Artificial turf infill associated with systematic toxicity in an amniote vertebrate (original) (raw)
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Artificial Turf Football Fields: Environmental and Mutagenicity Assessment
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 2012
The public has recently raised concerns regarding potential human health and environmental risks associated with tire crumb constituents in the artificial turf of football fields. The aim of the present study was to develop an environmental analysis drawing a comparison between artificial turf football fields and urban areas relative to concentrations of particles (PM10 and PM2.5) and related polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aromatic hydrocarbons (BTXs), and mutagenicity of organic extracts from PM10 and PM2.5. No significant differences were found between PM10 concentrations at an urban site and on a turf football field, both during warm and in cold seasons, either with or without on-field activity. PM2.5 concentrations were significantly greater at the urban site in the cold season as was the ratio of PM2.5 to PM10. BTXs were significantly greater at urban sites than on turf football fields on both on warm and cold days. The ratio of toluene to benzene (T/B ratio) was always comparable with that of normal urban conditions. The concentration of PAHs on the monitored football fields was comparable with urban levels during the two different sampling periods, and the contribution of PAHs released from the granular material was negligible. PM10 organic extract mutagenicity for artificial turf football fields was greater, whereas PM2.5 organic extract mutagenicity was lower, compared with the urban site studied. However, both organic extract mutagenicity values were comparable with the organic extract mutagenicity reported in the literature for urban sites. On the basis of environmental monitoring, artificial turf football fields present no more exposure risks than the rest of the city.
Environmental risk analysis procedure applied to artificial turf sports fields
2013
Owing to the extensive use of artificial turfs worldwide, over the past 10 years there has been much discussion about the possible health and environmental problems originating from styrene-butadiene recycled rubber. In this paper, the authors performed a Tier 2 environmental-sanitary risk analysis on five artificial turf sports fields located in the city of Turin (Italy) with the aid of RISC4 software. Two receptors (adult player and child player) and three routes of exposure (direct contact with crumb rubber, contact with rainwater soaking the rubber mat, inhalation of dusts and gases from the artificial turf fields) were considered in the conceptual model. For all the fields and for all the routes, the cumulative carcinogenic risk proved to be lower than 10 −6 and the cumulative noncarcinogenic risk lower than 1. The outdoor inhalation of dusts and gases was the main route of exposure for both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic substances. The results given by the inhalation pathway were compared with those of a risk assessment carried out on citizens breathing gases and dusts from traffic emissions every day in Turin. For both classes of substances and for both receptors, the inhalation of atmospheric dusts and gases from vehicular traffic gave risk values of one order of magnitude higher than those due to playing soccer on an artificial field. 35 Keywords Environmental-sanitary risk analysis. Artificial 36 turfs. Inhalation. Dermal contact. Rainwater leaching manufactured from synthetic materials designed to look like 40 natural grass, has become increasingly popular because fake 41 grass is more resistant to heavy use, such as sports, than 42 natural grass and requires no irrigation or trimming. An 43 artificial turf is made of a mat of fibers filled with small 44 rubber granules or a mixture of rubber granules and sand, to 45 a depth of about 4 cm. The granules currently used in mat 46 layers are made of rubber from exhaust tires (styrene-47 butadiene recycled rubber (SBRr)). Due to the manufac-48 turing process of tires, several compounds, like vulcanizing 49 agents, accelerators, activators, anti-ozonants, antioxidants, 50 retarders, plasticizers and extenders are present in crumb 51 rubber, as well as various chemicals such as benzene, phtha-52 lates, and alkylphenols that may become bonded to tires 53 during use (Denly et al. 2008). Owing to the extensive use 54 of artificial turfs in Europe and North America, over the past 55 10 years there has been much discussion about the possible 56 health and environmental problems originating from SBRr. 57 In Europe, the debate arose on the back of a Norwegian 58 study (Plesser and Lund 2004) that analyzed the total con-59
Literature Review on environmental and health impacts of synthetic turf
2021
