The National Center for Health Research is a nonprofit research center staffed by scientists, medical professionals, and health experts who analyze and review research on a range of health issues. We conduct studies, we scrutinize research done by others, and we try to make sense of conflicting research findings. Our goal is to explain that information so it can be used to improve policies, programs, services, and products. Thank you for the opportunity to share our views concerning the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) priorities for fiscal year 2019 and 2020. We respect the essential role of the CPSC, as well as the challenges you face in selecting the most important priorities.
I’m trained as an epidemiologist at Yale Medical School, and I was on the faculty at Yale and Vassar and a researcher at Harvard before moving to Washington, D.C. as a Congressional Fellow in the program sponsored by the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS). While our Center’s mission overlaps with much of the work of the CPSC, today I will talk as a scientist about safety risks that you don’t hear as much about – the ones that we can’t see.
We are surrounded by chemicals in the air we breathe, the table in front of me, and the dust in the room. Today I will focus on three issues involving chemicals in products that affect our health and our children’s health. These issues are clearly consistent with the CPSC priorities. We are very concerned about flame retardants and phthalates, both of which migrate out of products and into the dust we breathe and touch. We’re also very concerned about artificial turf fields and playgrounds, which contain a range of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and other toxic materials that can harm children’s development and possibly increase risk for cancer as these children grow up.
Organohalogen Flame Retardants
Thank you for voting to initiate rulemaking on non-polymeric organohalogen flame retardants (OFRs) and to provide guidance for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to avoid OFRs.1 We urge you to convene a Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) as soon as possible and develop regulations to address OFRs in children’s products, upholstered residential furniture, mattresses/mattress pads, and the plastic casing of electronic devices. In addition, it is essential to consider current flammability standards to determine if there are changes that would improve their safety from both chemical exposures and potential fire.
Since OFRs are not bound to products, they migrate out of products and into dust, and thus get onto our skin and food as well as into the air we breathe. Because so many products are made with these chemicals and because they are so long-lasting, consumers are repeatedly exposed day after day.2,3 In addition, many OFRs bioaccumulate in our food supply.4,5,6,7 As a result, nearly all people in the U.S. have OFRs in their bodies. 8
OFRs have been associated with various health problems, including disrupting hormones, altering brain development, and harming reproductive health, such as reduced ability to get and stay pregnant and the timing of puberty.5,9,10,11 While not all OFRs have been sufficiently studied to determine whether all are unsafe, those that have been sufficiently studied have proved to be harmful to health.
While we recognize that the Commission must be concerned about fire hazards as well, it seems that these flame retardants may not be effective at preventing deaths in real world situations.12,13 When the chemicals burn during a fire, the inhaled smoke is more toxic to humans, and exposures could result in serious harms, including death.
Artificial Turf and Playground Surfaces
We appreciate the CPSC’s ongoing efforts to investigate the safety of crumb rubber on playgrounds and playing fields. This requires your immediate attention, because artificial turf fields are becoming increasingly popular surfaces for fields and playgrounds where children are exposed day after day, year after year. And yet, the materials used are often treated as “trade secrets” making it impossible to know exactly what they are, which ones are safer, and which ones are more dangerous. We encourage you to closely evaluate the research that has been done, focusing on independently funded research rather than industry claims. We also urge you to carefully examine the EPA/CDCs studies when they are completed, and to develop rules that will protect our children from harm. We urge you to convene a Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) to examine the short-term and long-term risks of different types of artificial turf used in playing fields and children’s playgrounds.
Crumb rubber contains chemicals with known health concerns, which are released into the air and onto skin and clothing and even into children’s ears and noses. This is inevitable for a product that is outdoors and in constant use. The chemicals include endocrine disruptors such as phthalates, heavy metals such as lead and zinc, as well as other carcinogens and skin irritants such as some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).14,15,16,17,18,19 While one time or sporadic exposures are unlikely to cause long-term harm, children’s repeated exposures over the years, especially during critical developmental periods, raise the likelihood of serious harm.
These fields can also cause short-term harms. Artificial turf generates dust which may exacerbate children’s asthma.20,21 Fields heat up to temperatures far higher than ambient temperature, reaching temperatures that are more than 70 degrees warmer than nearby grass; for example, 180 degrees when the temperature is in the high 90’s and 150-170 degrees on a sunny day when the air temperature is only in the 70’s. 22,23,24 This can cause heat stress and burns.
