Fifa: Tyre-based Football Surfaces Are Not Cancer Risk

FIFA’s chief medical officer, Professor Jiri Dvorak, has published an open letter stating that there is no significant cancer risk from “certain granulate in-fills from artificial turf.” This, of course, largely refers end-of-life tyre derived products. “PAHs [Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons] are not released or at most negligibly released from tyre abradate,” Professor Dvorak’s letter explained quoting a 1997 report from the University of Dortmund Institute for Environmental Research.

Professor Dvorak also referred to a study undertaken by the Danish Ministry of the Environment that concluded that the health risk on children’s playgrounds that contained both worn tyres and granulate rubber was insignificant. He concluded by stating: “The available body of research does not substantiate the assumption that cancer resulting from exposure to SBR granulate infills in artificial turf could potentially occur.”