Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the health risks of rubber crumb on artificial sports pitches.

Public Health England (PHE) has not reviewed the health risks of rubber crumb in artificial sports pitches, as this is being assessed at the European level by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). PHE has been monitoring the evidence as it becomes available.

The most recent ECHA report, published in 2018, stated that there was a very low level of health concern from playing on artificial pitches that contain rubber crumb, and ECHA note that they found no reason to advise people against playing sport on synthetic turf containing recycled rubber granules as infill material. The latest report is available at the following link:

https://chemicalsinourlife.echa.europa.eu/are-artificial-football-pitches-safe

Sports governing bodies support the ECHA report and have produced advice in consultation with PHE. Sport England’s position statement on third generation pitches is available at the following link:

https://www.sportengland.org/facilities-and-planning/design-and-cost-guidance/artificial-sports-surfaces/position-statement-on-3g-pitches/