Suit Filed Against Turf Companies

More than 150 samples from two dozen artificial-turf companies tested by an independent lab showed that 30 percent had high lead levels. Ten or more companies had high levels of lead in different varieties of artificial turf. One of the major companies had a sample showing lead at 150 times higher than federal standards.

Six artificial-turf companies are breaking state law by not warning the public of exposure to dangerous amounts of lead from the fake green grass, according to two separate lawsuits filed in September by the California attorney general and an environmental group.

The suits, designed to stop the sale of any new turf manufactured with lead, say the toxic metal gets on the hands and bodies of children and adults who play on synthetic grass found at athletic fields, public schools, parks, day care centers and residences.

The state attorney general – joined by the city attorney of Los Angeles and the district attorney of Solano County – filed against Astro Turf, the first branded distributor of synthetic grass; Beaulieu Group, which sells to Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Lowe’s, and Field Turf USA, a leading manufacturer and installer of football fields.

The Center for Environmental Health, an Oakland nonprofit, sued Shaw Industries, one of the world’s biggest carpet companies, as well as Synthetic Turf International and Turf Headquarters, name-brand vendors.