Saturday, November 24, 2012

Councilmembers keep chemicals on fields that they don't want on your driveway.

Artificial turf football field crumb rubber contains the exact same chemical that the Montgomery County Council has banned from asphalt driveways.  Why would the Council only ban the use of the chemical in your driveway and not on the playgrounds your children use? Because the Governor is pushing artificial turf fields in the state of Maryland, and he's their buddy? So no ban of PAH's in artificial turf football fields?  

[No. 31] Spanish research confirms existence of dangerous chemicals in crumb rubber and other used-tire products. The study analyzed a large number of recycled tire playgrounds and commercial pavers. It confirmed the occurrence of numerous harmful compounds at high levels among thirty-one selected targets (PAHs, vulcanisation additives, antioxidants, plasticizers).  It found that the total PAH concentration was remarkable. The study called attention to presence of B[a]P and noted that analytes were detected in the headspace SPME experiments at room temperature. The following is an abstract of Maria Llomparta, Lucia Sanchez-Pradoa, J. Pablo Lamasa, Carmen Garcia-Jaresa, Enrique Rocab and Thierry Dagnacc, “Hazardous organic chemicals in rubber recycled tire playgrounds and pavers,” an original paper from a multi-departmental investigators at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, published on 22 August 2012 on line   http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2012.07.053 and made available athttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653512009848  :
In this study, the presence of hazardous organic chemicals in surfaces containing recycled rubber tires is investigated. Direct material analyses using solvent extraction, as well as SPME analysis of the vapour phase above the sample, were carried out. Twenty-one rubber mulch samples were collected from nine different playgrounds. In addition, seven commercial samples of recycled rubber pavers were acquired in a local store of a multinational company. All samples were extracted by ultrasound energy, followed by analysis of the extract by GC–MS. The analysis confirmed the presence of a large number of hazardous substances including PAHs, phthalates, antioxidants (e.g. BHT, phenols), benzothiazole and derivatives, among other chemicals. The study evidences the high content of toxic chemicals in these recycled materials. The concentration of PAHs in the commercial pavers was extremely high, reaching values up to 1%. In addition, SPME studies of the vapour phase above the samples confirm the volatilisation of many of those organic compounds. Uses of recycled rubber tires, especially those targeting play areas and other facilities for children, should be a matter of regulatory concern.

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