"Uses of recycled rubber tires... should be a matter of regulatory concern"
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Chemosphere, Volume 90, Issue 2, January 2013
Cancer Links:
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Recent investigations led by former U.S. Women's National Team goalkeeper and current goalkeeper coach for the University of Washington, Amy Griffin, have raised concerns over a potential link between the rubber crumb used in the infill and Hodgkin's Lymphona. This page investigates as to whether or not we should be concerned by this research and how it could affect the use of artificial turf in the future.
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Amy Griffin visited a children's cancer ward, and was told that one child was the 5th goalkeeper to have arrived in that ward that week. She then investigated the link further, and found 187 young people with cancer, 150 of whom played football and 95 of whom were goalkeepers (as they come into contact with the synthetic surfaces more often) and although this neither proves nor disproves anything, it brought to the forefront the fact that there could be a link between the rubber infill and cancer.
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3rd generation artificial turf pitches contain a rubber crumb infill (which you can learn more about in the Structure page), which helps the authentic feel of the turf and keeps the field in good condition. However, concern arises as the rubber crumb is made from recycled car tyres, which initially seems like a good way of recycling something with little use otherwise, but they actually contain a number of carcinogenic chemicals. However, the risk was considered too small to be dangerous and we have been playing on these pitches without worry for years.
In 2006, a study in Norway concluded that "the component spectrum has a clear signature from the rubber granulate and contains a considerable number of components which are associated with adverse effects on health.", showing that there may be potential danger, yet there was no follow-up on this. In 2013, Chemosphere also published results of their investigation, stating that "uses of recycled rubber tires, especially those targeting play areas and other facilities for children, should be a matter of regulatory concern." but once again there was no follow-up investigation.
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However, FIFA concluded that there was no risk to these synthetic turfs back in 2006 and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency decided that the data they collected didn't point to a concern either, and another 50 independent studies all showed no direct link between the rubber infill and cancerous developments. Since Amy Griffin's findings, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency have said they are going to launch further investigations into whether or not there is a link between cancer and the rubber crumb.
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In a survey of 100 young people, 88% said they did not think there was a link between artificial surfaces and cancer.
Injury Concerns:
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The most stigma around artificial turf lies around the issue of injury. Many believe that playing their sport on artificial turf could increase their chance of injury and hence are largely against the sport being played on it. Whilst this was true of first and second generation synthetic pitches, with their short piles and abrasive sand layers, this has not been the case now for a long time.
Recently many studies have been carried out concerning the risk of injury, including one by Kathrin Steffen, Thor Einar Andersen and Roald Bahr. They recorded the injuries of 2020 female footballers of mean age 15.4 years old over and 8 month period. Their results showed that over this time, 421 players sustained 526 injuries, with 3.7 injuries occurring every 1,000 playing hours. Of these injuries, the 3 researchers concluded that acute injuries were as likely on both artificial and natural surfaces, however serious injuries were slightly more likely on artificial turf but not enough to be a significant difference.