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ATTACHMENT 7 "Goalkeepers are in this stuff all the time," Griffin said. "Generally, during training, there are plenty of drills that you dive and save ball after ball after ball. You never really leave the ground." At first, in 2009, Griffin said she thought it was a strange and sad coincidence that she knew two goalies diagnosed with cancer. Then Griffin heard of more players. One goalie with cancer told her she couldn't help but think it had something to do with the little rubber pellets all over the turf field, the ones that would find their way into players' clothes, eyes, nose and mouth throughout games and practices. The ones tracked into homes and found at the bottom of showers when players rinsed off. Griffin said she found there was little conclusive research on the health effects of the recycled tire pieces players often called "turf bugs." Since sharing her suspicions publicly, she said her phone has been ringing steadily and her list of athletes with cancer has grown. "I was ready for people to call me and say I'm crazy, and instead people called and said, 'I've always wondered what's in that stuff,' ' Griffin said. EPA's turf plan EPA efforts to promote recycled tires on athletic surfaces date back to a 1991 agency report on various ways to reduce the nation's scrap tire stockpile. The report said the tire piles posed a health risk because they were ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which can spread diseases, and provided potential fuel for hazardous and toxic fires. Using recycled tire material on playgrounds and sports fields, among other possibilities, had potential, the report noted. By 2003, the agency had partnered with environmental agencies in California and other states and with rubber manufacturers to create the Scrap Tire Workgroup, which promoted the use of recycled tires — including in playgrounds and artificial turf—