Can bamboo be used as stair railings and balustrades?

With the exception of Iron Bamboo, you have a very likely problem with cracking of the bamboo used in both the balustrade and rail application. The Iron Bamboo has very prominent nodes, bud scars, and limb scars. This keeps it from being very attractive unless heavily machined and sanded. Until research solves the problem of cracking, I do not recommend using bamboo in this application.