It's my understanding that the enviro-wacko's have pushed artificial turf in general (saves water) and crumb rubber in particular (recycles tires) for years ... and have found them safe in numerous studies ... and now this!
Posted on 02/15/2016 4:59:19 AM PST by Zakeet
Following increasing concerns about the safety of recycled tire material used on synthetic turf fields, the Obama administration announced Friday a federal study to look into potential health risks.
The material in question -- ground-up waste tires -- has been a source of debate across the country since late 2014, when parents and health and environment advocates began demanding studies about whether repeated contact with the material could cause cancer.
That's the year a University of Washington soccer coach came forward with a list of a few dozen young athletes with cancer who regularly played on turf fields -- surfaces where tire pieces have been spread thickly to provide cushion and traction. The pieces often end up in the mouths, ears and clothing of athletes.
The list of cancer-stricken players now includes more than 200 athletes across the country who play a variety of sports on turf fields, including football and field hockey. Half of the ill athletes on the list are soccer goalies under age 35 whose position requires them to do a lot of diving into the turf fields.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
It's my understanding that the enviro-wacko's have pushed artificial turf in general (saves water) and crumb rubber in particular (recycles tires) for years ... and have found them safe in numerous studies ... and now this!
This definitely is an essential function of the Federal govt.
/s
States exist in name only.
Follow the money.
I’ve heard of the odd number of kids getting cancer that play a lot on these fields. This is an article from 2007
http://today.uchc.edu/headlines/2007/nov07/toxins.html
Put powdered tires which contain all kinds of heavy metals and chemicals in the turf that kids play on, what could go wrong?
Whether this will be an honest study, as opposed to a cause-driven, stir-up-a-controversy study, remains to be seen. I assume that there are some toxic or carcinogenic chemicals in synthetic turf -- as there are in dirt on natural grass fields, for that matter. But the dose is the poison. Exposure levels are invisibly low. The dose is the poison. People need to remember that salt, pepper, and distilled water, in sufficient dosages, cause cancer in lab rats.
I agree that the lethality is “in the dose.” I am interested in this issue, though. When I first walked onto one of these new generation of fields containing lots of ground up tires, I instantly thought of classic studies on chimney-sweeps and testicular cancer. I have been mildly curious ever since.
The older “Astro-Turf” fields are not related at all to these. The best ones were like indoor-outdoor carpet. The first ones were like playing on painted asphalt! These new ones are neat to play on.
We’ll see.
Oldplayer
I thought is was odd when I started seeing playgrounds constructed with a layer of ground-up tires under swing sets, etc. Kids would be effectively playing on a pile of tire waste. In the past, cedar mulch was used, which is both cushioning and at least a natural product.
Wasn’t the purpose of this stuff to as you say be “green” but also reduce ground contact injuries and joint injuries from running on hard ground?
Most schools have installed this stuff too becuase it requires little maintenance.
IF it is an issue, I’d look first at dosages of inhaled tire dust.
And, if that’s the avenue of entry (rather than, say, skin contact through turf burn), it might show up in the type of cancers most prevalent.
If you witness people tackling or running on these turf fields, you can see the granules flying up in the air all over the place. They don’t float like dust but if your face is down low, you can be breathing and eating these granules every day in small amounts.
And before that, gravel...ouch!
Another great way to WASTE Tax payers money......
For a baseline control group, they could use tire factory workers who get exposed to the chemicals every day.
“That’s the year a University of Washington soccer coach came forward with a list of a few dozen young athletes with cancer who regularly played on turf fields”
Everyone who eats carrots, has kids, has ever owned more
than one dog at a time, is or was ever married to a liberal,
drank warm water or picked their nose in a crowded elevator
either is dead or eventually will be.
Then imagine the horror of how many people are *DRIVING* on top of this deadly concotion ! !
“And before that, gravel...ouch!”
Whats the liberal alternative?
Hint: No matter what it is,
it will always be higher cost and less freedom, guaranteed.
That’s true. And have the soccer moms ever stopped to consider the risk of their kids eating their sneakers?
Ours was covered in broken glass. But it was the seventies. What did we know? Or care?
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