To spread awareness of the toxicity of plastic grass?

[DataNotLore]

Here: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35948114/#:~:text=Numerous%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,%2C%20mutagens%2C%20and%20endocrine%20disruptors.

Not only is it bad for the environment but it's probably bad for your health too.

The issues are still being investigated, but:

"Numerous studies have shown that chemicals identified in artificial turf, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are known carcinogens, neurotoxicants, mutagens, and endocrine disruptors."

In my experience the demographic that gets plastic grass, is totally different to the demographic that owns or installs a log burner.

@MrsMiagi

I am leaving you be.

Nobody is going to force you to rip it up.

I'm simply making people aware of the emerging problems.

I also ask candidates in elections about this and vote accordingly.

Nobody forced you to click on this thread.

so to add balance we just bought a house that has a small back garden and previous owners laid fake grass .
At the moment we are living with it . Looks good and it’s not a priority for us right now.
however as we have inherited
it do we now rip it out and send to landfill or do we accept it and live our lives ? For context small 12ft by 12ft square .

I would much rather my children play in overgrown weeds and dandelions than fake plastic grass. An overgrown garden looks a million times better than a layer of plastic. The Shit Lawns Twitter account is a good follow.

Putting some plant pots with a few flowers in the garden doesn’t cancel out the devastating environmental impact. What about hedgehogs, birds, insects?

Endocrine disrupters are in a lot of plastics, and in a lot of other household items that are deemed ‘trendy’ so people would rather turn a blind eye (zoflora and all that other fragranced shit I’m looking at you!).

Fake grass is tacky as hell.

Agreed.

My son has just learned how to "operate" a dandelion clock 😁❤️

I live in an affluent middle class area and people are installing it because they don't want their kids to bring mud in from the garden after a game of football. 🙄

I’m only interested in “hard science”. That abstract reports the conclusion that more work is needed. I’m not sure how leachate can enter humans, but this does need to be investigated.

Are you concerned about the surface of children’s play areas too?

I read that some people are actually cleaning and hoovering their fake grass weekly. I thought it was supposed to be low maintenance . I mow lawn twice a year.

You really can spot it a mile off, it's outdoor carpet and fools no-one!

Yes I see the attraction but I do think it will be similar to asbestos in the future as other people have mentioned.

amp.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/10/phillies-ball-players-cancer-artifical-turf

Now those sportspeople were on the grass daily but still extremely concerning.

God yes! My old neighbours covered their entire garden in plastic, installed a wood burner, fly off on holiday every single school holiday but thinks that’s ok as they use shampoo bars and buy biodegradable bags for their dog poo which they go on and on about. People are just so ignorant and hard of thinking.

Two houses near us have it. Obviously it looks like shit but I was amused/heartened to see a bright purple flower had someone managed to push its way through the middle of one of the lawns. Nature comes through in the end!

Oh mind your own business 🙄
All the toxic stuff is in loads of other commonplace things

I think the hate for fake grass is a bit ridiculous. No one is spending the money to lifting 100m2 lovely south facing lawns. People are replacing their poorly drained, small shaded gardens with something that allows their children to play football, or run about on a clean, plastic surface that allows folks to use their gardens all year.

i don’t doubt the plastic used isn’t great health wise if you inject it into your body, but for fuck sake, my children and running about on their fake grass, wearing trainers and socks. No one is ingesting it.

My fake grass is about 20 m2. Compared that to the metrage of roads/motorways/concrete areas in this country. We have plenty of bushes/trees and plants, there’s still plenty of space for insects/birds snd bees.

Before I put it down, my toddlers didn’t go out in the garden much, they ended up filthy. But now we are out there most days, getting exercise, sunlight, without the hassle of going to the park. I’m happier, they are happier. Yes it does get hot on the rare days we have 25oC +, but for the other 362 (ish) days it’s fine.

I only know two people with fake grass, they both have log burners. I realise that is a very small sample pool, but I think it’s the same type of people as both are terrible for others but enjoyed by the owners. Ie quite self-centred people.

I'm crap at keeping even succulents alive, but when I had all my garden done I went for the real turf, love seeing the starlings pottering around on it.

That said, I have a log burner I love, cats that roam outside and I love my holidays abroad, so by MN standards I'm screwed and no real lawn (sizeable as it is) is going to save me from eternal damnation by some people on here.

🤣🤣🤣 ok calm down

@TimetohittheroadJack but fake grass does contain Chrysene which is a known carcinogen, meaning it increase the risk of a child developing cancer if they are running around on it, sitting on it or whatever. It’s in the air when you move on it. That’s also why there is a link between cancer and football players, they also run around on fake grass with shoes but still inhales it.

Yeah maybe. I live fairly rurally and we all have big gardens and log burners/open fires as old houses. So none of us are likely to rip up a large garden of grass, and if we were to light the log burner no-one would bat an eye.

The only fake grass I see is smaller, urban houses which more often than not don't have any open fire capabilities.

The Mumsnet snobbishness on this is hilarious.

I have astro in my garden due to the fact that I just can't have grass. The soil is awful and we have a huge spiral willow that sucks up all the moisture. After 3 attempts at laying turf or planting grass seed just to have it wither away, we finally relented and got astro turf.

Sometimes people just don't have a choice. But go ahead and judge away.....

Does it? You have peer reviewed papers on this presumably?

It's very tacky and ugly. We have a north facing garden but there isn't a chance in hell that I would replace the lawn with plastic 'grass'. I would rather my DS come into the house covered in mud anyday. It's good for his immune system.

I loathe the stuff with a passion, think it looks awful, but if other people want it down and are prepared to at least pretend to offset the environmental bleakness with some pots - I'm unbothered. But then I only know one house with plastic grass because we're quite rural and there's grass absolutely everywhere. Just this one house, where they leave the blobs of dog shit sitting on the surface for days. Which rather distracts me from the horrors of the plastic grass, to be honest.

I worked in a school last week and they have installed fake grass for their reception class to play on.