I have read the comments. And all make good points. Am I biased? Yes, It is my son. What I can tell you that I know for facts is this.
My son was coming home covered in a black dust. He would complain of headaches, sore throats, stomach cramps. I thought, maybe allergies, too much sun, didn't drink enough water etc.

The dust got worse. His clothes would be stained. It would not wash off them. We would have to scrub the dust off and it would smear like it was oily. After baths he would blow his nose and it would be grey and he had black boogers. And still I waited. We would find the mulch all over the house, it clung to everything.

We would think playing hard. See, my son is the kind of kid that does not complain, drinks from the hose, brown skin all summer, red faced in the winter, crashes his bike, jumps up and says “I'm ok. It’s just blood.”

And I'm proud of that.

We would go to the playgrounds, but not that often. We do other things, head to state park, camp, bike rides, Nerf gun battles, ect., and no issues no complaints. But when we would pick him up from school or key zone in the summer especially when it was hot out, he would state it again headache, sore throat, stomach ache. I asked if he had problems with other kids? I thought nerves. He said no. We checked in with teachers, staff. No jack is well liked.  

I never put it together. I would get out of the car to pick him up and you could smell the playground. That same smell was on his clothes.  The dust on all the kids faces. The heat from the mulch hot to the touch.

Then one day he came home covered in the dust and I mean covered. All the complaints.

I asked him, were you rolling in the mulch? His reply, “no.”  He said it’s really windy and the dust on the playground looked like black tornadoes. My stomach kind of dropped.

We cleaned him up had dinner, played, then books. Put him to bed. I was really bothered by his statement.

I was talking to my cousin from Chicago. I tell him my concerns. He jumps online and sends me some info. He says have you seen this about the rubber mulch or crumb rubber? No I haven't, I start reading.

I did not know like many parents that the mulch was made from tires. So I started reading and reading. I could not find that much information. One study stated it was fine, others stated it was not fine. And so on.

My wife and I wrote to the school and received responses, but were passed from person to person. We got a response from Kerry Lieder, the above letter. I wrote back and received no response. I really dug in and started reading. Here’s a short list of some of what I read.

Occupational exposures in rubber manufacturing industry (IARC working group)
St. Louis county solid waste ordinance
An a assessment of environmental toxicity and potential contamination from artificial turf using shredded or crumb rubber (Andea consulting)
Tire derived flooring chemical emissions study laboratory report (Cal recycle)
New York recycled tire and rubber product sellers (Empire state development)
Bandon parks and REC committee meeting notes regarding play ground tire mulch
Public playground safety hand book (U.S. consumer product safety commission)
Childhood blood lead case management guidelines for Minnesota (MDH)
Artificial turf (Environmental and human health inc.)
Review of the human and ecological safety of exposure to recycled tire rubber found at playgrounds and synthetic turf fields (Cardno Chem risk)
Impact analysis for the proposed carbon black manufacturing NESHAP (EPA)
Standard specifications for impact attenuation of surfacing materials within the use zone of playground equipment (ASTM)
Injuries and deaths associated with children’s playground equipment (Consumer product safety council)
Fatal pediatric head injuries caused by short distance falls (John Plunkett M. D. )
Brain Injury Australia policy paper for concussion in sport

And many more. I think that gives you the idea. To say I became obsessed is putting it mildly. What I read disturbed me. The information presented was either not finished or ran out of money or was made out of many reports put together, or no actual lab tests were done.

Every study, good or bad, said the same thing (more research needs to be done). No one could answer long-term effects or effects when you combine multiple chemicals together.

Also no answers on what is an acceptable level of chemicals.

We asked our son not to go on the playground anymore. His symptoms stopped! We felt terrible doing this. Every time I dropped him off I felt anxiety for him. I was sad for him. My wife would reassure me we were doing the right thing. But I got to tell you I cried. At that point I said I have to do something. So began the odyssey before us now.

I tried talking to parents, posting things to Facebook. I even posted a chemical a day on Facebook. What it was, what it was for, what it did to the human body. It was ridiculous.

So I hit the media and along the way learned more and more. I started the go fund me account to get testing done. I did not need testing done my mind was made up. But the district does and what they want will cost tens of thousands of dollars. It is not going to happen. Then the media, all I am going to say they got the word out. I could do without the sound bites, cuts in the middle of statements, and fear tactics, although the same could be said for me. Through this the worst part I wasn't paying any attention to my son. Who I started doing this for. The one person who has taught me more than anyone.

He once asked me, “Dad do you know what’s past outer space? No I said, what do you think? Time, and past that is God!” He blows my mind! 
So I got others involved. Up came the petition, Facebook page, meetings with school board members. PTA etc. People who were not calling me back before now were. That brings us to now.

Things I have learned:
No one knows much about this stuff. And that disturbs me.
They stop taking tires in landfills for three reasons. Space, water getting into the tires creating bacteria and bugs, and they leach because they are too toxic.
The government did not know what to do about getting rid of them (two million tires a year get thrown away)
Not very many tires have natural rubber in them (it’s too expensive)
Tires are made from nasty stuff. Benzene, lead, carbon black, PAHs, etc., etc., etc.
The EPA and U.S. consumer product safety council have backed away from their recommendations and state they really did not recommend the product in the first place.
The studies done by the EPA were poorly done.
The EPA states kids should wash hands after playing in them and definitely before eating and if they make their way into your house you should remove them.

The toxicologist I have been talking to asked me. Can you smell the playground (yes) then there off-gassing. One of the reporters got out of her car and I said can you smell it? She said, “is that the smell from the playground?” “Yes” I said. Wow I can smell it from the parking lot. 45 minutes later she said she was getting a headache. (That never made it on the news.)

I once took my laser thermometer and tested the playground mulch. It was 78/80 degrees outside sunny. The parking lot pavement was 123 degrees. The mulch was 145 degrees.

You see the dust in and on the kids. They are breathing that stuff in.

The claims about the mulch are much unproven for injury, and certain claims from the companies are lies. They market the mulch toward kids and playgrounds with names like Rubberific, but when you order the same mulch on the playground it comes in a bag marked garden mulch (turf council and others are being sued for this by PEER) that’s part of the reason they get around certain safety aspects.

In 1976 there was a law put on the books about chemicals. It states: It is the consumers burden to prove something is hazardous or harmful when it comes to the use of chemicals. That is why tire companies don't have to tell you what’s inside their product.

The test given to the district on the mulch is useless.

Will the test we are doing show chemicals in the mulch (yes) because that’s what’s in the mulch and what we are looking for. The school district did not tell members of the PTA what the mulch was made out of they just said it was rubber. Several said they would have fought not to put it down. Several teachers, janitors, and maintenance members have stopped to thank me and said that they hate this stuff and they want it gone. That they too, see the dust on the kids. I’ve been thanked for doing what I’m doing.

Are there many communities banning this product or removing it? Yes, more and more every day. I am sure there are things missing and I know I did not put every detail. I’m tired.

Do I believe that this stuff is harmful? Yes. Has it been scientifically proven? It depends on who you talk to. But I don’t think it’s worth the risk of waiting.

I love my son with all my heart, and there’s no other love that a parent has like it. If that make me bias, call it what you will if you need to call it something, but it’s my opinion and I’ve done my reading and I’ll continue to do so.