The conversion of a grass oval to synthetic turf at Hosken Reserve, Coburg North, is about a failure in transparency and consultation with the local community, and poorly framed triple bottom line decision making by Moreland Council. There are questions about the integrity of the triple bottom line decision making embracing the social, environmental and economic impacts, costs and benefits, that was used in the process in the past decade for this site. And there are questions how triple bottom line decision making and weighting of factors will be applied for the current process. This literature review provides numerous reasons why conversion of a natural grass oval and open space to a fenced synthetic soccer pitch should not take place. It finds that there are two primary reasons against synthetic turf at Hosken Reserve, and that either reason is significant in itself for the primary project not to go ahead. These two essential reasons are - synthetic turf carbon footprint (up to 1500 CO2e tonnes) in total life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, and synthetic turf increasing waste to landfill contributing to toxic leachates pollution and microplastics pollution. On both these grounds conversion of a shared use natural grass oval to synthetic turf would appear to conflict with existing Council policy and frameworks related to climate change and the climate emergency, and Council’s zero waste to landfill by 2030 target. On the triple bottom line factors we found the social factors weighed up with some positive and some negative, the environmental factors were mostly against, and the economics didn’t stack up, even after factoring in 2 to 1 equivalence usage factor for synthetic turf. This review investigated peer reviewed science, grey literature and relevant policy documents to ascertain the following issues with synthetic turf:: 1. Derived from fossil fuel petrochemical industry 2. Produces greenhouse gas emissions during manufacturing and as it degrades 3. Increases landfill at end of life 4. Produces microplastics pollution 5. Increases urban heat island effect on local residents. 6. Replaces natural grass which allows soil organic carbon sequestration, provides oxygen 7. Reduces soil biota, grass seeds and insects with a trophic impact on local biodiversity primarily birdlife. 8. Compacts the soil increasing stormwater runoff 9. Toxic Chemical leachates from rubber infill pollute waterways 10. Results in increased lower extremity injuries in elite players 11. Long term human health impacts uncertain, but vertebrate model confirms toxicity to human health of rubber infill leachates 12. Enhances infection transmission risk. Encourages a microbial community structure primarily defined by anthropic contamination. 13. Appears to improve water conservation, but the situation is far more complex when life-cycle assessment and irrigation to reduce heat for playability is taken into account 14. Other issues: increased fire risk, increase in traffic, parking on quiet residential streets 15. Alternative Solutions 16. Economic Costs 17. Discussion 18. Conclusions
Scientific Reports
Rubber waste, in the form of granules of styrene butadiene rubber and ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer with a particle size of 0.5 to 4 mm, is broadly used for the construction of synthetic surfaces of sport fields. This method of recycling may be significantly limited due to the restrictions on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content in rubber granules in the European Union since 2022. This also applies to the recommendations of the European Chemicals Agency in relation to the identification of other hazardous chemicals in this waste, including metal elements. The scope of the research included the identification of organotin compounds, PAHs content and 18 elements leached from recycled rubber granules in terms of substances harmful to human health and to natural environment. The research covered 84 samples of rubber granules collected from the surface of football pitches or supplied by recyclers in Poland. The test results showed an over-standard content of PAHs in rubber ...
Environmental–sanitary risk analysis procedure applied to artificial turf sports fields
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2013
Owing to the extensive use of artificial turfs worldwide, over the past 10 years there has been much discussion about the possible health and environmental problems originating from styrene-butadiene recycled rubber. In this paper, the authors performed a Tier 2 environmental-sanitary risk analysis on five artificial turf sports fields located in the city of Turin (Italy) with the aid of RISC4 software. Two receptors (adult player and child player) and three routes of exposure (direct contact with crumb rubber, contact with rainwater soaking the rubber mat, inhalation of dusts and gases from the artificial turf fields) were considered in the conceptual model. For all the fields and for all the routes, the cumulative carcinogenic risk proved to be lower than 10 −6 and the cumulative noncarcinogenic risk lower than 1. The outdoor inhalation of dusts and gases was the main route of exposure for both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic substances. The results given by the inhalation pathway were compared with those of a risk assessment carried out on citizens breathing gases and dusts from traffic emissions every day in Turin. For both classes of substances and for both receptors, the inhalation of atmospheric dusts and gases from vehicular traffic gave risk values of one order of magnitude higher than those due to playing soccer on an artificial field.
