The environmental fate of wood preservatives is an important aspect to estimate the health and environmental impact. Although biocides from treated wood may be released into the soil, water or air, the latter pathway is frequently neglected in favour of leaching studies. Nonetheless, wood dust is well known to cause a variety of adverse health effects, in particular diseases to the respiratory tract, including forms of cancer, and the hazard is higher if dust originates from treated wood. Previous studies have assessed the exposure to chromated copper (Cu) arsenate, but there is a lack of information on the use of micronized copper (MC), which contain basic Cu carbonate particles with a size range between 1 nm and 250 μm. Former studies assessed leaching of Cu from MC- treated wood. We assessed the possible remobilisation in the air of Cu from MC- treated wood via two pathways: mechanical abrasion and fungal spore compartmentalisation. We propose an environmental fate model for MC by quantifying the amount and form of Cu released. In addition, we propose some preliminary investigations on the acute cytotoxicity of MC and treated wood abraded particles on biological models representing the lungs.

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