How many of you are familiar with the “Precautionary Principle”? The primary tenet of the principle is that we have a moral responsibility to take a proactive posture in response to a threat to human health and the environment when it is reasonably perceived that a threat exists despite the lack of scientific proof. Follow link for Precautionary Principle in its entirety: http://www.gdrc.org/u-gov/precaution-3.html.
Those of us, who are old enough to have lived the experience, remember when medical professionals carried the message that cigarettes were harmless or could actually improve your health. We all now know how horribly misleading the tobacco industry has been for decades about the health effects of their product. History has shown that the harmful effects of exposure to environmental toxins may take years or decades to show up and assigned causality. We knew, even if just anecdotally, that the toxins in tobacco smoke caused cancer and other serious health problems long before the causal link was proven in a lab. Are similar health consequences in store for the users of artificial turf fields?
If we take just a moment to consider what we have read so far or researched, for ourselves, on the potential health risk associated with artificial turf, no one has said definitively that there is no health risk associated with the use of artificial turf fields. It has been concluded however that, more research needs to be conducted, current research finding indicate minimal health risk and the establishment of production standards is urged.
Two previous blog articles focused on the lead content of Artificial Turf as a safety concern for users of turf fields. According to the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC there is no evidence to suggest that the non-nylon polyethylene fiber content, if used in artificial turf, releases harmful levels of lead. Specifically, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission found that “although small amounts of lead were detected on the surface of some older fields, none of these tested fields released amounts of lead that would be harmful to children.” http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08348.html
The CPSC further stated that, although their evaluation found no harmful lead levels in products tested “CPSC staff is asking that voluntary standards be developed for synthetic turf to preclude the use of lead in future products. This action is being taken proactively to address any future production of synthetic turf and to set a standard for any new entrants to the market to follow.” Perhaps they recognize that lead and lead compounds are persistent bio-accumulative toxins and that no amount of preventable lead exposure is acceptable.
Another controversial material content of artificial turf is “crumb rubber” which is ground up recycled automobile tires. Crumb rubber is used as in-fill material and according to the NJDHHS is “composed of a variety of synthetic organic chemicals”, some of which can leach from the material into ground water. Chemicals such as Benzothiazole, eye and skin irritant and Butylated hydroxyanisole a known carcinogen.
Research conducted by Dr. Junfeng Zhang of UMDNJ’s School of Public Health concluded that several samples of rubber picked up from New York City parks contained elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which were found to be in concentrations above levels considered “sufficiently dangerous to human health to require their removal”. http://sphweb02.umdnj.edu/sphweb/files/dbb/2007/082007.pdf
Crumb rubber heat stress association
Synthetic turf fields absorb heat, resulting in surface temperatures that are much higher than the temperatures of the surrounding air. In studies at BYU surface temperatures on artificial turf athletic fields were measured at 117 degrees F compared to a natural surface temperature of 78 degrees F. Similar measurements were also seen at the University of Missouri. At Penn State University artificial turf temperatures were taken on three different occasions from 9 different types of infilled turfs resulting in measured air temperatures of 79, 78, and 85 degrees F compared to a synthetic turf surface temperature of 120, 130 and 146 degrees F. It is typically recommended by the manufacture that hosing down the field with water will effectively and significantly lower the field temperature. True, but surface temperatures at Missouri returned to 120 degrees in 5 min and 164 degrees in 20 min. http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/outdoors/synthetic_turf/crumb-rubber_infilled/fact_sheet.htm
The New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services offers other Artificial Turf Health concerns. Please access link below.
http://www.state.nj.us/health/artificialturf/documents/other_concerns.pdf
2 responses so far ↓
Morgansh // October 9, 2009 at 8:46 pm |
this all seems like a case of closing the barn after the horse is out.
too late. natural grass gone. plastic mat in place.
Ken Ilchuk // October 15, 2009 at 11:14 am |
The debate continues about the value, the pros and the cons of artificial or synthetic turf. The above article describes much of the current thinking and opinion about synthetic turf athletic fields.
As mentioned in the article there are concerns about using tires as the source of crumb rubber for the infill needed in synthetic fields. There are alternatives. EPDM is a recently developed crumb rubber derived from other sources of rubber. EPDM materials are used in a wide variety of applications – such as weather seals, garden hoses, roof membranes and tubing.. There are no tires in EPDM. There are other more “eco-friendly” options for infill, like coconut husks, but they require constant watering, and as an organic substance, it lends itself to the development of potential mold, fungus, and algae problems, which bring their own set of problems.
For those with existing synthetic turf fields, G9 Turf, a synthetic turf manufacturer and installer based on Long Island, has unique technologically advanced equipment that can remove the infill from existing fields without damaging the fiber. The crumb rubber can then be recycled safely and new infill, like EPDM can be installed. The company’s equipment is the first available that has been designed to completely remove the infill from existing fields. If crumb rubber from tires is a concern, you can now change it without having to install a new field.