Considering the rising concerns related to the safety of recycled tire material used on synthetic turf fields, on Friday the Obama administration announced a multiagency federal research to look into possible health risks.

Since 2014, the ground-up waste tires has been a source of debate countrywide, when parents and health and environment advocates started asking for studies regarding whether repeated contact with the material may cause cancer or not.

The same year, a University of Washington soccer coach took a step forward and came out with a list of some dozen young athletes suffering from cancer, who used to play regularly on turf fields. These fields are the surfaces where tire pieces are spread thickly to offer cushion and traction. Many times, the pieces end up in the athletes’ ears, mouths, and clothing.

Now, the list of cancer-stricken players include over 200 athletes countrywide, playing variety of sports such as football and field hockey on turf fields. The 50% ill athletes on the list include soccer goalies aged below 35 years whose position needs them to do quite much diving into the turf fields.

As per the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, there are 902 synthetic turf fields in California, mainly in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who requested President Obama in a letter previous month to authorize the study, said, “Parents and athletes of all ages want and deserve conclusive answers on whether exposure to crumb rubber turf can make one sick. Combining the resources and expertise of three federal agencies to help find those answers is the right thing to do”.

The study is going to be conducted by three agencies. Laura Allen, EPA spokeswoman, said that the study will include a technical team of about 50 federal employees, having a research budget of $2 million.