Dangerous Play: Studies find harmful ‘forever chemicals’ in artificial turf fields

Synthetic turf: plastic grass blades with crumb rubberPhoto by Rebecca Bollwitt | CC-BY-SA-2.0

Right now in Philly it feels like you can’t open the newspaper or turn on the news without seeing the ongoing media coverage about PFAS chemicals being found in artificial turf fields across the city. 

From the heartbreaking Philadelphia Inquirer reporting  linking PFAS-filled turf at Veterans Field and the incidence of rare cancers amongst former Phillies baseball players to news stories showing that city agencies are allowing PFAS-laden synthetic turf to be installed in Philly neighborhood parks, it’s clearer than ever that we need action to protect our communities and our children from these toxic “forever chemicals.”

Polyfluoroalkyl substances – more commonly known as PFAS – are a class of chemicals used in consumer products, from non-stick pans to food packaging to personal care products like shampoo, dental floss and nail polish. These chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment – and our bodies – indefinitely, building up over time. It’s also common in firefighting foams, through which it’s entered the groundwater near military bases, firefighting training centers and large fires over the last few decades.

PFAS have been linked to several types of cancer, to immune system deficiencies, to high cholesterol and thyroid problems, low fertility, and even developmental issues in children and infants. You can learn more about how PFAS threaten human health through our factsheet here.

PennEnvironment has long been working to address the threat PFAS poses to our health.  We’ve generated thousands of public comments in support of stricter limits on PFAS in drinking water at both the state and federal level. We’ve testified at EPA hearings on the impact PFAS has had on Pennsylvania communities and our staff have lobbied Congress for more public funds to bring clean water to places like Perkasie, Pennsylvania, where PFAS has contaminated well water for decades. PennEnvironment has also advocated for bipartisan legislation at the state level to bring resources to Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, which has (sadly)  emerged as a poster child nationally for PFAS contamination. 

But of course if we’re going to truly halt the health and environmental threats posed by PFAS, we must do more than just keep cleaning up the mess – we must cut off the use of PFAS at the source, so we also are fighting to phase PFAS out of everyday consumer products, fire, fighting foam, and from synthetic turf.  

One of the more recent places where PFAS has been found is in the artificial turf commonly used where kids and athletes–amateurs and professionals alike–go to play sports. Parents shouldn’t need to worry about the fields where their kids play their Saturday soccer games or the schoolyards where they have recess. But there’s now a growing awareness that the artificial turf that’s commonly found  from major league stadiums to the high school football fields that teenagers play upon contains PFAS. 

While companies rarely disclose the proprietary blend of chemicals in their plastic turf, time and again independent testing has found a variety of PFAS chemicals that can threaten human health.  The Children’s Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York  has strongly discouraged the installation of artificial turf fields because of the cancer risks to children and adolescent health, and parents are sounding the alarm about their own children’s illnesses. 

But change is slow to come.  Just last year, the City of Philadelphia installed a $7.5 million field at Murphy Recreation Center in South Philadelphia that was supposedly free of PFAS. Now, we’re learning that tests run on the turf used and the testing used to attempt to detect PFAS on this turf was incredibly flawed, leading to results that said the artificial turf was PFAS-free, when in fact it was not.  

This all while Philadelphians – and the nation –  are now grappling with the toxic threat of PFAS-laden turf. Testing by the Philadelphia Inquirer found 16 types of PFAS in the artificial turf used at Veterans Field between 1977 and 1981, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), two of the most well-studied and perilous of the thousands of PFAS being used. Toxicologists familiar with PFAS noted, “the Vet turf findings were concerning and problematic,” With six former Phillies dead from a rare brain cancer, that statement may not be strong enough.

Sadly the problems with synthetic turf, beyond the threat of PFAS, have been widely known and documented for years, from spreading microplastic pollution to contributing to neighborhood heat islands in the era of climate change.  For example, the crumb rubber infill amongst the “grass” blades is a microplastic that immediately begins to migrate beyond the field, polluting the surrounding environment.  The negative impact of crumb rubber microplastic has been seen in several fish species, including acute mortality in coho salmon.  And it’s increasingly clear that the chemicals in synthetic turf are escaping into our air and leaching into our waterways. 

Beyond increasing plastic pollution in our environment, artificial turf has been shown to add to our growing extreme heat problems in a climate-challenged world. Studies show that artificial turf gets dangerously hot on a  summer day — playing surfaces can rise to 170° F, while natural grass rarely rises above 100° even on the hottest days.  In fact, a study at Brigham Young University found that “the surface temperature of the synthetic turf was 37° F higher than asphalt and 86.5° F hotter than natural turf.”  This worsens heat islands in urban neighborhoods and creates a dangerous risk of heat exhaustion and burns for those playing on the field. All while athletes and doctors alike have complained for decades that the hard surfaces and abrasive texture lead to increased injuries.

This threat has added urgency when you consider that Philadelphia officials are commencing a $250 million makeover of South Philly’s FDR park, where they’re proposing to destroy acres of open grasslands and wetlands and replace it with a parking lot-sized athletic field of synthetic turf. As we speak, the Fairmount Park Conservancy is lobbying the City for a zoning variance that would cut down dozens of heritage trees (older trees over 2 feet in diameter) and pave these meadows with a dozen synthetic turf fields and parking lots.  Given the city’s disastrous installation of PFAS-laden turf at South Philadelphia’s Murphy Recreation Facility last year, local residents should certainly be highly skeptical of their proposal to pave FDR Park with synthetic turf. 

PennEnvironment rallies to save the Meadows at FDR ParkPhoto by Nicole Brunet | TPIN

Our children’s developing bodies and brains are vulnerable to toxic chemical exposure. They shouldn’t be heading out into city parks and school yards to unknowingly play on PFAS-laden fields. But it doesn’t need to be that way. 

At PennEnvironment, we’re working to phase out PFAS in consumer products – whether we’re heading out of the soccer field, making microwave popcorn or buying baby gear, we shouldn’t need to worry about being exposed to these toxic forever chemicals. And we’re fighting to prevent more of this toxic turf from being installed, calling on Philadelphia city officials to keep FDR Park wild and reject proposals to install artificial turf fields that would leach PFAS & microplastic into the Delaware River.