Nearly all Pour-In-Place (PIP) surfaces tested within North America showed they were harboring hazardous microbes in bacteria soups including Salmonella, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and a whole host of nasty elements none of us would knowingly expose ourselves to. Yet playgrounds with PIP are doing this and much worse to children playing there, each and every day. They're essentially giant Petri dishes releasing harmful chemicals and microbes all the time. 

The colored wearcourse surface normally made from Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) granules, which have been tested and found to exude a carcinogenic substance when exposed to sunlight, and this causes the thin dried veneer of the binding agent holding it together to crack and peel -- initiating deterioration, especially in higher wear areas. 

Because most PIP is great at retaining heat, air and moisture, it's the perfect environment for microbial infestation, growing whatever gets into it, including liquids from spills, sneezes, coughs, urine or whatever else might find it's way inside. This is also why wearing hazmat suits and breathing protection during removal of this material ought to be compulsory. 

When you add all of these negative elements together, then throw on top of it all that analysis has proven that fall impacts on PIP vs your average rubber mulch are 444% to 700% more likely to result in traumatic brain injury (TBI) or death, it seems reasonable to conclude this stuff shouldn't even be allowed on playgrounds at all. That's why Dr. Donna Thompson felt that way.