Health & Safety

Maintaining natural areas can require a variety of pesticides and weed killers to control or promote growth. The EPA has found many of these chemicals have been shown to cause: cancer, reproductive defects, neuro-toxic damage, liver or kidney diseases, and nearly all are skin irritants and sensitizers. In addition to dangers associated with chemical exposure, maintenance personnel are at risk due to their close proximity to fast-moving traffic. Turfscape reduces the need for harmful chemicals and minimizes maintenance personnel's exposure to traffic. Turfscape eliminates wildlife grazing. Deer and other potential traffic hazards are discouraged from being in these areas.

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Water Conservation - Shortage/Restrictions

The supply of our most precious resource, water, is rapidly diminishing. Climate change and overpopulation have communities across North America, and around the world, experiencing water shortage and waking up to the reality that water is not a limitless resource. Local, regional and national government contingency plans are forcing consumers to re-evaluate water use and adopt water conservation concepts. Even if you live in an area with an ample water supply getting the water where you need it can be an expensive proposition. Turfscape eliminates the need for wasteful and costly water usage, allowing you to set an example for your constituents and conserve precious resources at the same time. Before long, the cost of water will climb for everybody, as utilities are forced to pump from distant or dirty rivers and even the ocean. Gradually, utilities have been ordered by state authorities to reverse rate structures so that using more means paying more per gallon of water.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, by 2030 nearly half of the world's population will inhabit areas with severe water stress.

According to the EPA an American family of 4 can use 400 gallons of water per day, about 30% devoted to outdoor use. (WaterSense)

Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for almost one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons per day.

Some experts estimate that more than 50 percent of commercial and residential irrigation water use goes to waste due to evaporation, wind, improper system design or over-watering.
 

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Chemical Pollution/Restrictions

Recent studies have confirmed the devastating health and environmental hazards associated with pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers. Latest EPA figures show significant jumps (nearly 50%) in overall chemical use in and around the home. Many of these chemicals have been shown to cause, cancer, reproductive defects, neuro-toxic damage, liver or kidney effects, and nearly all are skin irritants and sensitizers.

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Pesticide Usage

78 million households in the U.S. use home and garden pesticides.

Herbicides account for the highest usage of pesticides in the home and garden sector with over 90 million pounds applied on lawns and gardens per year.

Suburban lawns and gardens receive more pesticide applications per acre (3.2-9.8 lbs.) than agriculture (2.7 lbs. per acre on average).

Annual pesticide sales by the landscape industry are over $35 billion.

Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides 19 have studies pointing toward carcinogens, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 15 with neurotoxicity, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 27 are sensitizers and/or irritants, and 11 have the potential to disrupt the endocrine (hormonal) system.

Pregnant women, infants and children, the aged and the chronically ill are at greatest risk from pesticide exposure and chemically induced immune-suppression, which can increase susceptibility to cancer.

Scientific studies find pesticide residues such as the weed killer 2,4-D (the most common weed killer used on lawns) and the insecticide Carbaryl inside homes, due to drift and track-in, where they contaminate air, dust, surfaces and carpets and expose children at levels ten times higher than pre-application levels.

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Children & Pesticides

The National Academy of Sciences estimates 50% of lifetime pesticide exposure occurs during the first 5 years of life.

A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds home and garden pesticide use can increase the risk of childhood leukemia by almost seven times.

Studies show low levels of exposure to actual lawn pesticide products are linked to increased rates of miscarriage, and suppression of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems.

Exposure to home and garden pesticides can increase a child’s likelihood of developing asthma.

Studies link pesticides with hyperactivity, developmental delays, behavioral disorders and motor dysfunction.

Children aged 6-11 have higher levels of lawn chemicals in their blood than all other age categories.

Bio monitoring studies find that pesticides pass from mother to child through umbilical cord blood and breast milk.

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Wildlife, Pets & Pesticides

Studies find that dogs exposed to herbicide-treated lawns and gardens can double their chance of developing canine lymphoma and may increase the risk of bladder cancer in certain breeds by four to seven times.

Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides: 16 are toxic to birds, 24 are toxic to fish and aquatic organisms, and 11 are deadly to bees.

Lawn and garden pesticides are deadly to non-target species and can harm beneficial insects and soil microorganisms essential to a naturally healthy lawn.
 

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Pesticides In The Water

Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 17 are detected in groundwater, and 23 have the potential to leach.

Runoff has resulted in a widespread presence of pesticides in streams and groundwater. 2,4-D, found in weed and feed and other lawn products, is the herbicide most frequently detected in streams and shallow ground water from urban lawns.

