As I am in the synthetic turf installation business I closely watched the original NBC news clip and the follow up clip on last night's news (October 23rd). The original clip cites possible negative health effects of long term contact with the black rubber infill that is common in synthetic turf sports fields. The follow up story highlights a catholic school that, after seeing the original NBC story, decided to forgo using the black recycled crumb rubber for Nike Grind, ground up running shoes. This strikes me as an obvious overreaction.
Recycled black rubber has been used since the first synthetic field was installed 12+ years ago and so far there is no hard evidence of serious problems. The long term impact of Nike Grind as an infill is unknown as it it relatively new. If you are concerned aboubt safetly is it really prudent to use a product that is untested and essentially unknown?
If you are concerned about this safety issue follow the link below. There are over 40 studies which deal with the various health issues of crumb rubber infill.
Let's all be careful, evaluate all the information available, and not overreact.