There's a headline in the Daily Mail today which is quite scary. Obviously there are headlines everyday in the Daily Mail which are quite scary but this one relates to our industry.

"Fears artificial football pitches made from old tyres could be a cancer risk: Families in America claim loved ones developed the disease after playing on rubber turf" - not pleasant reading at all.

This story which has kind of been doing the rounds for a while now is based on claims from the U.S that artificial pitches are a cancer risk after a study suggested the diagnoses of hundreds of young players was linked to the surface.

The Daily Mail says "Fears have been raised that rubber substances made from old tyres used in 3G surfaces contain toxic chemicals including mercury, lead, benzene and arsenic, according to the report. There is concern among US families that these chemicals are to blame for the cancer diagnosis of scores of young players, and in particular goalkeepers who dive around on the pitches."

The makers of artificial pitches strongly deny that there is any such risk.

The Mail quotes grieving mother June Leahy, whose University of Miami goalkeeper daughter Austen Everett died of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the age of 25 in 2012, as saying, "I have no doubt Austen's illness was linked to her love for football. It's horrific to think the sport she loved could have killed her.

"I'd urge the authorities in the UK to stop using the pitches until a definitive answer can be found on whether they are safe or not."

The Mail goes on to report that Scottish League One team Stenhousemuir is consulting FIFA and trade body the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA) over the health scare.

So all very worrying reading and very serious allegations.

However just last week a completely opposing view came out of the Sports Turf Managers Conference in San Diego.

Athletic Turf magazine in America reported that an attendee of a panel discussion asked about crumb rubber, and panelist John Sorochan, Ph.D., professor of turfgrass science at the University of Tennessee volunteered his opinion.

“What I have seen so far from people that are experts and the toxicology reports… they aren’t seeing anything to be alarmed. It’s below what they would think would be hazardous. There are plenty of other ways to be exposed to rubber.”

For those who want to learn more about crumb rubber, Sorochan recommends looking at the collection of 43 scientific articles on Penn State University’s plant science website. Various research from Penn State, articles from scientific journals and studies conducted by state governments are listed.

The most recent scientific article on the website is titled, “Environmental health impacts of artificial turf: a review.” The abstract of the article addresses concerns of crumb rubber, but agrees with Sorochan.

“Tire rubber crumb contains a range of organic contaminants and heavy metals that can volatilize into the air and/or leach into the percolating rainwater, thereby posing a potential risk to the environment and human health. A limited number of studies have shown that the concentrations of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds in the air above artificial turf fields were typically not higher than the local background, while the concentrations of heavy metals and organic contaminants in the field drainages were generally below the respective regulatory limits. Health risk assessment studies suggested that users of artificial turf fields, even professional athletes, were not exposed to elevated risks. Preliminary life cycle assessment suggested that the environmental impacts of artificial turf fields were lower than equivalent grass fields.”

Sorochan went on to say that essentially more research was needed to reach a definitive conclusion.

So where does that leave us all? I suppose just waiting for the experts to present evidence compelling enough to fully disprove the opposing view?

Until then it seems that you can't go far wrong with good old natural turf!