Recycled Rubber Council Issues Response to NBC Report

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today the Recycled Rubber Council, an organization whose mission is to
communicate, advocate, and educate stakeholders about the safety and
beneficial uses of recycled rubber, issued the following statement in
response to the September 30, 2015 and October 1, 2015 NBC News reports
on this topic:

Recycled rubber used in synthetic turf fields and other products is
safe and does not cause cancer. Rubber has been an everyday part of life
in America for more than 170 years and to claim that it suddenly poses a
health risk is simply false. The fact is that rubber goes through
a process that makes it safe for use and renders any harmful chemicals
inert. The rubber in recycled tires is the same as the rubber in
sneakers, sidewalks, asphalt highways and roads, garden hoses,
strollers, gym floors, mouthpieces for some musical instruments, and
many other products widely recognized as 100 percent safe.

Our hearts go out to the cancer patients and their families
identified in the NBC segment, but we have to look at the facts and the
science. As an industry, we unequivocally stand behind these products
and we would not put our children and grandchildren on fields or
playgrounds with crumb rubber if they were hazardous.

NBC itself states, “No research has linked crumb or shredded rubber
to cancer.” And MIT-educated toxicologist Laura Green notes in the
report, “There’s zero reason to be concerned that playing on synthetic
turf will put your child at risk for cancer… It’s simply not true.”

The fact is that dozens of studies from academic, federal and state
government organizations have found no connection between recycled
rubber and any health issues. Additionally, a number of state level
departments of health, including in Connecticut and Massachusetts, have
responded to baseless fears about fields with crumb rubber and confirmed
they are safe. In particular, a comprehensive Connecticut Department of
Public Health (CDPH) study looked at a variety of fields across a range
of conditions and found that exposure to the chemicals that have been
called into question did not reach unsafe levels.

These products provide innovative solutions to a range of challenges
today – from creating the safest playground surfaces available for use
today, to reducing the chance of injuries for athletes both professional
and amateur, to building lower-impact hospital floors for nurses on
their feet all day. The benefits of using recycled rubber for the
environment are also clear, eliminating the need for pesticides or other
dangerous chemicals, and saving millions of gallons of water annually.
Today, manufacturers around the world give these tires a second life as
products we use each and every day – most we do not even give a second
thought to.

We can always do more research, but we are fully confident in what
all the available data tells us – there is no link between crumb rubber
and health issues. To say that rubber is harmful is simply
unfounded.

For further information on the Recycled Rubber Council please visit http://www.recycledrubbersafetycouncil.org/.

About the Recycled Rubber Council

The Recycled Rubber Council (RRC) serves manufacturers, processors, and
distributors of recycled rubber products; entities that supply products
or services to those that manufacture or process recycled rubber
products; and individuals or entities that benefit from recycled rubber
products. Its mission is to communicate, advocate, and educate about the
safety and beneficial uses of recycled rubber. For more information,
please visit http://www.recycledrubbersafetycouncil.org/.

Contacts

Media:
Sloane & Company
Dan Zacchei / Joe Germani
212-486-9500
dzacchei@sloanepr.com / jgermani@sloanepr.com