UMDNJ- EOHSI Crumb Infill and Turf Report – October 31, 2011 Crumb Infill and Turf Characterization for Trace Elements and Organic Materials Submitted by Dr. Paul J. Lioy and Dr. Clifford Weisel Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 170 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Submitted to Mr. Steven Rinaldi NJDEP, Bureau of Recycling and Planning and Dr. Alan Stern NJDEP, Office of Science Trenton, NJ 08625 1 UMDNJ- EOHSI Crumb Infill and Turf Report – October 31, 2011 Executive Summary Project Rationale: A study was undertaken to conduct a thorough evaluation for hazardous chemicals within major product lines of crumb infill and associated turf that are available for use on athletic fields and public parks. This included a quantification of the bio-accessibility of hazardous chemicals found in the crumb infill and associated turf product from both newly purchased materials and in-use fields of different ages. The objective was to provide an independent scientific basis to assist communities in their ability to make decisions on the selection of the materials to be used as artificial infill turf fields based on potential exposure to users of the fields to hazardous agent that might be present in the materials. Methodology: Synthetic lung, sweat and digestive biofluids were analyzed for trace metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and scanned for semi-volatile organic compounds. In addition acid extraction for metals and high temperature volatilization for semi-volatile and volatile organic compounds were done to assess total extractable levels of these compounds. The protocols were followed in order to fill a major data gap identified by the 2008 turf/infill workshop, NYC, NY, that bioaccessibilty studies were needed for the inhalation, dermal and ingestion routes of entry into the body for both organic and inorganic materials. Results: Overall the metals, PAHs and semi-volatile compounds found all classes of materials to be at very low concentrations. Thus, for the metals and compounds identified there would be de minimus exposures and risk among anyone using fields with the exception of lead in a single new turf material. It is therefore prudent to reemphasize the need to avoid lead-based pigments in these materials as coloring agents. For the compounds that have known hazard the levels in the biofluids were below standards for soil cleanup so no formal risk assessment is currently recommended. In addition, the many organic compounds identified in the biofluids for which there are no hazard data currently available were also at very low concentrations so no further risk assessment is currently recommended unless new hazard information becomes available. In the future, the types of bioaccessibily studies conducted as part of these experiments should be completed for all new turf/infill products. 2 UMDNJ- EOHSI Crumb Infill and Turf Report – October 31, 2011 Purpose: To complete a thorough evaluation for hazardous chemicals within major product lines of crumb infill and associated turf that are available for use on athletic fields and public parks. To quantify the bio-accessibility of hazardous chemicals found in the crumb infill and associated turf product. To complete a comparative risk assessment for chemicals found to be at levels that would be of concern to human health for the infill products and applications of the products on actual fields. To provide an independent scientific basis for communities to make decisions on the selection of the materials to be used as artificial infill turf fields. Introduction: There have been concerns expressed about the “safety” of artificial infill turf that is used extensively, or planned to be used for new field projects throughout NJ. Initial concerns were about turf that had lead chromate used to provide the color for the turf, and in NJ, this issue was addressed by research sponsored by the DEP and by advisories issued from the DHSS. However, the issue that still needed to be addressed, and was the subject of this study is the safety of turf with infill that was initially composed primarily of “crumb rubber”. There have been industry studies that were summarized during the summer of 2008 by Chemrisk and others, but those focused primarily on the composition of the material and the durability of the product with minimal information on potential toxicants. However, there is a need to address the volatile and semi-volatile components of the crumb infill to evaluate if potential exposure to these compound present any risk to individuals using the fields. This is especially true for new products that are coming onto the market. At a meeting held by the states located around the NJ –NY metropolitan area on August, 13 2008, the issue of crumb rubber and other infill products was discussed in detail. There was consensus that there were many important gaps associated with our current understanding. Among these are whether there are hazardous compounds present in the primary turf/infill products available to communities within each state and what might be the pathways that could lead to potential exposures to those compounds. Some questions were addressed in a field study conducted by the State of Connecticut that examined volatile organic chemical releases from actual fields with known turf/infill products. Another study was conducted by the State of New York to understand the release and field related impacts of turf/infill materials on the surface water, ground water, and the air, and to characterize the field surface temperature. As identified above, the purposes for the Study Conducted by EOHSI, was to fill a complementary data gap that also had been identified as an issue in NJ. The literature on crumb rubber infill and turf has been growing since 2002. There have been a number of evaluations and many use the same datasets in overviews of available information. Further, many of the actual initial experiments were completed in Europe where the turf material may not be the same as that used in the US., However, recently important studies were 3 UMDNJ- EOHSI Crumb Infill and Turf Report – October 31, 2011 completed in the US since 2002 which can provide insight into the composition and safety of turf material installed in the US (EPA 2009) (Simon 2010) (Lim and Walker 2009) A consistent result was that all studies indicated exposures to VOC’s were minimal. A preliminary study conducted in 2007 by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station1 identified benzothiazole, butylated hydroxyanisole, n-hexadecane, and 4-(tert-octyl) phenol as potential chemicals of concerns. This study, however, was laboratory based and did not include collection and analysis of samples from installed fields. The laboratory study results were substantiated by the field study reported in 2010 (Simcox, Bracker et al. 2010) and were supported in a peer review completed in 2010 (CAS 2010), conducted by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research. The latter evaluated the air quality at three different indoor fields for similar materials.” In the Milone and MacBroom Study (Bristol 2008), some samples were analyzed for volatile nitrosamine content and others for benzothiazole and 4-tert-octyl phenol. Each of these chemicals would be expected to be released from the rubber. The Connecticut study also examined benzothiazole. A vertical profile approach looked at exposure conditions for a variety of athletic events and range in children’s height. The Connecticut Health risk assessment measured exposures at fields with turf infill materials in four locations in the State. The measurements were taken using a combination of personal monitoring and stationary monitoring. The latter were collected on and off the field. The results were “well within the range of typical ambient air pollution and well below the risk targets for VOC and the SVOC Benzothiazole.” The latter had the suggestion of a potential for a slight irritation response for children playing indoors. The Results from the NYS study found similar low concentration results for the air sampling aspects of their field study. In contrast to the Connecticut study, the NYS results were obtained under “worst case” summertime conditions to maximize the potential for high temperatures and significant evaporation of VOC’s and SVOCs. Research by N YS examined var i o us sem i -volatile and volatile compounds from crumb rubber both in the laboratory and in the field. The potential confounder was the lack of measurements of these compounds as emitted from the turf as well as the rubber in t he laborat ory t est s. T he f i el d t est s provided an int egrat ed emission across the full material but were not directly comparable to the laboratory tests. The work will also look at the leachabilty of organics and metals from the crumb rubber . T he N YS st ud i es utilized laboratory and field collection protocols for examining storm wat er and ground wat er cont amination (Lim and Walker 2009), but do not provide information on the bioavailability of the contaminants of these materials to humans since the studies do not include assessm ent o f their release in either lung fluid or total digestive fluids. T hi s gap i s add r essed i n t he current EO H SI st ud i es. In a review by Chem-Risk (ChemRisk 2008) it was stated that “In the Norwegian study, (Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Radium Hospital (2006)) air samples were collected at three indoor artificial turf fields, two of which (Manglerudden and Valhall) used recycled t ire rubber and SBR rubber, respectively, for infill. In Manglerudden, 234 chemical compounds were det ect ed, of which 2 9 were able t o be ident ified. Tot al V O C concentration was 716 μg/ m 3.