Penalty flag

Scrap tire collectors and processors serve several end markets; but, throughout much of the past two decades, one of the fastest growing markets involved using crumb rubber as a “shock absorber” on artificial turf playing fields.

The use of the material has seemed like a win-win situation for crumb rubber producers (who have been eager to supply the growing market) and installers of synthetic turf fields, who have access to an affordable and effective additive that makes their surfaces safer for those falling or being tackled onto the field.

Another set of stakeholders in the market sector, however—some of the athletes playing on the fields and their parents—have made serious accusations about a potential public health threat looming in the crumb rubber made from scrap tires used on soccer, football, baseball and lacrosse fields.

Publicized widely starting in late 2014, the accusations involve the use of crumb rubber in these playing fields and a connection with forms of cancer occurring in young athletes for which these victims and their parents are searching for a cause.

LOOKING FOR A LINK

For many tire recyclers and synthetic field turf suppliers, the realization that they had research and corporate communications tasks ahead of them moved to the forefront with an NBC News segment that originally aired in October 2014.

The NBC News segment and the follow-up media reports that occurred subsequently led to the topic being on the agenda at Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) 2015 Convention & Exposition (ISRI2015), held in April in Vancouver. There, ISRI Scrap Tire Chapter members received an update on the claims being made linking crumb rubber as an additive to sports playing field surfaces and cancer.

According to speakers at that ISRI session, the NBC News segment provided a forum for a theory formulated by University of Washington women’s soccer coach Amy Griffin, who alleges the crumb rubber being used on playing fields is causing lymphoma, a type of blood cell cancer.

The NBC News report (still available at the NBC News website at www.nbcnews.com/storyline/artificial-turf-debate/how-safe-artificial-turf-your-child-plays-n220166) includes the phrases, “No research has linked cancer to artificial turf,” and “NBC’s own extensive investigation, which included a review of the relevant studies and interviews with scientists and industry professionals, was unable to find any agreement over whether crumb turf had ill effects on young athletes.” However, the gist of the report was to cast a wary eye on crumb rubber as a possible link to lymphoma cases being experienced by athletes.

The topic of the report has been repeated subsequently in numerous articles by NBC and other media outlets, sometimes without the disclaimer that no available research links crumb rubber to cancer—or that numerous studies have been conducted to receive approval for the use of crumb rubber in playing fields and at playgrounds.

Rick Doyle of the Synthetic Turf Council (STC), Atlanta, told ISRI2015 session attendees that the unsubstantiated allegations about crumb rubber are not new and that similar reports from 2008 had subsequently “been debunked.”

However, the new allegations in 2014 and 2015 prompted the STC to call upon Terry Leveille of TL & Associates, Fair Oaks, California, to fend off the charges in the court of public opinion and in legislative chambers when necessary.

Leveille told ISRI2015 attendees that in reaction to Griffin’s allegations, four states introduced bills to regulate the use of crumb rubber as a turf additive. Leveille and the STC quickly were able to offer testimony that defused the situation in Virginia, and in Minnesota a promise to fund a new $50,000 study has staved off a proposed moratorium on the use of crumb rubber as a turf additive. The New York legislature had begun considering a moratorium bill that as of early 2016 remains in committee and asks for the state “to conduct a comprehensive public health study” on the use of crumb rubber on playing fields.

The fourth state, and the one where the STC said it is facing a critical struggle, is California. In 2015, Leveille noted that some California legislators were requesting a multimillion-dollar study to prove crumb rubber’s safety.

In January 2016, the California Senate failed to pass the first version of the bill, so the study was not funded and no statewide moratorium was declared on the use of the material. The Los Angeles Unified School District, however, has declared it will no longer apply crumb rubber to playing fields it manages.

Regarding a comprehensive study, Leveille says the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) already conducted one in 2000, and additional studies have repeated its finding.

“All the results” of such studies, Leveille said, point to “undetectable or insignificant” levels of lead or other potentially harmful substances “below parts per million minimums” established by the EPA and other agencies. In the meantime, the STC is attempting to stave off a proposed moratorium on the use of crumb rubber on playing surfaces in the Golden State.

Speaking for the STC, Leveille told the assembled tire recyclers, “Our position remains that crumb rubber is the infill of choice of 98 percent of installations. The [unsubstantiated allegations] are a threat to the whole [synthetic turf] industry.”

In the ensuing 12 months, however, the debate in many minds has not ended.

TAKING IT TO THE HILL

In addition to state-by-state efforts to impede the use of crumb rubber on playing fields, opponents of the practice have contacted members of Congress, the U.S. EPA and other federal agencies and bureaus.

The culmination of those efforts has been a pledge to conduct an updated and comprehensive study on the potential health side effects of crumb rubber on playing fields as a cooperative effort between three federal agencies.

Feb. 12, 2016, the U.S. EPA, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced “a coordinated effort among the leading federal health and safety agencies to research the safety of recycled tire crumb.”

