There needs to be real conversations had about artificial grass or, as it’s incorrectly labeled today, “Turf”. There are a multitude of safety, health, and financial concerns that the companies producing (in tandem with the EPA) these synthetic surfaces have somehow convinced millions of Americans don’t exist.
To list them:
- More likely to sustain lower-body injuries (the surface does not “give” when athletes are making athletic moves)
- Links to increased risk of cancer (result of playing on used tires)
- Heat-related injuries and diseases (more than double the temperature of a natural grass field)
- Financial strain on high schools and colleges (over an 8 year period, the cost is approximately 300% the cost of a natural grass field)
- Water run-off concerns; as rain runs off the field/through drainage, toxic chemicals that exist in the old tires filter through the water into local water streams and wells
These surfaces are also not “maintenance free” as the companies have pitched to local communities. The fields need to be groomed and treated for various skin-related diseases (like wrestling mats are after every practice).
I hope to have continued discussion and open conversation about the massive implications behind a now majority of high schools and colleges electing to install these potentially deadly surfaces. Few studies have ever been conducted on these problems and most of them that have were paid for by the Turf companies themselves. Let’s give our kids and our young athletes safer and healthier playing surfaces by making grass real again!