Carbon Nanotubes and Tire Crumb Rubber infill

In 2012, Jim Novak wrote about Nano particles:
"The concern: Carbon black nanoparticles make up 30 per cent or more of car tires; the same tires that are pulverized for creating the tire crumb used on artificial turf playing fields and on playgrounds for children. Engineered carbon nanotubes and other engineered nanoparticles (zinc, titanium, etc.) are often made in specific shapes to give added strength and durability to tires and other goods. It is the long thin nature of engineered carbon nanotubes that has some scientists drawing a comparison between the possible health hazards of tire crumb with asbestos."

https://www.turfandrec.com/exposure-to-crumb-rubber-nanoparticles-could-lead-to-serious-health-issues-researchers-2986/

Here is a compilation of information on carbon nanotubes:

• New!  12-8-19: “The Technical Report states that given the long half-life and persistence of MWCNT in the lung, even short periods of exposure at such levels would lead to chronic high-level exposures.” https://www.natlawreview.com/article/ntp-publishes-technical-report-toxicity-studies-1020-long-multiwalled-carbon

• Multiple resources, various dates:  scientific studies on hazards from inhaling carbon nanotubes.  https://www.google.com/search?q=Inhalation+Exposure+to+Carbon+Nanotubes+(CNT)+and+Carbon+Nanofibers+(CNF)%3A+Methodology+and+Dosimetry.+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fpubmed%2F%3Fterm%3D26361791&oq=Inhalation+Exposure+to+Carbon+Nanotubes+(CNT)+and+Carbon+Nanofibers+(CNF)%3A+Methodology+and+Dosimetry.+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fpubmed%2F%3Fterm%3D26361791&aqs=chrome..69i57.467j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

• 3-22-18:  Are Carbon Nanotubes a New Asbestos?  “Over three separate study groups, between 10% and 25% of animals exposed to the fibres went on to develop mesothelioma.”  https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/articles/are-carbon-nanotubes-a-new-asbestos-298901, citing References

1.  2017:  Lee Jeremy, & Ramakrishna Seeram. (2017). Carbon Nanotube Wires and Cables: Near‐Term Applications and Future Perspectives. Nanotechnology for Energy Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527696109.ch21

2.  10-4-10:  Mercer, R. R., `Hubbs, A. F., Scabilloni, J. F., Wang, L., Battelli, L. A., Schwegler-Berry, D., … Porter, D. W. (2010). Distribution and persistence of pleural penetrations by multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 7, 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-8977-7-28

3.  2-16-16:  Fatkhutdinova, L. M., Khaliullin, T. O., Vasil’yeva, O. L., Zalyalov, R. R., Mustafin, I. G., Kisin, E. R., … Shvedova, A. A. (2016). Fibrosis biomarkers in workers exposed to MWCNTs. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 299, 125–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2016.02.016 

• 4-29-16:  Nanotechnology especially carbon nanotubes CNTs as very similar to asbestos, National Association of Insurance Commissioners NAIC http://www.naic.org/cipr_topics/topic_nanotechnology.htm   Same conclusion as 12-15 Law360 article from Crowell & Moring on expectation that asbestos law & science will be directly transferred to any future litigation over AT's carbon nanotubes: "If allegations of CNTs in crumb rubber find traction, any challenges or litigation would likely incorporate the world of asbestos medicine and experts.”  https://www.crowell.com/files/20151214-Turf-Wars-The-Attack-On-Crumb-Rubber-Synthetic-Turf-Anderson-Burton.pdf
• 12-14-15: “Some recent articles make the claim that crumb rubber may contain carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CNTs have come under scrutiny as posing risks similar to those of asbestos fibers.[14] None of the above or other studies or reports specifically addresses (CNTs), but then there is no confirmed evidence that crumb rubber even contains CNTs. If allegations of CNTs in crumb rubber find traction, any challenges or litigation would likely incorporate the world of asbestos medicine and experts.” [citing M. Jacobs, M.. Ellenbecker, et al., Precarious Promise: A Case Study of Engineered Carbon Nanotubes, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Mass. (Mar. 2014)]

Excerpt of summary: “Warning signs have emerged, however. CNTs share important physical characteristics with ultrafine air pollution particles as well as with asbestos fibers – both recognized as seriously toxic. Mounting numbers of toxicological studies now demonstrate irreversible health effects in laboratory animals, but it is unclear whether similar effects have occurred in humans exposed at work or through environmental releases.” (Emphasis added by Diana C.   In my opinion “unclear” re: humans, simply means no one is running a controlled study.  But we are definitely running a completely random experiment.)

AND: 

“It was like a two-legged stool: well founded in physics and chemistry, but flawed by a missing third leg – the biology of the environment [including people].”1(p133) Industrial, agricultural and commercial uses of new synthetic organic chemicals proliferated without attention to public health and environmental impacts. The legacy of this technological revolution is a toxic brew of chemicals that are ubiquitous in the environment and in our bodies, resulting in a litany of environmental and public health problems: cancer, groundwater contamination, hormone dysfunction, asthma, fish kills, birth defects and breast milk contamination. Many of these outcomes can be traced back to the chemists’ knowledge, creativity, and market-driven innovation. At the same time, synthetic organic chemistry resulted in tremendous life-saving and life-improving advances: antibiotics, cancer drugs, plastics, and countless industrial chemicals that enable production of nearly every important technology on which our economies depend. We leave it to historians and ethicists to decide if the explosion in innovation from synthetic organic chemistry was “good.”