Fields made of crumb rubber have been marketed as reducing injuries compared to grass. However, research has shown that this is not the case. We have spoken to students harmed by turf burn, and some studies have indicated increased risk for joint injuries and brain injury.25,26
We need to know more about the risks of “virgin rubber” compared to “recycled tires.” However, we already know that “virgin” rubber is made from many of the same chemicals that have these health concerns.27,28
Phthalates in Children’s and Household Products
CPSC has helped millions of American children by finalizing the phthalate rule to ban five additional phthalates (DINP, DPENP DHEXP, DCHP, DIBP) in children’s toys and care products.
The next priority should be for CPSC to expand its work on phthalates to include other household products. Children are exposed to many products with the same phthalates as those that are banned in toys and products specifically for children. Restricting the use of phthalates in common household products would reduce exposure for young children and also older children, pregnant women and other adults. Phthalates in household dust can be harmful regardless of what products it comes from and prenatal exposure is of particular concern.
Phthalate exposure has been associated with an increased risk for early puberty and reproductive problems.29,30,31 In utero exposure or exposure through breast milk puts the developing fetus, neonate, or infant at serious risk of abnormal neurological and reproductive development.32
In conclusion, endocrine disruptors and chemicals in common consumer products that do not stay bound to those products get into the air and dust and thus into our bodies. These chemicals tend to pose greater risks to fetuses and children. There are large gaps in our knowledge about the chemicals in the products on the market. Ideally, all of these chemicals would be evaluated in the final product for health concerns before it was sold. Since that is not happening, we must constantly play catch-up as health concerns are identified. Too often this leads to cases of false claims regarding the safety of new products that we later learn are as harmful or even more harmful that the ones they are replacing. While research is lacking regarding the exact extent of the dangers of many of these products, there is already sufficient evidence to cause concern. We need CPSC to address those as soon as possible.
References:
- Consumer Product Safety Commission. (2017) Guidance document on hazardous additive, non-polymeric organohalogen flame retardants in certain consumer products. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/09/28/2017-20733/guidance-document-on-hazardous-additive-non-polymeric-organohalogen-flame-retardants-in-certain
- Gramatica P, Cassani S, Sangion A. (2016) Are some “safer alternatives” hazardous as PBTs? The case study of new flame retardants. J Hazard Mater. 306:237-246.
- Allgood JM, Vahid KS, Jeeva K, Tang IW, Ogunseitan OA. (2017) Spatiotemporal analysis of human exposure to halogenated flame retardant chemicals. Sci Total Environ. 609:272-276.
- Lupton SJ, Hakk H. (2017) Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in US meat and poultry: 2012-13 levels, trends and estimated consumer exposures. Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 34(9):1584-1595.
- Lyche JL, Rosseland C, Berge G, Polder A. (2014) Human health risk associated with brominated flame-retardants (BFRs). Environ Int. 74:170-180.
- Schecter A, Colacino J, Patel K, Kannan K, Yun SH, Haffner D, Harris TR, Birnbaum L. (2010) Polybrominated diphenyl ether levels in foodstuffs collected from three locations from the United States. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 243(2):217-24.
- Widelka M, Lydy MJ, Wu Y, Chen D. (2016) Statewide surveillance of halogenated flame retardants in fish in Illinois, USA. Environ Pollut. 214:627-634.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2015) Fourth national report on human exposure to environmental chemicals, updated tables. http:/www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/.
- Dishaw L, Macaulay L, Roberts SC, Stapleton HM. (2014) Exposures, mechanisms, and impacts of endocrine-active flame retardants. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 0:125-133.
- Hendriks HS, Westerink RHS. (2015) Neurotoxicity and risk assessment of brominated and alternative flame retardants. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 52:248-269.
- Kim YR, Harden FA, Toms LM, Norman RE. (2014) Health consequences of exposure to brominated flame retardants: A systematic review. Chemosphere 106:1-19.
- McKenna S, Birtles R, Dickens K, Walker R, Spearpoint M, Stec AA, Hull TR. (2018) Flame retardants in UK furniture increase smoke toxicity more than they reduce fire growth rate. Chemosphere. 196:429-439.
- Shaw SD, Blum A, Weber R, Kannan K, Rich D, Lucas D, Koshland CP, Dobraca D, Hanson S, Birnbaum LS. (2010) Halogenated flame retardants: Do the fire safety benefits justify the risks? Rev Environ Health 25:261-305.
