44 | July 2022
cial turf may look relatively innocuous, the use of tire crumb
rubber has raised public health concerns. Research from
the National Toxicology Program (NTP) found that crumb
rubber contains substances with known human health
harms, like phthalates and bisphenol-A (BPA). Crumb rub-
ber also contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),
which are a class of chemicals that can bind to or form
small particles in the air, making them easily inhaled. Re-
search has linked PAH exposure to breast cancer, child-
hood cancers, lung cancer, exacerbated asthma, and in-
creased rates of lung and cardiovascular diseases. When
children and young people play on synthetic turf, it's often in
a rough-and-tumble way that can increase their likelihood of
being exposed to the chemicals in infill, either through skin
contact or inhalation.
The Synthetic Turf Council, an organization that rep-
resents manufacturers of artificial turf, insists that the ma-
terials used in synthetic grass products are safe, and the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says there
is no elevated health risk from playing on artificial turf. But
new research casts further doubt on these claims.
European scientists analyzed 91 samples of football field
infill from 17 countries on four continents, seeking to assess
the levels of 42 chemicals linked with human health harms.
S
omewhere in your town, there is a wide ex-
panse of nubby plastic grass that no one must
water or mow.
Maybe it's where your children play. Maybe it's the soc-
cer field of a middle school, the football green of a univer-
sity, the rolling carpet of a golf course, or the soft-landing
place of a playground. In some parts of the country, partic-
ularly areas frequently stricken with drought, artificial grass
might even be blanketing your or a neighbor's front lawn.
A few miles from my hometown, the first artificial grass
was invented in the early 1960s by David Chaney and a
team of researchers in Research Triangle Park, North Caro-
lina, (soon afterward, it was patented by two Monsanto em-
ployees and originally sold under the name "Chemgrass").
Dubbed "Astroturf" after its use in the Houston Astrodome
during Major League Baseball season in 1966, the use of
synthetic grass eventually became widespread in sports
stadiums, landscaping, and more. In arid regions, artifi-
cial grass has often been marketed as an environmentally
friendly way to conserve water and to minimize the use of
fertilizers, pesticides, and weed killers.
Today's synthetic turf "infill" is often made from recycled
tire crumb rubber, which helps to provide cushioning, trac-
tion, and drainage to the grass-like surface. Although artifi-
Artificial Grass Isn't Always Greener:
Toxic Chemicals in Synthetic Turf
By Elizabeth Bechard
