How did rubber tires -- once considered by many states a hazardous waste -- get in places where children play - such as toddler playgrounds and synthetic turf fields.? Under a revised rule of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) If a hazardous material has been recycled and made into a consumer product then it will no longer be considered hazardous. Thus, manufacturers that use hazardous wastes to make products are no longer subject to the RCRA requirements as a matter of course. Certain hazardous materials cannot be recycled in this way -- asbestos and lead - however rubber tires can. What is RCRA meant to do? RCRA establishes a system for controlling hazardous waste from the time it is generated until its ultimate disposal. Facilities that generate, treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste are regulated under it. Nancy nhregister/health/20140824/debate-continues-over-artificial-turf-fields-and-human-health-concerns Debate continues over artificial turf fields and human health concerns By Colin Kennedy, 08/24/14 New Haven Register A tumor the size of a small football was removed from Austen Everett’s abdomen in 2008. Today, her name is on a list of people who played on artificial turf fields and later were diagnosed with cancer. Everett was a 21-year-old soccer standout at the University of Miami when a diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma sent her home to Seattle for treatment. That’s when Everett’s mother, June Leahy, said a particular set of circumstances piqued her daughter’s interest. “When she was first diagnosed … she came home and found out that (longtime friend Jorden Alerdean) also had non-Hodgkins lymphoma,” Leahy said. “She reached out to Jorden and said, ‘There’s got to be something going on here.’” Everett and Alerdean were the same age. They grew up in the same town and both were battling the same form of cancer before age 25. They also were both soccer goalkeepers. And when the pair started talking with University of Washington Associate Head Coach Amy Griffin, they began finding others with similar situations. Griffin, who played goalie for 20 years before getting into coaching, said the list of local goalies with cancer doubled when a nurse overheard her talking with Alerdean at a chemo clinic. “The nurse told us that (Alerdean) was the fourth goalkeeper she had hooked up to chemo that week,” Griffin said. “I had never heard this before. For 10 years (coaching at UW), I didn’t know anyone with cancer. The next 10, I’ve come to know quite a few.” Everett died from a second battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2012, but Griffin has continued to keep tabs on what she said is an alarming trend. As of Aug. 6, Griffin said her list contained 49 names of soccer players affected by cancer. All but eight are goalies, Griffin said, and almost all have been faced with some form of a blood-related cancer and live in the Northwest. The sample size is small, and any connection between artificial turf and adverse health effects remains only a theory. However, Leahy said she thinks the trend is worth investigating when you consider there are 10 field players for every goalkeeper, and yet goalies comprise more than 80 percent of Griffin’s list. “It makes sense goalkeepers are affected more than field players because (goalies) are always on the ground,” Leahy said. “I believe there is a connection. I think this is only the tip of the iceberg.” Today, more than 8,000 synthetic turf fields are in use across the United States, according to the Synthetic Turf Council. Scrap tire stockpiles are shrinking nationwide in part because companies are shredding tires into “crumb rubber” and placing it on the surfaces of sports fields — up to 40,000 tires at a time. Connecticut is no exception. In July, the state Bond Commission approved $1.9 million in funding that will soon make Seymour High School the 10th public high school in Greater New Haven to have a synthetic turf athletic field. There also are playgrounds surfaced with “rubber mulch.” David Brown, a former chief of Environmental Epidemiology and Occupational Health at the state Department of Health, has 10 years of experience studying the chemical composition of rubber tires. He said it’s no longer a question whether tire-derived materials can contain any number of potentially harmful chemicals and toxins. “The question here is: How much are people being exposed to these toxic materials? And the answer is: We really don’t know,” Brown said. “And measurements of playgrounds have shown there are chemicals in the air that our children are playing in.” Mary Jane Mattina, who spent more than 20 years with the analytical chemistry department at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, was one of the first to identify the toxic elements in crumb rubber when her department examined a sample in 2007. “If I had a sample of crumb rubber in a dish next to me on this picnic table, what would be coming off of it and what could I potentially be breathing in?” Mattina said, describing the objective of her 2007 study. “We found there were compounds of concern. So how is it that we can take an item and shred it and all of a sudden it becomes a sellable consumer product with economic viability? That is kind of extraordinary to me.” The answer, some people contend, can be found within the framework of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said his nonprofit has been pushing for reform of the crumb rubber industry for five years. PEER is an organization that, in part, defends and strengthens “the legal rights of public employees who speak out about issues concerning natural resource management and environmental protection,” its website says. “What’s going on is that hazardous waste is being recycled as a consumer product,” Ruch said. “The loophole (in the RCRA) is that, if a (waste material) is recycled into a product, then it’s no longer a waste. For all practical purposes, it’s an unregulated market.” Advocates disagree. The Synthetic Turf Council, which is a nonprofit trade organization for the artificial grass industry, answers safety questions on its website, in part saying, “For 40 years … not one person has ever reported ill effects related to any materials associated with synthetic turf.” Dan Zielinski, senior vice president of public affairs at the Rubber Manufacturers Association, said his organization is “very confident” in the safety of tires and tire-derived materials such as crumb rubber. “The studies can go on and on and on and on, but to date, we are very confident that tires are a very safe product and will continue to be so, even in their afterlife uses,” Zielinski said. “There is no evidence to suggest that tires pose a health risk to people.” Similar positions are common at the national and state regulatory level as well. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website says, “At this point, EPA does not believe that the field-monitoring data collected provides evidence of an elevated health risk.” Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is confident a 2010 study conducted by four state agencies helped show tire-derived materials “did not appear to pose risks,” DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said. But critics argue these conclusions are based on very limited U.S. data, suggesting a “lack of information” encourages the government to be “complicit” in “promoting” a potentially harmful product without looking at risk assessment. Ruch said it all amounts to a game he calls “regulatory whack-a-mole.” “The fact that the feds have not done anything means that it is up to the states,” Ruch said. “But the states are not required to do anything.” Brown said he agrees regulatory agencies and the industry alike are not inclined to pursue further research despite alarming trends. “(Amy Griffin) has very concerning data,” Brown said. “Nothing is being done. I can tell you that right now. There are no national studies being done. Because the turf industry and — to a large degree the waste disposal people within the EPA — don’t really have an alternative for what they would do with these tires.” That’s one reason Ruch said PEER is helping Griffin take her list nationwide. PEER is consulting public health officials, Ruch said, to design a web survey that will capture relevant information from people who wish to confidentially add themselves to the list. Griffin — who said most people on her list thus far contacted her and not the other way around — also said she’s been “hounded” by the turf industry despite her hope this trend is disproved with conclusive evidence. “It’s not like I’m trying to go after field turf or anything like that,” Griffin said. “My response is: Show me a test. All these people are telling me it’s not safe, but if you can show me why it is, that would be fantastic.”
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:37:19 +0000
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