Exhaustive Artificial Turf Infill Study Confirms Safety of Crumb Rubber, TPE, Nike Grind, EcoMax and Cork
In response to the questions and concerns about the potential for adverse human health effects from the use of recycled tires in synthetic turf surfaces, FieldTurf consulted leading, FIFA certified, testing agency Labosport to conduct toxicological analyses of the materials used in its turf system. Labosport conducted “Toxicological Analysis of performance infill for synthetic turf fields according to EN 71-3 standard – Safety of toys Part 3: Migration of certain elements.”
The EN 71-3 standard specifies maximum migration limits for three categories of (toy) materials. The purpose of the limits is to minimize children’s exposure to certain potentially toxic elements. The EN 71-3 concerns all toys and materials that might be ingested.
The test method extracts soluble elements from materials using conditions which simulate the material remaining in contact with gastric juices for a period of time after swallowing. The concentrations of the soluble elements are determined quantitatively by two different methods:
Method for determining general elements: Aluminium, Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, Boron, Cadmium, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Lead, Manganese, Mercury, Nickel, Selenium, Strontium, Tin and Zinc;
Method for determining Chromium (III) and Chromium (VI);
Labosport tested the following 5 different FieldTurf infill materials:
Cork – A natural infill option that is harvested from the cork oak trees.
Crumb Rubber – A derivative of recycled tires. The specific rubber tested was cryogenically processed.
EcoMax – An extruded composite of recycled turf and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE).
TPE – A manufactured thermoplastic elastomer (TPE).
Nike Grind – Made from recycled athletic shoes and Nike manufacturing material, these reclaimed materials are ground-up to create an infill material.
The results of the testing confirm that Cork, Crumb Rubber, EcoMax, Nike Grind and TPE all meet / pass the stringent EN 71-3 criteria for all heavy metals, including lead(unit of measure: mg/kg MS)
Looking for a complete copy of the EN 71-3 report? Email us at info@FieldTurf.com and we’ll send it to you. Want to learn more on Turf safety? Click Here.