Moving from a human health risk assessment of playing sports on rubber granule infill in the Netherlands to a restiction proposal for polyaromic hydrocarbon content in rubber granules in the European Union

Abstract

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) evaluated the health risk of playing sports on synthetic turf pitches with rubber granule infill. To evaluate the health risks of playing sports on rubber granules, it is important to determine which hazardous substances are contained in the granule and to what extent they may be released. Subsequently, it was examined how people playing sports can come into contact with these substances and whether this can lead to health effects. RIVM determined the substances in rubber granule from 100 sports pitches that are representative of the synthetic turf pitches in the Netherlands. The institute further performed three types of laboratory tests to examine the release of substances from the granules, so-called ‘migration studies’. In addition, RIVM studied the information available in the scientific literature on substances in rubber granules, their properties and their health effects. The risks for football players were considered virtually negligible, which was later also confirmed by an analyses made by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA, 2017). However, the current limit values for ‘mixtures’ supplied to the general public apply to the rubber granules and these limits do not guarantee that risks are controlled. Therefore, the Netherlands in cooperation with ECHA is preparing a restriction dossier. In the restriction dossier under REACH the scope is extended to include exposure of workers (installation and maintenance) and of children at playgrounds with focus on the main driver for risks, i.e. the polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Rubber mulches (flakes) may also be used in loose form on playground and these are included in the dossier as well. The restriction proposal submitted by the Netherlands aims at a significantly lower content limit of PAHs in rubber granules, thereby following up on RIVMs recommendation back in 2017.