search.noResults

search.searching

dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
COMMENT The Rubber Crumb Debate Blinding us with science?


The EPA’s long awaited - and very overdue - study on rubber crumb was released in July; or at least Part 1 was. The 300+ page document is not exactly enthralling bedtime reading and, in truth, by its own admission, declares ‘it is not a risk assessment’. We can only await the probably delayed Part 2 with interest! A baffled Peter Britton looks on with concern


on the recycled crumb rubber - used in the majority of synthetic turf sportsfields - at the end of July. The official title of the nearly 300-page document is Synthetic Turf Field Recycled Crumb Rubber Research Under the Federal Research Action Plan, Final Report Part 1, Tire Crumb Rubber Characterization Volume 1.


T The report was authored by


the EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.


The report opens by making this disclaimer: “The findings and conclusions in this report have not been formally disseminated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy.” The Synthetic Turf Council


(STC), a member-based synthetic turf advocacy organisation, released the following summary of Part 1 shortly after the report’s release:


• This research represents the largest and most robust study of synthetic turf fields and tire crumb rubber to date in the


14 PC August/September 2019 he U.S.


Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the first part of its study


United States.


• Findings from this study support the premise that, whilst many chemicals are present in the recycled tire crumb rubber, exposure may be limited based on what is released into air or biological fluids.


• The presence of a substance does not directly equate with human exposure. Whilst there are many chemicals


associated with recycled tire crumb rubber, the EPA laboratory experiments suggest that the amount of chemicals available for exposure through release into the air and simulated biological fluids is relatively low.


• Emissions of many organic chemicals into the air were typically found to be below detection limits or test chamber background, and releases of metals into simulated biological fluids were very low (mean bioaccessibility values averaged about 3% in gastric fluid and less than 1% in saliva and sweat plus sebum).


• In general, concentrations [of measured metal and extractable semivolatile organic compounds (SVOC)] in this study were consistent with, and within the range of, concentrations found in previous studies.


• Whilst there is concern about chemical exposures resulting from the use of recycled tire


 





  


 


and other materials in synthetic fields, it is important to recognise that some of the chemicals are likely to be present in other types of fields, including natural grass fields. For example, metals, (including lead) and PAHs (including benzo[a]pyrene) of potential concern at synthetic turf fields with tire crumb rubber infill, are also often found in surface soil in the U.S. and may be present at natural grass playing fields.


• This report is not a risk assessment.


According to the STC, Part 2 of the report will include data to characterise potential human exposures to the chemicals found in the rubber crumb material whilst using synthetic turf fields. Part 2 will be released, along with results from a biomonitoring study


being conducted by CDC/ATSDR, to investigate potential exposure to constituents in rubber crumb. The research activities in Part 1, and the resulting findings, do not provide an assessment of the risks associated with playing on or contact with rubber crumb, according to the STC. Instead, these research results should inform future risk assessments. So, much like the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) report of a couple of years ago, this latest report plunders both existing data, along with some new research, and presents its finding in such a way as to appear to be doing something positive, but without reaching any hard and fast conclusions. Reaction to the study in the


USA was strong. US congressman Frank Pallone (D- New Jersey) welcomed as a


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156