According to an article in this morning s USA Today, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act to the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, indicate that rubber used to surface playgrounds can be contaminated with lead and other toxins: The Environmental Protection Agency has endorsed rubber play surfaces since 1991, both to protect children from head injuries and prevent tires from ending up in landfills, where they can catch fire or become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Yet EPA officials say they can t vouch for the safety of recycled rubber.
ACSH staffers have heard of similar concerns before. For some time, we ve danced around the issue of the alleged danger of Astroturf because there are supposedly trace levels of lead in it, recalls ACSH's Jeff Stier.
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross doesn t see any cause for alarm: There is probably a miniscule amount of lead in Astroturf and other recycled rubber products. The question is, how much of a threat do they pose, if any, and what safer material might replace them? Any other material will probably come under similar criticism.
Stier s article on Forbes.com will look increasingly relevant as risk-tradeoff becomes a more prevalent theme in child safety. The problem is that parents will see this as a risk for their kids safety, so they won t take kids to a playground, says Stier. Instead, they ll sit at home and be deprived of healthy exercise.
That s the problem with trying to keep kids too safe, says ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava. They re never 100% safe, and trying to make it that way can sometimes have adverse effects.
ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan sees the hype in simpler terms: Another slow news day, another scare.