My High School just built a turf field this summer. During my entire sports career, I was mostly playing on grass. But now, the times have changed. Nearly every school across the nation has turf fields. From the beginner to the professional level, turf seems to be best surface to play on. However, scientists are now claiming that turf might be a cause of cancer. Is this true? Let’s find out.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/images/synthturf720.jpg

In 2009, University of Washington women’s soccer coach Amy Griffin visited two goalies who were receiving chemotherapy at a Seattle hospital. That day, the nurse giving the treatments said to Griffin and the patients, “Don’t tell me you guys are goalkeepers. You’re the fourth goalkeeper I’ve hooked up this week.” While this is clearly an anecdote, it provides interesting ground for the basis of this question. Is turf actually causing cancer? I am in no position to draw any concrete conclusions yet. We know from Andrew that anecdotes are never enough evidence to formulate a conclusion. But, this comment from the nurse did strike a chord in Griffins mind. Griffin decided to take matters into her own hands. Griffin compiled a list of nearly 200 athletes who have been diagnosed with cancer. All of the athletes on her list played on artificial turf that contains “tiny black rubber pellets.” 150 athletes on the list were soccer players. 95 athletes of those 150 were goalkeepers. Griffin has been coaching soccer for thirty years. She said for the first fifteen years she never heard of her athletes being diagnosed with cancer like this. However, when turf became big, approximately fifteen years ago, Griffin saw and substantial rise in athlete-cancer patients. Of course, correlation does not equal causation. But this is still a very interesting finding.

Unfortunately, studies testing this correlation have not been conducted. The most common evidence is anecdotal. But, this makes sense that studies on this correlation have not been conducted. Is there really an ethical way to test this theory experimentally? It would be completely wrong to force a group of athletes to spend ‘x’ amount of time on a turf field and then have a control group spend time on grass. Of course, one would have to get a large, random sample and make sure the same activities are done on the turf and the grass fields. However, I believe that this would be unethical because if turf fields really do contribute to cancer, then technically the study conductors would be intentionally increasing peoples risk of cancer.

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It is also important to remember that the black turf beads found on turf are actually bits of rubber tires. Tires contain main harmful toxins. In fact, some of the compounds in tires are “known or suspected carcinogens.” The International Agency for Research on Cancer conducted a study of the rubber industry. “Strong and sufficient evidence” for cancer in humans was displayed in a “series of epidemiology studies of rubber fabrication facilities” across the globe. Another study, based on a Taiwan tire crumb factory,  showed that mutagenic actions were 4-5 times higher in those that were exposed to the tire toxins than those who were not.

It is also interesting to look at the type of cancer these athletes are contracting. Many of the cancers that the athletes are diagnosed with are lymphomas. It has been determined that lymphomas are “heavily influenced by environmental factors.” Because the turf beads contain many carcinogenic compounds, that counts as an environmental factor. Also, the overall population of these patients has seen the presence of a single type of tumor. Since the majority of this group is being affected in the exact same way, it is an indication that they have all been exposed to the same types of chemical carcinogens.

We cannot say with clear certainty that synthetic turf contributes to cancer in athletes. However, we must take the following as fairly good evidence:

• 150/200 patients, from Griffins list,  with cancer were athletes who spent a lot of time on synthetic turf
• Tire bits contain harmful carcinogens and tire bits makes turf
• Many athletes are being diagnosed with lymphomas
• Lymphomas are caused by environmental factors

While basically all of this evidence is observational, it raises a lot of questions in my head. There is still not enough research to lead my to believe 100% that turf causes cancer. However, these correlation are enough to make me question the widespread use of turf. For all we know a third variable or chance could be causing these correlations. But, no matter what the case, something is going on and I believe that this is important enough to be further investigated.

What do you think? Does turf scare you now, or are you still not convinced?