"SACRAMENTO -- The company that makes AstroTurf, a pioneering brand of artificial grass, has settled an environmental lawsuit with the state of California, agreeing to eliminate almost all lead from its product used on playing fields and residential backyards.

Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced the agreement Friday in the 2008 suit against Dalton, Ga.-based AstroTurf and other makers of synthetic turf filed under California's Proposition 65 law.

The proposition, approved by voters in 1986, requires products to carry warning labels if they contain chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or birth defects.

Under the agreement, AstroTurf is to reformulate its products to reduce the quantity of lead."

Marc Lifsher reports for the Los Angeles Times August 15, 2009. [2]