Of the 50 chemicals on EPA’s list of unregulated drinking water contaminants, several are lawn chemicals including diazinon, diuron, naphthalene, and various triazines such as atrazine.

Runoff from synthetic chemical fertilizers pollutes streams and lakes and causes algae blooms, depleted oxygen and damage to aquatic life.

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The Registration System & Pesticide Regulation

The health data assessed by EPA for the registration of pesticides comes from the manufacturer of the pesticide. EPA is not obligated under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to review peer-reviewed scientific literature.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO) has told Congress on several occasions that the public is misled on pesticide safety by statements characterizing pesticides as “safe” or “harmless.”

EPA states that no pesticide is 100 percent safe. CMK TS Manual Industry trends.

Pesticide testing protocol was developed before science fully understood the human immune and hormonal system. EPA still does not evaluate data for several neurological effects or disruption of the endocrine (hormonal) system.

EPA does not evaluate the health and environmental effects of actual pesticide formulations sold on the shelf. Data submitted to the EPA also does not account for low-dose effects, synergistic effects with inert materials or combined exposure to more than one pesticide at a time.

Turfscape is environmentally friendly in origin, application, use, sustainability and water conservation.

25 million used auto tires are recycled per year for use in synthetic turf in-filled systems, tires that would otherwise end up in U.S. landfills.

The synthetic turf industry currently recycles one-twelfth of the 300 million auto tires that are withdrawn from use each year.

The average soccer field can contain crumb rubber made from 27,000 tires at a density of about 4 to 15 pounds of infill per square foot.

The typical consumers of lawn and garden products are men, 35-44 years of age or 55 and older, college graduates, married 2-person households, with annual incomes over $75,000.

80% of all U.S. households had private lawns in 1990.

The average homeowner spends 40 hours a year simply mowing.

85 million households participated in one or more types of do-it-yourself indoor and outdoor garden activities in 2002. 49 million households (47% of all U.S. households) engage in do-it-yourself lawn care; 40 million engage in flower gardening; 26 million in shrub care; 23 million in landscaping. This is the highest level of participation seen in the past 5 years.

Annual turf and lawn maintenance combined is a $30 billion industry in the U.S.

Consumers spent $39.6 billion on their lawns and gardens in 2002. Over the past 5 years, total lawn and garden sales have increased at a compound annual growth rate of 8%.

Annual retail sales of residential lawn care products and equipment was $8.5 billion.

Average annual amount spent per household on gardening supplies: $532.

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Risk Avoidance

Mowing the lawn is a hazardous activity sending 242,000 Americans to the ER between 2004 and 2006. A study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that accidents increased from 1996 to 2004.

Typical injuries include: Lacerations; tripping and falling over the lawn mower; slipping and falling while mowing; toes amputated from feet slipping under mower; back injuries from pulling on the cable to start the mower; ankle sprains, shoulder strains and back pain from pushing mowers.

A report in the Annals of Emergency Medicine tracks hospital treated lawn mower injuries in the U.S. Here we have listed a few of their findings:

Over the past 9 years, emergency rooms treated over 740,000 lawn mower injuries.

Over the past 9 years over 2,000,000 people were admitted to the emergency room for heat stroke or heart problems as a result of overexertion while mowing.

Odds of injury by lawn mowers in the U.S. are 1 in 3,876 (Male: 1 in 2,626; Female: 1 in 7,248).

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Children at risk

Every year, some 80,000 Americans go to the emergency room because of accidents involving lawn mowers.

Many of the victims are children and the elderly. Approximately 9,400 children younger than 18 years receive emergency treatment in the U.S. annually for lawn mower-related injuries. More than 7% of these children require hospitalization.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no one under age 12 should operate a push or self-propelled mower.

Teen’s ages 15-19 had the highest hospitalization rate for mower injuries.

Scott Kozin, a pediatric hand and foot surgeon of the Shriners Hospitals For Children, claims mower accidents are the No. 1 cause of foot amputations in children nationwide.

95% of lawn mower accidents treated at the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Trauma Center between 2000 and 2005 involved amputations that needed reattachment or reconstructive surgery, according to Medical News Today.

Please note: The information here is collected from the most credible independent institutions across America. Although we make every effort to provide the information correctly the time sensitivity may change the accuracy of the data presented. If you have any questions regarding the source of the information presented here please contact your GreenTurf Solutions representative at: info@greenturfsolutions.com

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