The New Jersey Department of Health
and Senior Services (NJDHSS) and the federal Agency
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry/National
Center for Environmental Health (ATSDR/NCEH) were
investigating a contaminated scrap metal facility in
the city of Newark, NJ. One of the contaminants
at the facility was lead. The facility is next to an
athletic field. At the time of the investigation the
NJDHSS and ATSDR/NCEH saw children playing on the
athletic field. Because lead is hazardous to young
children the NJDHSS collected samples from the
athletic field to find out if lead from the scrap
metal facility was migrating to the field. The samples
were tested in a laboratory, which found that there
were high levels of lead in the dust. However,
the source of the lead was the artificial turf fibers,
not the scrap metal facility. Because of the
finding of lead in this field, the NJDHSS began to
test other artificial turf fields to find out if other
artificial turf fields might contain high levels of
lead.
Did the NJDHSS test other artificial
turf fields?
NJDHSS collected artificial turf fiber
samples from 12 other fields from around the State.
The fiber content of the turf was polyethylene, nylon,
or a mix of polyethylene and nylon. The ten fields
with polyethylene had very low or undetectable levels
of lead in the fibers. The two fieldswith nylon fibers
(as did the field in Newark) had high levels of lead.
The lead concentrations were 3,400 and 4,100
milligrams of lead per kilogram of fiber (mg/Kg).
These may be compared with the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection’s standard for residential
cleanups, the Residential Direct Contact Soil Cleanup
Criteria (RDCSCC) of 400 mg/kg in soil. The RDCSCC
value was used in the Newark field because children
less than 7 years of age were observed to be playing
on the field, and the NJDHSS assumes that children
play on the other fields that we sampled, as well.
Were any other artificial turf
products tested?
In addition to municipal and college
artificial turf fields, the NJDHSS also collected
artificial turf samples from consumer products that
are used for residential lawns and play surfaces. Two
of the products that were nylon or nylon/polyethylene
were tested in the laboratory; both of these samples
contained lead at concentrations higher than the
RDCSCC (4,700 and 3,500 mg/Kg, respectively).
What is the NJDHSS planning to do
next?
We do not know if the lead that is in
the artificial turf fibers can enter a child’s body as
easily as lead in
lead-based paint or contaminated soil
does. The department is further examining how much
lead might be available for absorption into the human
body. We expect to have this information by early May
2008.
Because of the potential national
implications of this finding, the New Jersey
Department of Health and Senior Services has contacted
the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to ask for
federal intervention.
What does the NJDHSS recommend in the
interim?
Agencies that have installed, are
installing, or plan to install artificial turf fields
should ask vendors to conduct appropriate testing to
determine the levels of potential contaminants in
components of the turf, including the turf fibers and
in-fill materials.
If a field is found to have high lead
levels, field managers can consider limiting access to
the field, especially for the most vulnerable
population of children under 7 years of age.
As a precaution, until further
guidance is available, custodians of all turf fields,
but especially
turf fields with nylon fibers, can
implement the following recommendations, in addition
to testing their turf field:
o Dust suppression, in the form of
watering down the field, can be conducted before and
after the field is being utilized,
o Encourage individuals who use the
field to perform aggressive hand/body washing after
playing on the field;
o Clothes that were worn on the field
should be taken off inside out and washed separately.
