I-Team: Playground Surfaces May Put Kids At Risk
BOSTON (CBS) - Material designed to make playgrounds and turf fields safer for children, may actually be putting them at risk. Scientists at Yale University analyzed rubber material made from recycled tires used to soften playground surfaces and artificial turf fields. They found dozens of chemicals in the material, many are probable cancer-causing agents and others can cause skin and breathing problems.
The I-Team first looked at this material back in March when a soccer coach noted what she thought was an unusually high number of cancer cases in soccer goal keepers. She raised concerns then that the chemicals in the tires may be to blame.
Related: Artificial Turf Field Concerns
While this study is the latest to suggest kids are being exposed to these chemicals, there are no long-term health studies looking at a direct link between the material and adverse health effects. "Frankly, we don't want to have those studies because if we have results that shows it's a problem, we have already caused harm to children," explained associate professor of environmental health Joel Tickner of UMass Lowell.
The lack of those studies is why the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has said the material does not pose any long-term health concerns. But both Tickner and experts from the Harvard School of Public Health tell the I-Team, they disagree. "If I were building a field in my town, I would avoid turf due to the uncertainties and the potential harm to children," Tickner said.
Parents we talked to at a playground with rubber mulch in Reading say they are concerned about the findings. "Especially in a toddler lot, wouldn't the kids be picking it up and putting it in their mouths," one mother asked. "I think it will be something that we will have to decide whether we will come to a park like this versus one with woodchips or dirt," another mother said.
We reached out to the Synthetic Turf Council, but they did not return our calls.