The Santa Clara County Medical Association was asked by a group of Saratoga High students to issue a ruling on the safety of artificial turf playing fields, and these are excerpts of what they said (read the entire letter here):
Artificial turf contains hazardous chemicals and heavy metals…Children are more vulnerable to all toxic exposures due to their immature biological systems. On an artificial sport field children and athletes are routinely in contact with the surface, especially with soccer and football; therefore, they more readily inhale, ingest, and come in dermal contact with dust and chemicals emitted from the fields. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that these synthetic turf fields can pose an increased health risk to children. Precaution is thus imperative.
In addition, sports fields will last 8 to 20 years before disposal. Plastic waste is an ongoing challenge at the end of their lifetime. Typical sports fields are about 80,000 square feet and contain about 40,000 pounds of “grass” turf along with 240,000 ± 720,000 pounds of infill according to the Synthetic Turf Council. This complex mixture of compounds is not recyclable and is usually sent to the landfill with continued leaching of chemicals.
As awareness of all of these factors increase, more cities, such as Boston, are banning artificial turf in parks and on sports fields. In addition, governments in the US and abroad are restricting the use of artificial fields with crumb rubber or certain hazardous plasticizers (EU and California) due to environmental bio-accumulation of toxic chemicals.
PFAS are found in all samples of artificial turf. They are used in processing to enhance smoothness and reduce friction. PFAS in plastics are especially problematic because they are a category of chemicals that contain multiple fluorine atoms bonded to a chain of carbon atoms which makes them resistant to breakdown. They are typically used for water resistance, stain resistance and non-stick cookware. This group of chemicals bioaccumulates in the food chain and has contaminated water supplies throughout the nation. Human health risks include endocrine disruption, adverse effects on the liver and thyroid, as well as metabolic effects, developmental effects, neurotoxicity, and immunotoxicity. The Mindaroo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health Report 2023 concludes: “It is now clear that current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible for significant harms to human health, the environment, and the economy as well as for deep societal injustices... Read the whole letter here .