Synthetic Turf Crumb Rubber Infill

In another post we highlighted the fact that the EPA recently changed their opinion regarding the lingering safety questions surrounding synthetic turf playing surfaces using crumb rubber infill material.

Turfgrass Producers International released an article in 2011 that presented the growing concerns of health care professionals regarding the consequences of carbon black nanoparticles present in the crumb rubber infill most commonly used on synthetic turf fields. The health threat of inhaling carbon nanotubes is compared to that of asbestos and it's ability to cause mesothelioma (cancer of the membrane lining the body's internal organs).

Article: "Is Artificial Turf Hiding an 800 pound gorilla?"

The article goes into depth on how nanoparticles can get to brain tissue and raises many questions regarding the safety of synthetic turf playing surfaces with crumb rubber infill. The case is made for a significant increase in the level of testing of long term health affects of carbon black nanoparticles, calling it the "800 pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about".