WFAA-TV

DENTON - Arsenic concerns has one Denton council member fighting to tear down the a city park's playground.

Volunteers built Eureka 13 years ago using wood treated with chromated copper arsenate. CCA protects lumber from termites, but over time, arsenic can leach out from the wood.

Sheree Jones, who brings her four kids to the park twice a week, said that concerns her.

"We don't really know what this kind of stuff is going to do to my child at what age..." she said. "Is there a bigger risk for them?"

City leaders have long maintained that the playground is safe, treat the wood with a sealant twice a year and test around it regularly. But for the first time, a city council member is calling for it to be torn down.

Council Member Jack Thomson said the CCA-treated playground presents risks the city should not be taking and he wants Eureka rebuilt.

Some citizens in the area agreed.

"That's poison and there are a lot of kids who play out here," said Mark Lagow, a Denton grandfather.

Shannon Hurst is a frequent visitor to Eureka but said she never noticed the sign that warns parents about arsenic and urges them to wash kids' hands and keep food away from the wood.

"It makes me not want to come back," she said.

While it may be an expensive venture, most parents at the park agreed it is a cost worth spending.

"As a parent you don't look at the bottom line when it's your child," Jones said.