ATLANTA -- Ever notice the black material bouncing up from a field after a ball its the ground?
That's crumb rubber, a material made from recycled car and truck tires to fill in some types of artificial fields.
It's also a controversial substance that have left some questioning if it causes cancer.
Amy Griffin, the University of Washington's women's soccer coach, has kept a growing list of sick soccer players. Mostly goalies, the numbers nearly doubled, from 34 to 63, as the issue has gained more attention through NBC's investigative reporting.
"I got a bazillion emails and lots of phone calls," Griffin said. "Mostly from people who said I've always wondered about this."
Washington lawmakers are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to weigh in on whether crumb rubber used in artificial turf fields in thousands of schools, parks and stadiums is safe for young athletes, citing a series of stories by NBC News.
This issue is not just Washington state isolated problem as a number of fields around metro Atlanta have crumb rubber fields including:
Clayton County
- Tara Stadium
- 12 Oaks Stadium
- Southern Crescent Stadium
Georgia State University
- Facility at 188 (football/student recreation center)
Georgia Tech Athletic Department
- Indoor football practice facility
Cobb County Schools
- All 16 high schools have artificial turf, which uses crumb rubber
Atlanta Public Schools
- Mays High School
- Maynard Jackson High School
- North Atlanta High School
- Sutton Middle School
- Therrell High School
- Grady Stadium
- Lakewood Stadium
- There is a plan to install additional turf fields at Carver, South Atlanta and Washington High Schools in 2016
The Georgia Dome
The list of Georgia schools not using crumb rubber field:
- Henry County
- Henry County Schools
- Gwinnett County Schools
- Fulton County Schools
- Kennesaw State University Athletics
The list of schools that have not responded to 11Alive:
- UGA
- DeKalb County School
Many of the schools 11Alive contacted declined to speak with us on camera about the fields, but did say they had no safety concerns with the fields and some have plans to install crumb rubber fields in the future.
The bipartisan panel gave the agency until Friday, Nov. 6 to answer 10 questions about what tests have been done to determine whether turf made from recycled tires poses a health risk and what investigators have found.
But Griffin and sports families aren't the only ones wanting answers from the Environmental Protection Agency about their concerns. The managing partner of SprinTurf, one of the largest synthetic turf companies wants the agency to confirm his product's safety.
"Why can't the EPA act?" SprinTurf Managing Partner Rom Reddy asked. "There is more than enough information for them to act."
Until now the EPA refused to answer questions either way about crumb rubber.
It wasn't until the House Commerce Committee sent a letter with their own inquiries and a deadline that we finally expect to get a response from the EPA.
While critics and supporters of crumb rubber turf don't agree on whether the surface poses a hazard, all sides want federal regulators to take a clear public position.
Portions of this article can be found in an NBC News story. Read more here.
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