title: Creosote released from railway-ties recycled and the sanitary risks.
abstract: Through the history of railways, wooden crossties impregnated with potentially hazardous creosote tar, have been used for years. There are six major classes of compounds in the creosote: aromatic hydrocarbons; tar acids/phenolics; tar bases/nitrogen-containing heterocycles; aromatic amines; sulfur-containing heterocycles; and oxygen-containing heterocycles. The creosote molecules applied in railway crossties can be released in the environment and they can bioaccumulate in animals and vegetables. Some constituents (benzo(a)pyrene and phenolics like benzene) are considered as being carcinogenic which renders the entire complex of creosote to be classified as potentially carcinogenic. After several decades of use the railway-ties are been recycled for varies uses like fences, stakes for agriculture and fruit production or bank protection. In this paper are examined some environmental and sanitary risks from wood impregnated with creosote reported in the literature.
authors.affiliation: giuzic@tin.it
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zicari
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Allegro
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rivetti
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Soardo
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cerrato
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D003407:Creosote / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D059027:Recycling; D012307:Risk Factors; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D014934:Wood
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D003407:Creosote