Artificial Turf Crumb Rubber Cancer

Recently the crumbs have been implicated in causing cancer in adolescents and young adults who use the fields particularly lymphoma and primarily in soccer goalkeepers.

Artificial turf crumb rubber cancer.

Unlike its predecessor crumb rubber turf was a synthetic carpet of longer grassy looking fibers filled in with ground up scrap tires. The debate over crumb rubber and cancer the recently installed artificial turf at ucla s intramural field will save the westwood campus 6 5 million gallons of water annually. Developed in the late 1990s crumb rubber turf was considered a vast improvement over the 1960s surface known as astroturf which amounted to a carpet of short fake grass laid over a pad and asphalt base. The tiny crumb rubber particles used for fill on the fields are.

Contain crumb rubber pellets made from recycled tires. No synthetic turf fields made with crumb rubber infill do contain chemicals that have been shown to cause cancer. The foundation s decision to test the fields came as concern has grown over the safety of playing on the artificial turf fields. If you re spending one or two hours per week for your regular game of 5 a side or any other format of the game on a rubber crumb artificial surface then the risk of cancer must be considered low and that s what the limited studies already carried out seem to suggest.

The study characterized the exposure as. Artificial turf is surface of synthetic fibers resembling natural grass. Synthetic turf can contain potentially hazardous chemicals and metals and athletes are worried. Most synthetic turf fields have crumb rubber interspersed among the simulated grass fibers to reduce athletic injuries by allowing users to turn and slide more readily as they play sports or exercise on the fields.

However what is critical to consider are the routes of exposure and potential dose someone receives. Thousands of athletic fields across the u s. A 2013 study in risk analysis indicated that pahs in artificial turf were generally below the limit of detection. Most use infills of crumb rubber from recycled tires which use is controversial because of concerns that the tires contain carcinogens.

The available research suggests exposures from crumb rubber are very low and will not cause cancer among soccer players. Synthetic turf fields crumb rubber and alleged cancer risk most synthetic turf fields have crumb rubber interspersed among the simulated grass fibers to reduce athletic injuries by allowing users to turn and slide more readily as they play sports or exercise on the fields.