Mutagenic Potential of Artificial Athletic Field Crumb Rubber at Increased Temperatures
The Ohio Journal of Science, 2015
Rubber tires contain several compounds that are known or suspected carcinogens. Many carcinogens are mutagens, and fluctuation assays based on the Ames test can be used as an initial screen for mutagenic potential. Granulated crumb rubber from recycled tires is commonly used in the creation of artificial athletic fields, and the surface temperature of these fields can reach levels far above the ambient temperature. In this study, crumb rubber samples taken directly from four separate artificial athletic field surfaces were used to make leachates using water at different temperatures. For each of these fields, leachates obtained in water at 70 ºC showed significant mutagenic potential (p ≤ .001) in Salmonella typhimurium fluctuation assays. Leachates obtained in water at 40 ºC showed no mutagenic potential for any of the fields tested. For one field, crumb rubber heated in water at temperatures as low as 50 ºC resulted in significant mutagenic potential (p ≤ 0.001). Water used...
Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment, 2012
Hazardous chemicals can be released from artificial turf used in some school playgrounds. To distinguish between Health risk assessment (HRA) exposure scenarios for this study, the ratio of elementary, middle and high schools was considered before final selection. Considering exposure pathways (inhalational, oral and dermal), media and materials were examined, targeting hazardous chemicals released from artificial turf playground-related products. Upon evaluation, the quantity of infill chips was shown to exceed the domestic product content standard (90 mg/kg) at eight (16%) out of 50 schools. PAHs were shown to exceed standards (10 mg/kg) at two (4%) out of the 50 schools. The excess cancer risk (ECR) of carcinogens was shown to be 1×10-6 in most users for the worst exposure scenario. In children with pica, who represented the most extreme exposure group, the ECR was expected to be as high as 1×10-4 , showing the low risk level of carcinogens. The hazard index (HI) for individual chemicals was shown to be low, at around 0.1 or less, except for children with pica, according to the mean exposure scenario of artificial turf playground exposure. However, the HI was shown to exceed 1.0 in children with pica. Therefore, no direct health risk was found in using artificial turf playgrounds and urethane flooring tracks for the mean exposure scenario, except in children with pica.
Impact of Alternative Synthetic Turf Infills on Athlete Performance and Safety
Proceedings
The objective of this study is to determine the impact of three alternative infills of various particle size on athlete performance and safety in a third generation (3G) synthetic fields. A complete randomized design composed of three different infill materials (thermoplastic elastomer, coconut and cork mixture, and recycled Nike shoes (Nano)) with all infills having the same infill depth, fiber length, fiber density, and shock pad. The study took place at the Center for Athletic Field Safety (CAFS) during the summer of 2017 in Knoxville, TN. Each plot received 120 traffic events with the CAFS traffic simulator. This study found that alternative infills do impact the safety and performance of the field, while showing a variation of performance properties among the alternative infills. The results of this study indicate that particle size and distribution of the infill plays a key role in the superior field performance in 3G turf.
Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2019
Background: Artificial turf surfaces are developed to duplicate playing characteristics of natural grass. With the newer generations of sand and rubber infill systems, the infill is a common component that varies between fields and is a critical factor that could influence the player-surface interaction. Because the influence of infill weight on sport trauma is unknown, this study quantified football trauma in high schools in the United States across artificial turf systems of various infill weights. Hypothesis: Athletes would not experience differences in game-related injuries across artificial turf systems of various infill weights.