Medway Board of Health considers turf moratorium

[unhappycamper]

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20160315/NEWS/160316956/0/breaking_ajax



A sign lists safety precautions for using the turf fields, such as washing your hands and face, at Medway High School.

Medway Board of Health considers turf moratorium
By Zachary Comeau
Posted Mar. 15, 2016 at 6:13 PM

MEDWAY - The Board of Health is considering a moratorium on turf fields using crumb rubber infill, but will reportedly let residents decide at the ballot box or Town Meeting.

Board member Jordan Warnick said Tuesday that the board is looking for input on the matter, but will not take matters into its own hands.

“I think all of us are in agreement that we should not be the individuals who decide on that at the current understanding of issues related to crumb rubber infill,” he said.

Warnick said data from studies of crumb rubber is not conclusive or indicative of “safety or non-safety.”

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When I read this my first thought is "What the hell is crumb rubber?" A quick google turned up 30,000 hits.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumb_rubber

Crumb rubber is recycled rubber produced from automotive and truck scrap tires. During the recycling process, steel and tire cord (fluff) are removed, leaving tire rubber with a granular consistency. Continued processing with a granulator or cracker mill, possibly with the aid of cryogenics or by mechanical means, reduces the size of the particles further. The particles are sized and classified based on various criteria including color (black only or black and white). The granulate is sized by passing through a screen, the size based on a dimension (1/4 inch) or mesh (holes per inch : 10, 20, etc.). Crumb rubber is often used in astroturf as cushioning, where it is sometimes referred to as astro-dirt.

Mesh refers to material that has been sized by passing through a screen with a given number of holes per inch. For example, 10 mesh crumb rubber has passed through a screen with 10 holes per inch resulting in rubber granulate that is slightly less than 1/10 of an inch. The exact size will depend on the size of wire used in the screen.

~snip~

Harm
Cancer

Studies have been conducted and scientists have come to the conclusion that there is a connection that the chemicals from the tires may be a cause of cancer. Crumb rubber is made up of compounds suspected to be carcinogenic (cause cancer). The International Agency for Research of Cancer has studied the crumb rubber with multiple tests in cancer treatment hospitals and rubber fabrication facilities around the world. Rutgers University did a study in 2006 of the tire crumbs that were being used on synthetic turf fields, and they found six polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These compounds are most likely carcinogenic to the human body. Due to a solvent extraction used to release the chemicals in this laboratory study, it is difficult to know how much is actually released into the environment and whether this exposure is significant. A study of the chemicals released from crumb rubber found 49 chemicals, with seven of them being carcinogens.[6]

[CentralMass]

1. Interesting. On a side note I lived in Medway for year back in the late 80's.