Question
Hi, there,
  Eight years ago in ignorance I had a massive garden and landscaping
project built using old railroad ties.  I now realize how foolish and possibly8
dangerous that was. I have beautiful apple, pears, lemon  and other foods
and flowers growing in these beds and wondered if the food could be tested.  
Do you know of any labs or services that do this?  Should we be tested for
chemicals found in creosote?  I hate to cut down the trees and only grow
flowers as that is the only place for growing vegetables and fruit on my  
property if it isn't a problem.---or am I in lalaland?
  Looking forward to your response and help.
Barbara  

Answer
Barbara: In my opinion the dangers from creosote and rail road ties for home owners are slightly over blown, as I have known many people have used these products in garden retaining and edging for years and have never seen any news stories on deaths or illnesses from garden related usage. The main problems associated with these products seam to be for people who work with them on a daily basis (railroad workers, and people who add the chemicals to the wood). From these people we learned it is a bad substance for Humans but it really seems to take a lot more direct contact to have an effect. However, all that being said, if possible, no chemical should be near your food if you can avoid it. You can do a lot simply by being sure your vegetable garden soil is raised and then separated from any creosote soaked wood by a plastic membrane. This way rain water moving through the wood goes down beyond your garden soil rather than moving laterally into the garden soil.

See this site for detailed info on creosote.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs85.html

There are a great many testing companies for food and or almost anything but almost all are geared towards commercial farm users not the general public. You'll have to google "food testing laboratories" or  "chemical testing companies" and make some calls and see which ones are willing to work with you.

My guess is that testing the wood and/or food will be cost prohibitive, unless you are willing to spend a thousand dollars or more on testing.

Sean J Murphy, LA

www.seengineering.com
www.amenityarchitects.com