Artificial turf appears to be causing lymphoma and leukemia.

[Tatanka™]

You know those little rubber pellets you see fly up from artificial turf? Those are made from recycled tires. Tires are loaded with toxic substances such as benzene and lead.

How Safe Is the Artificial Turf Your Child Plays On?

It was 2009. Two young female goalies Griffin knew had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Griffin, associate head coach for the University of Washington’s women’s soccer team, had started to visit the women and other athletes in local hospitals, helping them pass the time during chemo with war stories from her three decades of coaching.

That day, the nurse looked down at the woman Griffin was sitting with and said, "Don't tell me you guys are goalkeepers. You're the fourth goalkeeper I've hooked up this week."

Later, the young woman with the chemo needle in her arm would say, “I just have a feeling it has something to do with those black dots.”

Artificial turf fields are now everywhere in the United States, from high schools to multi-million-dollar athletic complexes. As any parent or player who has been on them can testify, the tiny black rubber crumbs of which the fields are made -- chunks of old tires -- get everywhere. In players’ uniforms, in their hair, in their cleats.

Since then, Griffin has compiled a list of 38 American soccer players -- 34 of them goalies – who have been diagnosed with cancer. At least a dozen played in Washington, but the geographic spread is nationwide. Blood cancers like lymphoma and leukemia dominate the list.

EPA, mercury, lead, benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and arsenic, among several other chemicals, heavy metals, and carcinogens, have been found in tires.

Studies have found that crumb rubber fields emit gases that can be inhaled. Turf fields can become very hot -- 10 to 15 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature – increasing the chances that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and chemicals can “off-gas,” or leach into the air.

One study performed by the state of Connecticut measured the concentrations of VOCs and chemicals in the air over fields. In addition to VOCs such as benzene and methylene chloride, researchers identified various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Scientific studies need to be done, but the anecdotal evidence is strong. I'm sure the IPF will have those rubber pellets. Scary stuff!

The EPA would never allow these substances in toys. It's crazy that they are allowed on the fields and playgrounds on which our kids play.

 

[DBT]

Hmm. Do the pellets get inhaled or something? Or is it from abrasions and getting into the blood stream? I have a hard time accepting that a fairly short term exposure could lead to cancer. Someone ought to see if they can find Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for this stuff.

 

[Buffnik]

Hmm. Do the pellets get inhaled or something? Or is it from abrasions and getting into the blood stream?

Did you read the OP?

 

[DBT]

Did you read the OP?

My bad. Off gassing. That is scary. So, wouldn't you expect people like tire plant workers to have high rates of illness then? Need to check all of the data. Including the installers.

 

[goalline]

The EPA would never allow these substances in toys. It's crazy that they are allowed on the fields and playgrounds on which our kids play.

I think the biggest concern would be indoor facilities because any out-gassing that is occurring would have trouble dispersing. It should be straight forward to go measure the concentrations on some fields. The quotes you provide don't give any particular insight into why goalies would be particularly susceptible and we are also exposed to many of these same compounds in other ways. (Just go into your garage the day after putting new tires on your car for example). I guess it would be interesting to see the Connecticut study and any other similar ones. I'm curious because I've spent a fair amount of time on these fields myself.

 

[Tatanka™]

The quotes you provide don't give any particular insight into why goalies would be particularly susceptible and we are also exposed to many of these same compounds in other ways.

I didn't want to quote the entire article. It speculates that it is because goalies faces are constantly in the turf while diving at balls in practice. Abrasions on their legs and arms are also constantly rubbing into that stuff and they even get it in their mouths.

 

[Tatanka™]

I'm sure they could easily come up with a non-toxic substitute, but recycled tires are cheaper so YAY PROFIT!!!lot:

 

[Buffnik]

I'm sure they could easily come up with a non-toxic substitute, but recycled tires are cheaper so YAY PROFIT!!!lot:

CU should make ours out of hemp. Apparently, you can make just about anything out of that plant.

 

[ElCunado]

I would say football players are at ground level and suffer abrasions at a much higher rate than a soccer goalie. Also more subjects. It would be interesting to see a study using players in the state of Texas. Higher temps will lead to more off gassing.

 

[Tatanka™]

I would say football players are at ground level and suffer abrasions at a much higher rate than a soccer goalie.

No way. During a games? Debatable. But goalies are constantly diving at balls in practice drills.

But the smell that hangs over crumb rubber fields – the scent of tires baking in the sun -- became as familiar to Swarthout as her endless goalie drills.

She even got used to the “turf bugs,” as she and her teammates called them.

During high school, she played on multiple teams at once, with two-hour practices five days a week, and games at least twice a week. Every day, she tried to clean the black rubber pellets, the “turf bugs,” out of the abrasions and burns she suffered as a goalkeeper on turf. Every day, to the chagrin of her mother, she shook them from her clothes and cleats onto the laundry room floor. She brushed them out of her hair, and spit them out of her mouth.

 

[Burrito]

No way. During a games? Debatable. But goalies are constantly diving at balls in practice drills.

Plus all the flopping.

 

[goalline]

Thanks for the extra info Tatanka.

