As temperatures rise on ballfields across America, so do concerns over the piles of tire waste upon which children play. Synthetic turf playing fields lie atop heaps of finely ground recycled rubber from old tires. In playgrounds, chopped up tire mulch is becoming as common as dirt.
“My position is not against grinding up tires, my position is that we shouldn’t be putting the crumb rubber into places where children will come into close contact with it. They are biologically more vulnerable to carcinogenic chemicals than adults because their cells, their organs, are going through such rapid growth and development. They’re not yet fully formed. I would say the first priority for the existing playgrounds is to get rid of crumb rubber where little infants play on it. Get it out.” - Dr. Philip Landrigan, Dean for Global Health, Mount Sinai Hospital
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