, crossarms, fence posts and other commodities are given for the year of 1984....
M S Cavalcante
The development of a screening method for the activity of pyrethroids against wood boring marine crustaceans, Limnoria spp
1978 - IRG/WP 443
The present work is concerned with the develepment of a suitable bio-assay technique to determine the biological activity (contact action) of pyrethroids against Limnoria spp. Estimates of the toxicity of three pyrethroids, permethrin, cypermethrin and decamethrin (the structures of which are shown in Fig. 1.) to the marine borer have been obtained....
D Rutherford, R C Reay, M G Ford
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
Preservation of hyphal-forming brown- and white-rot wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes
2001 - IRG/WP 01-10397
Lyophilization is an excellent technique for the long-term preservation of hyphal-forming brown- and white-rot wood-inhabiting basidiomycotina. However, vegetative mycelial isolates are not lyophilizable. In this study, 10 brown-rot and 10 white-rot basidiomycetous non-sporulating, non-chlamydosporulating, and non-bubillerferous basidiomycetes fungi were tested for viability after lyophilization. ...
S C Croan
Leaching of chromium and other cca components from wood-cement composites made with spent CCA treated wood
2000 - IRG/WP 00-50153
Wood cement composites are an attractive option for recycling spent treated wood, since the CCA treatment enhances the physical, mechanical and biological resistance properties of the composite. However, we have noted a higher than normal leaching of chromium from these products and this appears to result from conversion of some of the trivalent chromium to the more leachable and toxic hexavalent ...
D Qi, P A Cooper
Autoxidation of beech condensate
2003 - IRG/WP 03-40261
Liquid effluent from steaming beech wood was studied. The effluent contains many phenolic compounds which can present a significant toxicity. The effluent was treated by oxidation was carried out at 250 rpm for 30 min with NaOH. This was followed flocculation with CaCl2 for 30 min. The influence of parameters such as pH, time of autoxidation were studied. Experimental results reveal the electrosta...
M Irmouli, J P Haluk
Experience with an industrial scale-up for the biological purification of CCA-treated wood waste
1997 - IRG/WP 97-50095
The biological purification of CCA-treated wood waste was tested in co-operation of the BFH and the Italian impregnation plant SoFoMe. Chipped poles were infested with the chromium and arsenic tolerant brown-rot fungus Antrodia vaillantii which can transform in the laboratory ca. 90% of the chromium and arsenic into watersoluble salts. These can be leached to 100-200 ppm residual metal content. Th...
H Leithoff, R-D Peek
Developments in wood preservation
1978 - IRG/WP 3121
The purpose of this paper is to comment very briefly upon recent developments and trends in wood preservation so that members of this Working Group have a basic knowledge of activities in other countries. The last paper was prepared in September 1977 and the present paper refers to developments since that time....
B A Richardson
Germination of basidiospores on preservative treated wood after leaching or natural weathering
1981 - IRG/WP 2150
In tests of residual toxic efficacy after leaching or natural weathering, spore germination with Gloeophyllum trabeum has proved to be a less reliable criterion of attack than when used with unaged preservative treatments. Since spores sometimes prove more tolerant than their parent mycelium, their use should be continued....
J K Carey
Report of activity of CEN/TC 38: Test Methods for Wood Preservatives
1987 - IRG/WP 2287
G Castan
The proposal for optimalization of the agar-block method for wood preservatives fungitoxic evaluation
1995 - IRG/WP 95-20065
On the base of own research and other scientists results the proposal for optimalization of agar-block method was presented by:
- selection of test fungal species and strains and central distribution of their pure cultures,
- change of the treatment and control samples exposure procedure,
- application of mathematical estimation of toxic value results,
- shortening the duration of fungitoxic t...
J Wazny
Incorporating insect behaviour in standard tests of wood preservatives - A possible way to reduce pesticide loadings
2000 - IRG/WP 00-20190
The application of wood preservatives to protect timber against insect infestation is common practice world wide. The effectiveness of wood protecting insecticides is usually determined in various standard tests. Depending on the target pest species and the test method, larvae of different developmental stages and sizes or adult insects are exposed artificially to the insecticide-treated commodity...
H Hertel, R Plarre