We get the pellets all over the hall where we keep our gear too. It looks like a 100 mice have been through.

 

[GregInArlington]

Our background VOC's are higher in Texas than anything the field could off-gas. Plus if these are recycled tires they are already many years old so I don't think the gas would be a huge concern. And if tires were the problem, everyone at Discount Tire would be on chemo.

Probably has more to do with the magic spray that turns a fake broken leg into a goal.

 

[FChairbanks]

i'm a fan of natural grass but here is the response from the artificial turf guys...

http://www.syntheticturfcouncil.org...Effects-of-Crumb-Rubber-in-Synthetic-Turf.htm

 

[Tatanka™]

Our background VOC's are higher in Texas than anything the field could off-gas. Plus if these are recycled tires they are already many years old so I don't think the gas would be a huge concern.

Wrong. Some of the VOCs would have off-gassed, but more are released as the rubber bakes in the sun year after year.

And if tires were the problem, everyone at Discount Tire would be on chemo.

Just because it's not in the news every day doesn't mean there aren't health problems for tire workers. I get a headache just from being in a tire store for half an hour. I did a Google search on "long term exposure to tires" and came up with these studies that looked at the effects on heart disease and bladder cancer for tire factory workers.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pgms/worknotify/CarbonDisulfide.html

Among workers in the chemicals department, we expected between 14 and 15 deaths from heart disease, but found 22. This was 1½ times more deaths than expected when compared to U. S. death rates and 20% more deaths than expected when compared to NYC death rates.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pgms/worknotify/O-toluidine.html

In this study, 8 cases of bladder cancer were found among workers “definitely exposed” to o-toluidine and aniline, while only 1.2 were expected.
Among workers who were “possibly exposed” to these chemicals there were 4 bladder cancer cases observed and 1.05 expected.
Among workers who were “probably exposed” to these chemicals there were 2 cases of bladder cancer, and 1.29 expected.

Here is a study that said the carbon nanotubes that are in some tires are as dangerous to inhale as asbestos.

Study Says Carbon Nanotubes as Dangerous as Asbestos

Another substance found in tires is black carbon. Here's a study that says black carbon causes neurodegeneration.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/167/3/280.full

I found a Washington State study that looked at tire rubber used as landscaping, but her findings are relevant to artificial turf as well.

The Myth of Rubberized Landscapes
Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D., Extension Horticulturist and Associate Professor, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University

Current research at Bucknell University indicates that rubber leachate from car tires can kill entire aquatic communities of algae, zooplankton, snails, and fish. At lower concentrations, the leachates cause
reproductive problems and precancerous lesions. A similar study exploring the use of tires as artificial reef substrates also found rubber leachate to negatively affect the survival of various seaweeds and phytoplankton. Marine and other saline environments are less sensitive to tire leachates, however, and the greatest threat of contamination appears to be to freshwater habitats.
.
.
Some of these materials break down quickly, while others are known to bioaccumulate. One of the more common rubber leachates is 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, a common accelerator for rubber vulcanization. In addition to its known human health concerns, it is highly persistent in the environment and very toxic to aquatic organisms: its environmental persistence may cause long-term damage to aquatic environments constantly exposed to rubber leachates. Another family of organic leachates under scrutiny are the polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These compounds, used as rubber softeners and fillers, have been repeatedly demonstrated to be toxic to aquatic life. PAHs are released continually into solution, and after two years in a laboratory test leachates were shown to be even more toxic than at the study’s inception.

It is abundantly clear from the scientific literature that rubber should not be used as a landscape amendment or mulch. There is no question that toxic substances leach from rubber as it degrades, contaminating the soil, landscape plants, and associated aquatic systems. While recycling waste tires is an important issue to address, it is not a solution to simply move the problem to our landscapes and surface waters.

I found all that in just a couple of minutes of searching. I'm sure I could find a lot more.

But the Field Turf people say it's perfectly safe so we shouldn't worry. Right? Right? :rolling_eyes:

 

[Tatanka™]

i'm a fan of natural grass but here is the response from the artificial turf guys...

http://www.syntheticturfcouncil.org...Effects-of-Crumb-Rubber-in-Synthetic-Turf.htm

Yeah, and the tobacco companies hit us with this for years.

From the Wikipedia page on asbestos:

The United States government and asbestos industry have been criticized for not acting quickly enough to inform the public of dangers, and to reduce public exposure. In the late 1970s court documents proved that asbestos industry officials knew of asbestos dangers since the 1930s and had concealed them from the public.

 

[FChairbanks]

I found all that in just a couple of minutes of searching. I'm sure I could find a lot more.

But the Field Turf people say it's perfectly safe so we shouldn't worry. Right? Right? :rolling_eyes:

the thing that confuses me a bit about the response from the STC people is this statement

suggesting a low risk of adverse noncancer health effects

does that mean that the "adverse cancer health effects" are quantified at a different risk level than "low"?

