Environment and Human Health, Inc. Asks Why is the synthetic turf industry asking EPA for a ruling?

NORTH HAVEN, Conn., Oct. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI), a scientific non-profit remains convinced that synthetic turf fields and playground rubber mulch are toxic, causing harm to a generation of children and athletes -- sends letter to EPA.

To the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI), a science based non-profit of physicians and public health professionals is concerned as to why the synthetic turf industry is now demanding that  "EPA needs to set the record straight on artificial turf."

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/256107-epa-needs-to-set-the-record-straight-on-artificial

Industries' article of October 7, 2015, written by Darren Gill (Field Turf), Rom Reddy (Sprinturf), and Heard Smith (Astro Turf) follows:

October 7, 2015.   "Recent headlines have stoked fears across the country with suggestions that synthetic turf fields using recycled rubber are harmful to children.  .....  However, it's unrealistic and unfair to expect worried parents to have to go to peer-reviewed journals for answers. This is why it's high time for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set the record straight by conducting its own conclusive analysis of the scientific data on the synthetic turf and recycled rubber – and for policymakers to push them to do so.  EPA owes this peace of mind to families, coaches and schools throughout America."

With industry asking EPA to rule on the safety of synthetic turf fields, industry must feel somehow assured that they will get a positive response from EPA.

We know that EPA's waste division was instrumental in getting waste tires put where children and athletes play.  See document below, pages 7-10 for EPA's plan for getting rubber tires in toddler playgrounds and synthetic turf fields.

PDF - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/ENR/275924-EPA-rubber-tire-promo-1.pdf 

With EPA and some states being so intimately involved in putting waste tires into synthetic turf fields (each field has 40,000 tires in it) and toddler playgrounds -- it  worries many of us how EPA will be able to honestly assess the safety of these fields, as well as the safety of the waste rubber tire mulch that is placed in toddler playgrounds.

We are aware that systematic assessments were not conducted before the shredded rubber tires were placed where our children play.  These crumb rubber products are made from many different waste tires and contain industrial chemicals including carcinogens.  There are now plausible reports of cancer in student populations that have been exposed to this product.

Simply a literature review of the studies already conducted on synthetic turf is not sufficient to determine safety  --  as most of these studies are inadequate or very outdated.  We know much more today about how our children and students are exposed to these shredded waste tire products.

Many of us will be looking closely at how the EPA rules on the synthetic turf fields and the rubber mulch in toddler playgrounds.  It is also important to know that EHHI, a scientific non-profit, receives no money from corporations or industry.  EHHI is convinced that the synthetic turf fields and playground mulch are toxic and therefore causing harm to a whole generation of children and athletes.  A serious, unbiased evaluation, not just a literature review, is indicated and necessary.

Sadly, at this time, the only protection parents have to protect their children's safety is to keep them off these synthetic fields entirely.

Respectfully,
Nancy Alderman, President
Environment and Human Health, Inc.

CONTACT: Nancy Alderman, 203-248-6582, [email protected]

SOURCE Environment and Human Health, Inc.