Many challenges are currently made to artificial turf’s safety, and working their ways through the various court systems. Due to turf manufacturers lack of disclosure of turf’s hazards, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit Sept. 2 under California's Proposition 65, which says products that can expose consumers to reproductive toxins or carcinogens must carry a warning label. The bottom line is this is 2008. Why are you making something with lead deliberately put into it? Commercial alternatives are available.

Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has found high levels of lead in artificial turf, including turf and indoor/outdoor grass carpet purchased from Home Depot, Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH), Ace Hardware and Lowe's, as well as from carpet retailers, online marketers, Bay Area turf installers, and from turf obtained from a Bay Area elementary school. CEH initiated legal action against the retailers and synthetic turf companies under California's Proposition 65 law in June 2008. One of the turf samples CEH found with high levels of accessible lead was obtained from the yard of a Bay Area elementary school that had the turf installed (3) years ago.

In June, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a health advisory that raised concern about the safety of certain artificial-turf fields. The advisory was based on a study from two New Jersey agencies. After analyzing a small sampling of fields and commercial products, the state's researchers found that older fields that are made of nylon or nylon/polyethylene blend fibers can contain levels of lead that pose a potential public health hazard. Lead chromate is found in the pigment that's used to color some turf surfaces green. Although the CDC says the immediate risk for harmful lead exposure from new fields is low, lead dust released as the artificial turf ages and weathers could then be ingested or inhaled raising the risk of harmful exposure. At this time, the CDC says it does not yet fully understand the potential extent of lead exposure from worn artificial turf. Until it does, the agency says that some precautions can be taken to minimize any potential risk.

For example, field managers should consider implementing dust-suppression measures. And to protect the public, in particular young children, field managers should consider posting signs indicating that:
->> After playing on the field, individuals are encouraged to perform aggressive hand and body washing for at least 20 seconds using soap and warm water.
->> Clothes worn on the field should be taken off and turned inside out as soon as possible after using the field to avoid tracking contaminated dust to other places. In vehicles, people can sit on a large towel or blanket if it is not feasible to remove their clothes. These clothes, towels, and blankets should be washed separately and shoes worn on the field should be kept outside of the home.
->> Eating while on the field or turf product is discouraged.
->> Avoid contaminating drinking containers with dust and fibers from the field. When not drinking, close them and keep them in a bag, cooler, or other covered container on the side of the field.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently weighed in on the issue and released a controversial report that analyzed synthetic turf “grass blades” and assessed the total lead content and risk of exposure to the toxin. The title of a CPSC press release drawing attention to the report reads: “CPSC Staff Finds Synthetic Turf Fields OK to Install, OK to Play On.” But in what seems to be a contradiction, the commission also said that “although this evaluation found no harmful lead levels, CPSC staff is asking that voluntary standards be developed for synthetic turf to preclude use of lead in future products.” The agency also advised that young children should wash their hands after playing outside, especially before eating. Because the CPSC is providing this contradiction, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is calling on them to immediately remove and revise a report on its website that may dangerously and deceptively mislead citizens into believing that artificial turf has been proven safe.

Until earlier this year, turf manufacturers told us their nylon-polyethylene blend safely encapsulated the lead chromate so there was no lead exposure risk. This summer multiple tests showed this to be false, and hundreds of fields around the country are being replaced. The same types of statements are now being made about their new polyethylene formulation, which has hot been on the market long enough to evaluate after normal wear.

At the Synthetic Turf Council's May 6 press conference, Michael Dennis, GeneralSports Value's chairman, followed up his statement that "synthetic turf sports fields, including the nylon version brought into question, are completely safe and pose no risk to children or athletes" with news that GSV was working to create "heavy-metal-free or lead-free" products, adding, "I believe we'll evolve to ... absolute absence of heavy metals." Stephen Noe, president and CEO of Sportexe Construction Services, this spring posted a note on the company's web site saying that it would discontinue manufacture of its "few colors ... produced using low levels of lead chromate-based pigments. ... We intend to substitute alternative colors based on non-heavy-metal-based pigments. ... Although we do not see a health risk in the current products, we believe that this is the best decision for all of our constituents." In other words, please buy our toxic inventory until we have developed our own non-toxic formulas.