Football: Synthetic fields declared safe regarding lead levels

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You may have noticed over the past few years that artificial turf has quickly become the playing surface of choice for most Southland football programs.

Unfortunately, the synthetic turf wave came crashing down a few months ago when New Jersey state health officials reported they detected unsafe amounts of lead in the fake stuff. Several states (mostly on the right coast) closed their synthetic fields until further tests were done and now it appears those initial fears were unfounded.

A report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today concludes synthetic fields are safe and that ‘young children are not at risk from exposure to lead in these fields.’ However, the commission warns that as the fields become more worn out over time, lead exposure could increase due to the breakdown of synthetic grass fibers.

Though this report is a definite victory for the artificial turf manufacturers and their supporters, they’re not breaking out an end-zone celebration just yet.

According to USA Today, a congresswoman has pushed for the Environmental Protection Agency to do a study on the possible health and environmental effects of ‘crumb rubber’ -- the recycled tire rubber that acts as a cushion under most synthetic fields. There are also lingering concerns about heatstroke in players since artificial fields can exceed temperatures of 150 degrees.

-- Austin Knoblauch