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EPA Investigating Recycled Tires on Playgrounds
Categories: Health & Safety
Are safety features making the playground dangerous? Image: sxc.hu
Loose tire mulch is annoying enough with its strong scent and uncanny ability to infiltrate sandals and Crocs. More importantly, EPA scientists have called for a wider health study, pointing to gaps in the scientific evidence. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility objects to the EPA's endorsement of recycled tires without broader research, recently releasing a January 2008 EPA/Denver office memo addressed to EPA/Washington that requested a neutral stance on recycled tires for play areas until more is known about potential health risks to children. New York City is even backing away from tire crumbs for any new sports fields.
The EPA expects results from a limited study shortly, but remains undecided on broader testing. Perhaps a call from above will ignite new research -- President Obama's daughters are jumping in this stuff over at the new White House playground. Here's one solution: How about returning to carcinogen-free grass and a little mud on rainy days instead?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pierce Hibma 6-10-2009 @ 3:44PM
I know that playgrounds were an integral part of my childhood experience and I'm guessing it's the same way for many more. I hope my children get to have the same types of positive experiences. I'm rooting for the EPA and local cities to make parks and playgrounds safe and a priority for the future.
http://HSSSblog.com
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David Robinson 6-11-2009 @ 12:35AM
Unfortunately, a return to grass and ground(mud) will lead to a return to fractures including fractures of the skull which may result in death.
David Robinson
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LS 6-11-2009 @ 9:44AM
Really? Are you kidding me? How often does a broken skull happen?
I hate to pull out this old, tired phrase, but.... When I was a kid.... we played on slides made of metal, with shiny surfaces that soaked up the sun and burned our legs if we didn't move fast enough. We climbed to the top of the Monkey Bars (pausing to swing upside-down from our knees, trapeze-style, for a while), 10 feet above the ground then jumped off, pretending to be Superman for that split-second that we were airborne. We climbed up the twisty-slide, only to be knocked back by another kid coming screaming down from above. We swung on swings, got ourselves impossibly high, and leapt off, landing hard on packed sand or -EGADS!!!- grass. We spun the merry-go-round and shot ourselves off, we climbed on and under the teeter-totter while others were using it.
And we're still here. So we occasionally got hurt. It's part of childhood. When we got hurt, we learned to get up, dust ourselves off, and get back in the game, and maybe not do THAT again.
I'm sorry, but the argument of, "somebody might get hurt" doesn't fly with me anymore. Your kids could get hurt falling out of bed at night. Do you require them to sleep on a pallet on the floor? The could choke on a piece of cereal while eating breakfast each morning. Do you mash everything into a harmless gruel for them?
At some point, we have to let them fall, so they know how to get up.
And frankly, I'll take a broken wrist over a lifetime of cancer from the carcinogens ANY DAY. Broken bones heal. Lung cancer usually does not.
David Robinson 6-11-2009 @ 9:53PM
About 10% of all childhood accidents occur in the playground ranking them 3rd behind home and traffic accidents. Approximately 5% of all playground accidents result in hospitalisation. In general the type of injury that occurs in a playground accident does not differ much from accidents that occur in childhood from other causes.
Of course should the tyres prove carcinogenic we should go back to woodchips which were the first substance to be shown to significantly reduce the impact of playground accidents when compared to accidents when the surface on which children fell was the ground.
David Robinson
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LS 6-11-2009 @ 10:19PM
Um.... David? You just defeated your own argument.
First off, the stats you quote states that approximately 1 out of every 200 playground accidents result in hospitalization. That could be anything from a cut requiring stitches to a serious injury. I'm willing to bet, though I have no proof, that the majority of that 5% of 10% that you quote is on the lighter side (the stitches, rather than serious injury). Further, you state that the playground incidence is no higher than that of normal childhood "wear and tear". So why should we be so freaked out over grass or ground under the playground equipment if the injury incidence is no higher?
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David Robinson 6-15-2009 @ 11:19PM
Hospitalisation means admitted to hospital - not just attending the emergency department. The range of injuries are similar to those suffered in all accidents including traffic accidents, many of which are extremely serious. I am a grear beleiver in letting children "go and grow" but where is the harm in putting wood chips under the equipment which has been PROVEN to reduce injuries.
mama-g 6-12-2009 @ 12:47PM
I am very concerned right now about using tire crumbs in playgrounds. We have these in many parks in the city I live in. When I go here on a hot day with my son I cannot stay long because I begin to feel suffocated, my eyes water, and my nose lining hurts. This may be a unique set of symptoms, however, I doubt that. I have taked enough university level organic chemistry to know that usually if you can smell something then it is emitting a volatile chemical. What chemicals and how much of them are being released I cannont say with certainty - remember though, tires are made from rubber, and many chemicals that you would never choose to allow in you body or your small, vulnerable, child's body.
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