A core focus of the study, according to a statement from Elliott Kaye, chairman of the CPSC, will involve “working to identify what is in recycled tire crumb” and to “identify ways in which people may be exposed to it and determine if it is harmful.”

Not knowing precisely what is in crumb rubber and at what percentages has been a source of concern raised by critics of the material. Tire manufacturers use proprietary formulas as a competitive advantage to make and sell tires considered to be safer, more durable or otherwise superior to the products made by competitors.

The widespread number of tire “recipes” using different chemicals and metals has been the focus of crumb rubber critics, who say traces of heavy metals can enter the crumb rubber stream because of the wide variety of feedstock. “The metals that are released from the various samples are very different, reflecting the lack of standardization in the shredded waste tires,” says Environmental and Human Health Inc. (EHHI), North Haven, Connecticut.

“The wide variability of shredded waste tire mulch and crumb rubber infill throws all of those ‘safety’ studies in doubt because no two samples are necessarily the same,” EHHI continues.

The group says in recent samples it submitted to Yale University, “The cadmium levels in this analysis go from 0.16 to 1.39 micrograms per kilogram, or mg/kg; the lead levels go from 2.6 to 33.1 mg/kg and the zinc levels go from 8.8 to 22.2 grams per kilogram. These are large variables due to the different samples of what is supposedly the same products—showing no standardization at all.”

The trade secrecy aspects are similar to those that have vexed computer and consumer electronics makers. Critics of some electronics recycling practices say worker health and safety are affected when those handling end-of-life products don’t know how much mercury, lead, heavy metals or brominated flame retardants are in these devices.

In both sectors, opacity has led to accusations and criticism that for end-of-life products to be handled properly, more complete disclosure of the “ingredients” in a tire or a computer will be necessary.

The three federal agencies have thus made finding answers to that question on the scrap tire front a priority. “The multiagency action plan calls for scientists to test different types of crumb rubber to determine what chemical compounds they contain and whether they are released when a person comes into contact with them,” reports NBC News.

“The reality is that all of the scientific studies to date (more than 90 scientific studies from leading universities, toxicologists and government agencies) have found no significant health risk associated with artificial (synthetic) turf with recycled rubber infill.” – Bob Ensinger, ISRI

“Once we better understand what chemicals are in tire crumb, we will also be able to search existing databases of information to understand the potential health effects of those chemicals,” the agencies say in a joint statement.

ISRI and the STC both have issued responses to the federal agencies’ announcement, and both groups have largely expressed a conviction that the material will be found safe to use.

AN OPEN BOOK

In a Feb. 12, 2016, statement issued in response to the announcement by the three federal agencies, the STC says it welcomes the additional research.

“This announcement culminated several significant events this week relating to advocacy efforts to counter the persistent unfounded claims surrounding crumb rubber,” the STC says in the statement. “All of these developments are positive for our industry as we continue to educate the public regarding synthetic turf systems.”

The group has stood by its crumb rubber field turf additive suppliers throughout the past two years, including by hosting a video on its website titled “The Truth About Crumb Rubber.” The video clip includes testimony from a toxicologist who is a 20-year veteran of the American Board of Toxicology, who says multiple studies have found “there really is no reason for concern.”

At the end of its Feb. 12 statement, the STC also refers to a request by a municipality for its input on the use of crumb rubber and adds, “We are working with [the community] to do so, which is consistent with our efforts to not elevate or promote one type of infill over another.”

The STC and ISRI have urged member companies to interact with the media on the topic to defend the use of the material and to point to the track record of previous studies.

“The reality is that all of the scientific studies to date (more than 90 scientific studies from leading universities, toxicologists and government agencies) have found no significant health risk associated with artificial (synthetic) turf with recycled rubber infill,” ISRI Vice President of Marketing and Communications Bob Ensinger writes to ISRI members in a May 19, 2016, email.

“Unfortunately,” Ensinger continues, “the stirring of public fear in this issue has caused some state legislatures and local officials to try and ban the use of crumb rubber infill in synthetic turf.”

Members of ISRI now have online access to a “toolkit” of media and community relations materials, including a fact sheet, a PowerPoint presentation and sample testimony that can be given at local and state hearings.

As the debate continues, ISRI is expressing confidence that unless new research uncovers something dramatically different than previous studies did, proposed legislative restrictions against the material can be countered.

“Although bills targeting synthetic turf fields with recycled rubber infill sprang up across the nation this year, none of them have found traction in state legislatures,” the association states on its website. “Several states explored legislation to ban, or place moratoriums on, the installation of synthetic fields with recycled rubber infills. Other legislation would have required signage warning the public that recycled rubber was present on a field or playground. In nearly all these situations, the legislation was defeated once the legislators were informed of the scientific evidence.”

The author is editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted at btaylor@gie.net.