Three City Council members are pushing to get an estimated 30 million pounds of pulverized tires out of city parks, saying there are too many unanswered health questions about using the material in artificial turf.
"We shouldn't be taking any risks when it comes to the health of our children, especially when alternatives are available," said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens), who will introduce a bill today with colleagues Maria Baez (D-Bronx) and Letitia James (WFP-Brooklyn).
The bill would ban any more artificial turf fields that use tiny bits of "crumb-rubber infill" as a cushion, and would require existing fields to be torn up and replaced within a year.
The city Parks Department says the fields are safe, while standing up to heavy use and costing less to maintain than grass. Ground-up tires contain heavy metals such as lead and cadmium as well as volatile organic compounds and other chemicals.
Turf critic Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates estimates there are 130 crumb-rubber fields in the city with 30 million pounds of tires - which would cost millions to replace.
"Tests should have been done before any of this got into our park system," Croft said.
