Noah Chopra-Khan

Critical Thinking Paper: Artificial Turf

Playgrounds and fields all over the country use synthetic rubber turf. Synthetic turf consists of millions of rubber pellets made from crushed tires. Compared to real grass, turf has a lower maintenance cost, an increased playability, and a lack of pesticides and paint that are harmful to the environment. Despite these benefits, turf should not be used because it poses a risk to the millions of children and athletes that play on it. Dangers include a heat hazard, an increased bodily risk, and a link to causing cancer ("Artificial Turf: Exposures to Ground"). Montgomery County Public Schools System Wide Safety Programs must ban crumb rubber from fields and playgrounds because when playing on turf, athletes and children could suffer more injuries and illnesses such as heat exhaustion, turf burn, exasperated asthma, and cancer. Fields incorporating crumb rubber absorb far more heat than normal fields, resulting in a high surface and air temperature. An experiment was conducted [in] June 2002 at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah where the temperature of turf, asphalt and natural fields were measured every day during the summer. The department of Health found that the average surface temperature on a synthetic turf field was reported to be 117F while the average surface temperatures on natural turf and asphalt were 78F and 110F, respectively ("Fact Sheet: Crumb-Rubber Infilled"). There are days when the turf reaches much higher temperatures. A maximum surface temperature of 200F on the BYU synthetic turf field was reported. This heat at surface level begins to melt cleats and [a] mixture of particles and volatile chemicals can be released. Rubber is a complex mixture of chemicals, some of which readily vaporize to form a gas (volatile organic chemicals or VOCs), while others remain in the solid-phase (e.g., metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs) ("Health Questions about Artificial"). The short-term consequences are a pungent rubber burning smell and increased breathing issues for people with asthma. Although, the EPA cannot declare the turf unsafe without the consideration of additional data, veteran soccer coach Amy Griffin believes that long-term contact with turf can result in non-Hodgkins Lymphoma ("The Use of Recycled Tire Materials on Playgrounds & Artificial Turf Fields."; Rappleye).While surface temperatures often only make the field uncomfortable, it is the head level temperatures that can result in dangerous heat stress. On a sunny day during the summer, when most kids and athletes are outside playing on the fields, turfgrass specialist at the University of Missouri reported measuring an air temperature of 138F at head-level height on the university's synthetic turf field on a sunny 98F day ("Fact Sheet: Crumb-Rubber Infilled"). This 40-degree increase has a huge effect on an athletes performance and well being. This temperature quickly exhausts kids and athletes, and result in outcomes as severe as heat strokes.Another dangerous aspect of turf are turf burns. Turf burns, similar to rug burns, occur when an athlete or child slides on the turf at a high velocity. The friction often rips skin and creates nasty wounds. Turf burns occur often in soccer and football where athletes slide across the ground at high speeds. Natural ground is much more comforting than turf because the abrasiveness of synthetic turf fiberscontribute to the injury risk among athletes, particularly for abrasions or turf burns ("Fact Sheet: Crumb-Rubber Infilled"). Turfs level of abrasiveness is dependent on the composition and shape of the turf fibers. According to a study conducted at Penn State University, synthetic turf with nylon fibers is more abrasive than synthetic turf with other types of fibers. One of the biggest companies selling turf is synlawn, and they market that incorporating nylon into their turf fields makes them 40% more resilient and 30% stronger ("SYNLawn Nylon Advantage"). Synlawn describes how, like turf, the best carpets use nylon because of its ability to spring back to original condition after furniture is moved. The similarity they do not explain is how both carpets and turf often give painful burns upon impact. This is not important with carpets, however, with turf, where high speed running and sliding is common, it is a major issue.In addition to the heat and the burns, crumb rubber is composed of highly dangerous chemicals and carcinogens. Six percent of the population have allergic reactions to the latex that appears in natural rubber ("Fact Sheet: Crumb-Rubber Infilled"). People who play on turf are constantly in direct contact with the crumb rubber and can accidently inhale, or otherwise ingest it. The EPA lists 30 chemicals that are found on tires. These chemicals and substances include mercury, lead, benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and arsenic, among several other chemicals, heavy metals, and carcinogens, have been found in tires (Rappleye). The chemicals in these pellets can cause skin and eye irritation, the destruction of membranes, and organs ("Artificial Turf: Exposures to Ground"). Soccer coach Amy Griffin noticed that very recently many of her goalkeepers have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (Rappleye). It was after the installment of the turf fields. While coaching for the past three decades, she had never seen anything so jarring. Currently, Amy is pushing for more research to be conducted on the threat posed by the turf. She keeps a list of all of the soccer players she knows who have been diagnosed with cancer. So far that list exceeds 50 names. The majority of the players diagnosed are goalkeepers, meaning they have more contact with the turf. CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini conducted a limited testing on turf. When tested, the crumb rubber was shown to have traces of potentially dangerous chemicals. However, Dr. Robert Cohen, from Northwestern Medicine, says that the problem is there has been a lack of significant, long-term testing to find out whether there is a health danger (Savini). This turf was implemented because [inadequate] testing of products like this is a continual problem in the U.S. In a report by Dave Savani, Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger, says [unfortunately] a lot in our product safety system is backwardIn Europeyou have to prove something is safe before you can use it. Often in the U.S., instead, you get to use it until its proven unsafe.Much of the evidence states that the synthetic turf is dangerous. Despite its increased playability, [prominent] athletes from the NFL, as well as American women's soccer star Abby Wambach, have called out the use of synthetic turfs as a financially motivated move that does athletes a disservice (Crowl). Synthetic turf fields have an expensive initial cost, however, they do not require much maintenance. They do not need water, or new paint jobs, and they do not use chemicals that are hazardous to the environment ("SYNLawn Nylon Advantage"). Turf is financially motivated and justified by its benefit to the environment. Corporations and governments, however, have not properly considered the risk posed to students, children, and athletes. Montgomery Country Public Schools currently explicitly lists 11 items that are banned on playgrounds. Some of these include, swings, log rolls, and trampolines ("Playgrounds"). Amongst this list should be cancer causing crumb rubber that is currently installed in fields and playgrounds all over the country.There are several viable solutions to the problem children and athletes face with crumb rubber. In one case a school spent thousands of dollars replacing turf with a different synthetic substance made form old athletic shoes. The school is hopeful that its new Nike Grind turf will provide all of the benefits of crumb rubber without the carcinogenic hazards (Crowl). A recall of the crumb rubber and the installment of a different material would be ideal for the environmental and safety concerns; natural grass would also work. It would be expensive. Maintaining turf requires a lowly price of $7,000 a year compared to the $40,000 it can cost to grow grass (Rasicot). Regardless of the replacements and the price, it is most important that the crumb rubber is immediately recalled and banned in Montgomery public school playgrounds and fields.In conclusion, artificial turf currently used in playgrounds and football fields in schools all over Maryland pose a safety threat to children and athletes. If the turf is not recalled, children and athletes will suffer more turf burns and heat stress. A much more imminent threat that athletes face is cancer and other diseases. Corporations like Synlawn do not address safety concerns about exposure and obscured the lack of data and research when marketing chunks of old tires for children to play on. The result of the lack of legislation is that dangerous crumb rubber is being used in fields and playgrounds, constantly endangering children and athletes. The Montgomery County Public Schools System Wide Safety Programs must protect their children and athletes by taking action and banning the use of artificial turf in school fields and playgrounds.

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