Creosote is the name used for a number of different products including wood creosote, coal tar creosote, coal tar, coal tar pitch, and coal tar pitch volatiles. These substances are mixtures of chemicals created during the burning of certain woods, coal, or from the resin of the creosote bush.  

Wood creosote is a colorless or yellow, greasy liquid that gives off a smoky smell and has a burned taste. Coal tar creosote is a thick, amber or black colored, oily liquid. Coal tar and coal tar pitch are commonly black or dark-brown, thick liquids or semi-solids, also with a smoky smell.

Wood creosote has been used as a disinfectant, a laxative, and a cough medicine, but more effective medicines have replaced it. Coal tar products are used in treatments for skin diseases such as psoriasis, and also as animal repellants, insecticides, animal dips and fungicides. Coal tar creosote is the most widely used wood preservative in the United States. Coal tar, coal tar pitch, and coal tar pitch volatiles are used in roofing, aluminum smelting, and coking.

How You Are Exposed

It is possible to be exposed to creosote if you use skin products containing it to treat conditions such as eczema and psoriasis or if you use herbal remedies containing the leaves from the creosote bush. Workers in certain industries, such as wood preservation, and coke or asphalt production, may be at higher risk for creosote exposure. It is also possible to be exposed to creosote-treated wood used in fences, bridges, railroad tracks, telephone poles and even houses. Drinking water can also become contaminated with creosote.

How Can Creosote Affect Your Health?

Ingesting food or water contaminated with high levels of creosotes can cause a burning in the mouth and throat, as well as stomach pains. Liver or kidney damage can result from taking large quantities of herbal remedies containing creosote bush leaves.

Brief direct contact with significant quantities of coal tar creosote can result in severe irritation of the skin, chemical burns on the surfaces of the eyes, convulsions and mental confusion, kidney or liver problems, unconsciousness, and even death. Longer direct exposure with low levels of creosotes or their vapors can result in heightened light sensitivity, damage to the cornea, and skin damage. Longer exposure to creosote vapors can cause irritation of the respiratory tract.

Long term contact with low levels of creosote, particularly direct exposure with the skin during wood treatment or the manufacture of coal tar creosote-treated products has been found to cause skin cancer and cancer of the scrotum. The EPA considers coal tar creosote a probable human carcinogen.