[baseball1974]

Personally I can't stand turf! I think they should ban it all together. It's harder on the joints of the body. Think about it until they started using turf how many times did you ever heard of someone have turf toe?? It been proven you will have more knee injuries on turf than grass. Not only that grass won't skin you up like turf does when you slid across it.

To me the games where made to be played on grass not turf!!!

"Turf Toe" is just the name for it. Its pretty common to get on natural grass as well. However, artificial turf poses a lot of safety concerns that are unnecessary and could be prevented.

The older turf surfaces have been known to have a lot lead in them. Excessive exposure to lead can result anything from severe mental retardation, stunted growth and even death.

Another is exposure to zinc. They've associated to the high levels of zinc with the "crumb rubber" that mixed in the turf. They have also seen where the water in areas closest to the turf had high levels of zinc from the runoff. The exposure can result in a lot of heart issues.

The shredded rubber can also contain traces of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and selenium, which are all highly toxic.

When an artificial field drains after a heavy rain, the run-off (which may contain lead and infill material) could leak into and contaminate a community's ground and drinking water.
Increased MRSA risk. Open skin lesions (so-called "turf burns") put athletes at increased risk of MRSA. Athletes who use synthetic turf are seven times more likely to receive turf burns than those who play on natural grass. These open lesions are often the source of contracting and vehicle for spreading dangerous infections.

Turf is overall a bacterial breeding ground. They have found that staphylococci has been traced back to the rubber mixed in with the turf as well.

It can also have adverse affects on asthmatics. Breathing in dust of ground-up tires could exacerbate breathing problems for asthmatics.

Also, once a community goes with artificial turf, it has no choice but to install another artificial turf field when the first one needs to be replaced because once plastic replaces natural grass, it kills any living organism in the subsoil making it impossible without years of soil remediation to grow anything on that surface.


These are the health issues surrounding turf. As far as a playing surface, I would rather have a natural field any day. I know its more work and turf cuts down the overall upkeep costs, but I may just be old and that's why I like it more. There is nothing better than having a team work on a field all fall and then get to see the final result of their hard work on opening day, but that's in baseball. As far as football goes, I think the increase in injuries is a red flag, and I also think the fact that is on average 40 degrees hotter on a turf surface than what the temperature shows, which on hot days can really affect the players negatively.