Children are uniquely vulnerable to harmful exposures from artificial turf surfaces because of their unique physiology and behaviors, rapidly developing organ systems, and immature detoxification mechanisms.
Mount Sinai Health System has established itself as a national authority on the safety of artificial turf and artificial playground surfaces, in terms of both advocacy and research.
Sarah Evans, PhD, MPH, a faculty member in The Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center at the Institute for Exposomic Research, fields calls weekly from communities around the country considering whether to install artificial playing surfaces at a school or public park.
“We know that chemicals are present that wouldn’t be allowed in products for children,” says Evans, Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Manufacturers say the data on safety is inconclusive, so we should continue to use the products. We argue the opposite. Unless we can prove that these surfaces are safe, children should not be playing on them.”
Studies of the composition of artificial play surfaces confirm the presence of carcinogens and neurotoxins including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, and lead. Exposure to these chemicals are associated with cancer, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and lower IQ, according to Evans.
Evans advocates for the use of natural grass for playing fields and wood chips for playgrounds.
Artificial playing surfaces are also associated with a higher rate of injury. They are rougher on skin and cause more dermal abrasions compared with natural grass. Cuts and scrapes, in turn, can lead to direct chemical exposure, with chemicals absorbed into the bloodstream, says Evans. In addition, the plastic and rubber in artificial surfaces raise the temperature in the play area, which can lead to heat-related injuries such as heat stroke and burns.
“A turf field is a heat island, just like a paved parking lot,” says Evans, whose research is focused on the impacts of early life environmental exposures on nervous system development and child behavior.
Professional sports players and teams have been vocal about their preference for natural grass, which is associated with fewer knee and ankle injuries, according to Evans.
School board members and parks and recreation officials often claim that artificial play surfaces require less maintenance and are ‘all-season.’ “But the artificial stuff does wear down and requires considerable upkeep,” says Evans. And because of the heat issue, some summer days may make it impossible to play, says Evans, who speaks in webinars and writes letters addressing specific communities that contact her.
Evans works closely with Homero Harari, ScD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who received funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in May 2023 to study artificial play surface safety.
“In the literature, there are hundreds of papers on what the chemicals are,” Harari says. “But there’s no data showing how these chemicals might or might not be entering our bodies.”
In partnership with five community organizations across the Northeast, Harari has begun the first year of a five-year study to take air, blood and urine measurements of adults and children who play soccer on artificial turf fields. He has already measured the surface temperature of hundreds of artificial fields using satellite-based algorithms.
The community partners are:
- Non-Toxic Portsmouth and Non-Toxic Dover from New Hampshire
- Lowell Center for Sustainable Production from Massachusetts
- Clean Water Action from Connecticut
- Grassroot Environmental Education from New York
- Women for a Healthy Environment from Pennsylvania
“During the summer, with rising temperatures, we’ve found fields with temperatures over 150 degrees,” says Harari. “That’s enough to burn the skin of a player.” Even lighter colored infill gets hotter than natural grass, according to Evans.
Evans receives calls about artificial play surfaces through Mount Sinai Health System’s Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU), one of 10 regional federally funded clinical and educational centers.
“We were known already as having expertise in counseling families and communities about environmental exposures,” says Evans. “Then several years ago, a couple of issues with artificial turf triggered concerns. Lead was found in some turf fields, and a high profile NBC report suggested a link between playing on artificial turf and increased risk of cancer in female soccer players.”
Evans also counsels communities who have already installed artificial play surfaces to learn what to do to reduce potential exposure – wash hands, don’t play on hot days. She says she is careful to not fear-monger or make parents feel guilty.
Anna Grossman, a member of the Montclair, N.J. grassroots organization Sustainable Montclair, credits Evans and the three-page letter she wrote to the Montclair school board with empowering locals to raise their voices against an artificial turf project.
“It’s incredibly helpful for environmental promoters to have Mount Sinai to guide them with data to form an unbiased opinion,” says Grossman. “It brings the argument back to the science, which is exactly where it should be when it comes to pediatric health.”
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