Heat and Health Impacts

FIFA Quality Programme for Football Turf Handbook of Requirements (2015 Edition)

The manufacturer should be asked to supply to the purchaser an assurance that the sports surface together with its supporting layers, does not contain in its finished state any substance which is known to be toxic, mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic when in contact with the skin. Furthermore that no such substances will be released as a vapour or dust during normal use. (page 27)

Systematic Assessment of Surface Temperatures and Associated Environmental Impacts – Dr Sebastian Pfautsch

Synthetic turf is also widely used in playgrounds of parks, schools, early learning centres and increasingly around residential homes. These applications aim to benefit from the durability of the material, its visual appearance as ‘green grassy’ surface without the need for irrigation, and general low maintenance. However, synthetic turf, as small-scale application in a front garden or
neighbourhood playground, or as large-scale application on a professional soccer field comes with a range of environmental impacts.

Sports, Climate Change and Legal Liability – 2024 Report from EDO – Summary

As the most well-resourced and influential stakeholders in the sporting world, sporting governing bodies (particularly national bodies) have an elevated duty to ensure that they identify and comprehensively manage the risks of climate change in ways that do not exacerbate the problem, but rather contribute to mitigation and adaptation solutions.

Artificial Turf: A Health-Based Consumer Guide

Based upon the presence of known toxic substances in tire rubber and the lack of comprehensive safety studies, The Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai urges a moratorium on the use artificial turf generated from recycled rubber tires.

Eight takeaways from The Inquirer’s yearlong investigation into ‘forever chemicals’

Sprinturf, the turf’s manufacturer, had assured the city that the field was PFAS-free, and shared a lab report to support its claim. The newspaper asked three PFAS experts to independently review the report. Each said the results were misleading and inadequate, and that the field likely still contained forever chemicals. “The city was bamboozled,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA official who is now the director of science policy for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.