Headlines
As reported by The Hartford Courant, January 5, 2009.
Artificial Turf Studied for Health, Environmental Risks
By David Funkhouser
State health and environmental experts will begin a study of artificial turf to determine whether the ground-up rubber from recycled tires and other materials used in synthetic athletic fields poses any threat.
While more and more communities have installed the synthetic fields to cut the cost of maintaining natural fields, tests over the past couple of years have found high levels of zinc, lead and other chemical compounds at locations around the country. In some cases, fields have been closed down.
"We are very pleased that they are going to fund it, because there are enormous questions about the safety of the fields," said Nancy Alderman, president of Environment and Human Health Inc., an environmental advocacy group.
The North Haven-based group has been warning people about the health hazards of artificial turf and garden mulch made of "crumb rubber" from old tires.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said Friday that it has worked out the details of how the study will be conducted with the state Department of Public Health, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and the University of Connecticut Health Center.
The study will be funded with $245,000 available to DEP from the settlement of cases involving violations of environmental regulations.
In 2007, researchers at the agricultural experiment station looked at the contents of crumb rubber in artificial turf and concluded that several potentially dangerous chemical compounds could escape into the air or leach into water under certain conditions. Levels of zinc found leaching into water were especially high.
The researchers recommended more studies be conducted.
This year, the state agencies and UConn will conduct more tests on the makeup of crumb rubber, measure gases released by the material and compounds leaching into storm-water runoff, and produce a health risk assessment by January 31, 2010.
"This report … will provide valuable guidance to municipalities, school systems, educational institutions and others who operate or are considering installing artificial playing fields that make use of crumb rubber," DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy said.