Turf Wars: California Probes Lead Levels in Artificial Turf

The State of California is continuing its drive against products that have lead levels higher than the levels it recognizes as permissible. In a recent development, it has now added artificial turf to that list.

While artificial turf may be a good solution in terms of saving water, it is certainly not the best in terms of player safety, especially considering there is the possibility of lead being present in it.

The investigation into possible lead contamination at artificial turfs comes at a wrong time for the industry. This is the time when artificial turfs are picking up in popularity. Across the country today, there are over 3,500 playing fields that use artificial turf.

The Synthetic Turf Council says 800 turfs are being developed annually currently, a number that will definitely take a hit should the results of the investigation confirm lead contamination at the turfs.

Oakland’s Center for Environmental Health filed a lawsuit Monday demanding an end to the manufacture and sale of lead-laden artificial turf. The suit is directed at 15 manufacturers and retailers of artificial turf and also demands a recall of turf containing lead they have already sold. Additionally, it asked them to put up warnings of the potential hazard.

The center has been successful in its campaigns earlier to reduce lead levels in a number of commonly used products, including candy, jewelry, lunch boxes, wooden play things, and also medicines for children. It used Proposition 65, the state’s legislation against toxic substances exposure, in these campaigns, and has filed the current legal action under the same law.

The center completed tests on over 50 samples of turf that it collected from a number of turf manufacturers before deciding to take legal action. The manufacturers whose samples were tested include Ace Hardware Corp., Home Depot, Orchard Supply Hardware and Lowe’s Companies. The samples also came from a number of retailers and turf installers from the Bay Area.

The test results showed higher lead levels than the permissible limit in California in one-third of the samples. The state’s permissible limit is lead exposure of a maximum of 0.5 micrograms a day.

Speaking about the lawsuit, Center for Environmental Health executive director Michael Green said, “Parents see their kids playing on artificial turf and they expect the turf to be safe. But we found that artificial grass and turf can pose a real health threat to children. You may not have to mow it or water it, but unfortunately you do have to test it for lead.”

Earlier in spring, there had been an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that looked at the dangers to health that the presence of lead in artificial turf posed to people. The results of that probe would be out by July.

Speaking about that probe, the commission’s Office of Public Affairs director Julie Vallesse said, “When the Consumer Product Safety Commission opens an investigation, it sends no message either way. It's a fact-finding mission to find out if there's a problem and a need for action,” emphasizing there was no need for panic once the results came out.

Questions about the health risks posed by artificial turf have also been raised by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in a health advisory it released on June 18. There have been other initiatives in California directed at the health risks that artificial turf posed.

Sen. Abel Maldonado, the Republican senator from Santa Maria, sponsored a bill, SB 1277, looking to investigate the dangers that artificial turf posed. The California Senate passed that bill last month. The bill is scheduled to be presented at the Assembly next.

The issue of lead levels in artificial turf first came to light in 2007 in New Jersey. Health officials examining the possibility of contamination at a playing field located near a scrap metal plant in Newark were caught wrong-footed when they found lead, in perilous levels, in the turf on the field itself.

This led officials to test at other synthetic turfs and resulted in the detection of high lead levels in three fields used for recreational purposes and also in two other turf products that were developed for use in homes.

Lead exposure, especially in children, has been found to have precipitous side effects, causing damage to the nervous system and also possibly to the immune systemdefine. Over 300,000 children in the U.S. have high lead levels in their blood, according to recent numbers posted by the CDC.