I play on these fields and have been for roughly the last decade. To state it simply, they suck. They get unbearably hot (160 degrees F) on sunny, hot days. Your feet blister unless you wear three (3) pairs of socks. They are breaking down well ahead of the guaranteed life-spans. The crumb rubber and plastic grass blade shards are migrating into storm water drains, not to mention, that this debris follows you everywhere as it adheres to your sports equipment and clothing. It winds up in your car, your underwear and your home. If you fall on a snythetic turf field on a hot day, you are covered with plastic, crumb rubber, and carbon black. I’m pretty sure that hundreds of scientific studies have identified the toxic nature of carbon black (soot). The EPA is trying to reduce the level of soot in the atmosphere from power plants. So why is it okay to place it under the feet of young athletes and expose them to the adsorption of soot onto hydrocarbons offgassing from the plastics?

We have been fed a false choice – plastic, crumb rubber and carbon black or natural grass fields. Because only synthetic turf can stand up to the level of play that modern athletic leagues require. Hogwash! The level of investment in organic, natural grass fields pales in comparison to the million dollars per field being handed over by taxpayers for these toxic pitches.

We face declining fertility rates, increased auto-immune diseases, increased levels of knee, ankle and lower back injuries among the young and the drumbeat to build more synthetic turf fields only grows louder. On what planet does this amount to cleaning up our environment and improving the health of our communities?

The constituents of synthetic turf fields need to be studied independently by third-party scientific testing companies. Where it has been done, elevated levels of lead have been found in synthetic turf fields. Let’s quit kidding ourselves about the safety of synthetic turf. Let’s get back to basics and invest in planting grass rather than laying plastic rugs on compacted rock.

Respectfully,

Bailey Condrey

Sort of like if I took a flashlight, looked down your throat and said, “I see no tumors nor anything alarming. All is well.” That partial information cannot not be construed to prove health, or safety. In the case of the tire crumb based turf fields, a similar thing happened. The study authors even list the limitations of the study, yet, absent alarming data the EPA allowed fields to be built.

In fact, the tire crumb fields are likely the most concentrated, contaminated microenvironments that our kids, or any of us, will ever face. Our study team think they are more dangerous than asbestos. They are loaded with carbon black in small particulate (from shredded tire crumb), which adsorbs onto the surface of the 24 harmful gases that yield from tire crumb. These gas/particulate mixtures are 10-20 times more harmful than the materials alone, and because the carbon black is attached to gas, presents a deep lung vector for carcinogenic exposures. We know from air pollution studies that the exposures are irreversible, and cause pulmonary, brain, heart and kidney disease. Air pollution rates of exposure are likely much more dilute than being on the surface of 350,000 tons of shredded tires. The tire crumb superheats because of its high surface area and material characteristics (Penn State Heat Study shows that 165F surface temp is routine at about 85F ambient temp) so at increasing levels of heat, the tires are expected to yield increasing levels of material. So, in addition to heat injuries, the kids get higher and higher toxic exposures as the fields heat up. Those gas/particle mixtures probably don’t just vanish. The fields yield tons of plastic small particulate also, including phthalates, BPA, benzothiazoles, and plasticizers. Adjacent schools, buildings or neighborhoods likely receive big doses of the chemistry. From the water pathway, the fields yield heavy metals like lead, cadmium, mercury and zinc. The zinc levels alone are fatal to aquatic ecosystems, and like most metals, can be expected to bioaccumulate in plants and soils that surround the drainage of the fields. Incidentally, we estimate the field effluent to be around 2million gallons a year in the DC area for a small soccer field. And, amazingly, none of this is regulated, controlled, measured or in any way scrutinized, even though hundreds of thousands of children are on these fields each week. This is clearly a case of an aggressive industry getting ahead of toxicology understanding, and our kids will be the victims.

As a toxicologist who conducted primary study on these fields explained, “In 2, 5 or 10 years if some of these kids get brain disease, or cancer, we will not possibly be able to link them to the fields because we are not doing monitoring. However, we will know absolutely that the fields had all the ingredients to cause these diseases.” A very troubling perspective, and in our estimation, far more important than the need to respond to sports teams who push for the fields, unaware of their danger to children.

The omission of this type of scrutiny is inexcusable, and the Scoping Study needs to be re-addressed, or simply replaced with peer reviewed, independent studies from toxicologists and true health professionals who do not stand to benefit from the ever growing tire crumb field industry. Do your job, EPA, for goddsakes.

If you want to do some good and create real win-win solutions, then demand more accurate information from those who are actual scientists and health professionals. Don’t ever argue that the needs of a waste industry outweigh our need to protect our kids from harm. They face far too many toxicity issues in their collective future without introducing such a profoundly contaminated product into their lives.

For my kids who have spent the last 9 years on turf fields, it is probably too late. You can change that for the kids who are next at bat, who are next to play. It will take some determination… the kind we learn on a sports field.

Amy Stephan, The Safe and Healthy Fields Coalition