FIELDTURF RESPONDS TO EPA FIELD MONITORING STUDY ON SYNTHETIC TURF AND PLAYGROUNDS

Leading artificial turf maker FieldTurf pointed to the much anticipated research from the EPA on synthetic turf as further evidence of the safety of synthetic turf fields and playgrounds.

“We are pleased by the thorough nature of the research conducted and findings that demonstrate the strong safety profile of artificial turf fields,” commented FieldTurf President Eric Daliere.  “These EPA findings add to a significant body of evidence including research from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, environmental and health agencies within the states of California and New York, along with numerous studies out of academia and World Health Organizations.”

The EPA’s ‘Scoping-Level Field Monitoring Study of Synthetic Turf Fields and Playgrounds’ was conducted to…. 

• Gain experience conducting multi-route field monitoring of recreational surfaces that contain tire crumb by evaluating readily available methods for measuring environmental concentrations of tire crumb constituents; and 
• Generate limited field monitoring data that will be used by EPA to help the Agency determine possible next steps to address questions from the public regarding the safety of tire crumb infill in recreational fields.

 The complete EPA study can be downloaded at the following link: http://www.epa.gov/nerl/features/tire_crumbs.html

 With regard to the study goals, FieldTurf executives were both pleased with the results of the testing and for that matter the validation of numerous existing testing methods.  The latter of which should result in more appropriate methods of testing for others that will choose to do their own evaluations in the future.  The past utilization of inappropriate testing procedures has in select studies yielded inaccurate results, lending doubt to the safety profile of turf.

For more information about FieldTurf and the environment, please visit: www.fieldturf.com/environmental-responsibility