- Llompart M, Sanchez-Prado L, Lamas JP, Garcia-Jares C, et al. (2013) Hazardous organic chemicals in rubber recycled tire playgrounds and pavers. Chemosphere. 90(2):423-431.
- Marsili L, Coppola D, Bianchi N, Maltese S, Bianchi M, Fossi MC. (2014) Release of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals from rubber crumb in synthetic turf fields: Preliminary hazard assessment for athletes. Journal of Environmental and Analytical Toxicology. 5:(2).
- California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). (2007) Evaluation of health effects of recycled waste wires in playground and track products. Prepared for the California Integrated Waste Management Board. http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publications/Detail.aspx?PublicationID=1206
- Kim S, Yang J-Y, Kim H-H, Yeo I-Y, Shin D-C, and Lim Y-W. (2012) Health risk assessment of lead ingestion exposure by particle sizes in crumb rubber on artificial turf considering bioavailability. Environmental Health and Toxicology. 27, e2012005. http://doi.org/10.5620/eht.2012.27.e2012005
- S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. (2017) Tox Town (Environmental health concerns and toxic chemicals where you live, work, and play): Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=80
- Armstrong B, Hutchinson E, Unwin J, and Fletcher T. (2004) Lung cancer risk after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a review and meta-analysis. Environmental Health Perspectives, 112(9), 970.
- Shalat SL. (2011) An evaluation of potential exposures to lead and other metals as the result of aerosolized particulate matter from artificial turf playing fields. Submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. http://www.nj.gov/dep/dsr/publications/artificial-turf-report.pdf
- Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center. (2017) Artificial turf: A health-based consumer guide. http://icahn.mssm.edu/files/ISMMS/Assets/Departments/Environmental%20Medicine%20and%20Public%20Health/CEHC%20Consumer%20Guide%20to%20Artificial%20Turf%20May%202017.pdf
- Thoms AW, Brosnana JT, Zidekb JM, Sorochana JC. (2014) Models for predicting surface temperatures on synthetic turf playing surfaces. Procedia Engineering. 72:895-900. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705814006699
- Penn State’s Center for Sports Surface Research. (2012) Synthetic turf heat evaluation- progress report. http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/ssrc/documents/heat-progress-report.pdf
- Serensits TJ, McNitt AS, Petrunak DM. (2011) Human health issues on synthetic turf in the USA. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology. 225(3), 139-146.
- Balazs GC, Pavey GJ, Brelin AM, Pickett A, Keblish DJ, Rue JP. (2015) Risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury in athletes on synthetic playing surfaces: A systematic review. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 43(7):1798-804.
- Theobald P, Whitelegg L, Nokes LD, Jones MD. (2010) The predicted risk of head injury from fall-related impacts on to third-generation artificial turf and grass soccer surfaces: a comparative biomechanical analysis. Sports Biomechanics. 9(1):29-37.
- Canepari S, Castellano P, Astolfi ML, Materazzi S, Ferrante R, Fiorini D, Curini R. (2018) Release of particles, organic compounds, and metals from crumb rubber used in synthetic turf under chemical and physical stress. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 25(2):1448-1459.
- Kim S, Yang JY, Kim HH, Yeo IY, Shin DC, Lim YW. (2012) Health risk assessment of lead ingestion exposure by particle sizes in crumb rubber on artificial turf considering bioavailability. Environ Health Toxicol. 27:e2012005. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278598/
- Chen Q, Yang H, Zhou N, Sun L, et al. (2017) Phthalate exposure, even below US EPA reference doses, was associated with semen quality and reproductive hormones: Prospective MARHCS study in general population. Environ Int. 104:58-68.
- Mariana M, Feiteiro J, Verde I, Cairrao E. (2016) The effects of phthalates in the cardiovascular and reproductive systems: A review. Environ Int. 94:758-776.
- Yi Wen, Shu-Dan Liu, Xun Lei, Yu-Shuang Ling, Yan Luo, and Qin Liu.(2015) Association of PAEs with precocious puberty in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 12(12): 15254–15268. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4690910/
- Consumer Product Safety Commission. (2014) Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel on Phthalates and Phthalate Alternatives. https://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/169876/CHAP-REPORT-FINAL.pdf