 

[GregInArlington]

You can't blame cancer on a field. There are so many variables to cancer, you can't possibly blame it on some rubber which is made of the same thing you are made of, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. I'm thinking you must have a special interest in this case and are trying to raise support. How are the rubbers and plastics on a field any different than what you come in contact with every day? You breathe in so much more benzene gassing up your car than being on a field. More soccer player crying. Maybe it's the rubber gloves, the rubber shoes, the rubber ball?

Lymphoma affects 1 in 50 people. There are at least 10s of thousands of female soccer players in Washington. So some of them played on field turf a few times.

It is an illogical argument to link cancer to field turf based on a few players getting cancer. It could be from anything, including genetics.

 

[FChairbanks]

You can't blame cancer on a field. There are so many variables to cancer, you can't possibly blame it on some rubber which is made of the same thing you are made of, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. I'm thinking you must have a special interest in this case and are trying to raise support. How are the rubbers and plastics on a field any different than what you come in contact with every day? You breathe in so much more benzene gassing up your car than being on a field. More soccer player crying. Maybe it's the rubber gloves, the rubber shoes, the rubber ball?

Lymphoma affects 1 in 50 people. There are at least 10s of thousands of female soccer players in Washington. So some of them played on field turf a few times.

It is an illogical argument to link cancer to field turf based on a few players getting cancer. It could be from anything, including genetics.

you lost credibility with that statement...sorry dudehead

 

[Tatanka™]

the thing that confuses me a bit about the response from the STC people is this statement



does that mean that the "adverse cancer health effects" are quantified at a different risk level than "low"?

It means that response was carefully crafted by lawyers. Clearly there is already a mountain of research on the dangerous substances in tires. There just hasn't been enough study on in the specific use cases of playgrounds and fields. As if that should matter. They know what will be found. If they reverse course and switch to a safe alternative now it will be seen as an admission of guilt. Let's face it. All most corporations care about is short term profits. If they can deny, delay and obfuscate for a decade or two they will. See: tobacco, asbestos and many others.

 

[Tatanka™]

Never mind the mountain of links I provided including CDC studies at a tire plant that CLEARLY show elevated cancer rates. This guy has decided that tire rubber can't possibly cause cancer because reasons. Case closed!

And no, rubber gloves and soccer balls do not contain the long list of carcinogens and other toxins that are in tire rubber.

 

[patebuff]

I have a little bit of experience here.

Lead and staph infection issues have come up in the past, with synthetic turf. You would have to eat 20 pounds of rubber, per day, for several weeks, to actually be over the appropriate level of lead. The staph infection studies actually showed that natural grass showed a higher risk for staph infections.

The original article even says that it has shown no link to cancer. In the end there isn't enough facts to prove that synthetic turf fields can cause cancer. I'm honestly not sure that you could prove it either way, actually. Do agree that more research is always needed, with anything. Safety is always a priority and more could always be done.

I suggest going to the website below, which outlines all of the safety concerns and data collected for safety issues with synthetic turf. Also, not sure the title of the article is appropriate.

http://www.stma.org/health-safety

 

[L Buff]

CU should make ours out of hemp. Apparently, you can make just about anything out of that plant.

It's one of two of God's ways of saying He loves us.


The other being beer.

 

[patebuff]

It's one of two of God's ways of saying He loves us.


The other being beer.

Fields made of beer..... I think you are on to something!

 

[Buffskier]

We've got nothing to worry about because everyone is going to get ebola way before we get cancer from little black rubber pellets.... duh...

 

[FChairbanks]

We've got nothing to worry about because everyone is going to get ebola way before we get cancer from little black rubber pellets.... duh...

So I can stop worrying?

 

[DBT]

You can't blame cancer on a field. There are so many variables to cancer, you can't possibly blame it on some rubber which is made of the same thing you are made of, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. I'm thinking you must have a special interest in this case and are trying to raise support. How are the rubbers and plastics on a field any different than what you come in contact with every day? You breathe in so much more benzene gassing up your car than being on a field. More soccer player crying. Maybe it's the rubber gloves, the rubber shoes, the rubber ball?

Lymphoma affects 1 in 50 people. There are at least 10s of thousands of female soccer players in Washington. So some of them played on field turf a few times.

It is an illogical argument to link cancer to field turf based on a few players getting cancer. It could be from anything, including genetics.

He said "rubbers on the field!" :rofl2:

 

[buffs04]

You can't blame cancer on a field. There are so many variables to cancer, you can't possibly blame it on some rubber which is made of the same thing you are made of, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. I'm thinking you must have a special interest in this case and are trying to raise support. How are the rubbers and plastics on a field any different than what you come in contact with every day? You breathe in so much more benzene gassing up your car than being on a field. More soccer player crying. Maybe it's the rubber gloves, the rubber shoes, the rubber ball?

Lymphoma affects 1 in 50 people. There are at least 10s of thousands of female soccer players in Washington. So some of them played on field turf a few times.

It is an illogical argument to link cancer to field turf based on a few players getting cancer. It could be from anything, including genetics.

:lol:

 

[JDSnel31]

Welp.. that sucks because I worked at the Boulder Discount Tire during college.

 

[goalline]

Welp.. that sucks because I worked at the Boulder Discount Tire during college.

It's okay if you didn't inhale.