• 12-14-15:  Law360, “Turf Wars: The Attack On Crumb Rubber Synthetic Turf,” by William Anderson and Emma Burton, Crowell & Moring, 12-14-15.  https://www.law360.com/articles/737107/turf-wars-the-attack-on-crumb-rubber-synthetic-turf

• 9-11-15:  “Carbon nanotubes (CNT) and nanofibers (CNF) are used increasingly in a broad array of commercial products. Given current understandings, the most significant life-cycle exposures to CNT/CNF occur from inhalation when they become airborne at different stages of their life cycle, including workplace, use, and disposal. Increasing awareness of the importance of physicochemical properties as determinants of toxicity of CNT/CNF and existing difficulties in interpreting results of mostly acute rodent inhalation studies to date necessitate a reexamination of standardized inhalation testing guidelines.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26361791
• 7-1-2011:  CNTs producing asbestos-like cancer in mice: http://www.cir.ed.ac.uk/publication/length-dependent-retention-carbon-nanotubes-pleural-space-mice-initiates-sustained  (2011) and http://www.cir.ed.ac.uk/publication/asbestos-carbon-nanotubes-and-pleural-mesothelium-review-hypothesis-regarding-role-long  (2010).
• 10-4-10:  CNTs: “The results document that MWCNT penetrations of alveolar macrophages, the alveolar wall, and visceral pleura are both frequent and sustained. In addition, the findings demonstrate the need to investigate the chronic toxicity of MWCNT at these sites.”   Distribution and persistence of pleural penetrations by multi-walled carbon nanotubes,https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20920331

Crumb Rubber in Playgrounds and Children’s Health

Crumb Rubber in Playgrounds and Children’s Health

March 20, 2018

Recycled rubber artificial turf and similar products were introduced into athletic fields and playgrounds in the 1990s to make playing surfaces more comfortable. This recycled rubber comes from automobile tires, which are ground into very small rubber pellets, called crumb.

Scientists and doctors have expressed concern about crumb rubber use in play grounds and artificial turf because safety testing of these products has not been conducted, and tires are known to contain heavy metals, cancer-causing chemicals, and other toxic substances. Children can be exposed to the harmful substances in crumb rubber when the pellets touch their skin, when small pieces are accidentally swallowed, and when some of the chemicals are released from the rubber in the form of gas which can be inhaled, or enter the environment through leaching.

In this podcast, learn more about what scientists are doing to understand the health risks of crumb rubber in playgrounds, and what you can do to reduce children’s exposure to potentially harmful contaminants.

Interviewees: Robert Wright, M.D. and Homero Harari, Sc.D.

Interviewees

Robert Wright, M.D., is a pediatrician and environmental epidemiologist at the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He serves as the chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health as well as the director of the Institute of Exposomic Research, and the Children’s Environmental Health Center.

Wright wrote a Perspective on Recycled Rubber Playing Surfaces, where he and co-author Sara Evans, Ph.D., discussed the significant gaps in knowledge about the safety of crumb rubber playing surfaces. Several potential dangers discussed (and outlined in the Consumer Guide developed by Wright and colleagues), include impacts from extreme heat, inhalation and ingestion of chemicals in rubber, small rubber pieces that can be tracked into homes, and chemicals leaching into groundwater. Wright is a co-investigator on a project working with Homero Harari, Sc.D., Evans, and Maida Galvez, M.D. to characterize exposure to crumb rubber used in artificial turf fields.

Wright has published over 200 research studies, mainly focusing on environmental factors, such as exposures to chemical mixtures, that influence children’s health and neurodevelopment.

Homero Harari, Sc.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, and member of the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai. Harari’s research focuses on understanding the chemical exposure effects of turf and crumb rubber on child health and development.

Harari is the lead investigator on the research study with Wright that is working to characterize exposure to crumb rubber used in artificial turf fields. This project involves community input to help identify research questions that are of particular interest.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about crumb rubber on Toxipedia. 
• See the Factsheet on artificial turf and children’s health developed by Mount Sinai.
• Read more on the New York Health Departments Factsheet on crumb rubber.
• Check out a video about crumb rubber and children’s health from Mount Sinai
• Check out the Consumer Guide on crumb rubber and artificial turf for more information and recommendations from the Mouth Sinai Children’s Environmental Health center.
• Read more about Federal Research on recycled tire crumb rubber used on athletic playing fields.
• Check out the Crumb Rubber Information Center from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• Read the Perspective on Recycled Rubber Playing Surfaces written by Wright and Evans.

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/translational/peph/podcasts/crumb_rubber/

Will California Play Fair with Synthetic Turf?

California has been passed the ball -- to conduct a realistic and credible study of tire crumb synthetic turf.
Does the government have what it takes?
​The following is a chronicling of its progress, (and history):

SYNTHETIC TURF, the facts + the history