Cheshire is one of the leading communities in Connecticut that has chosen to use organic methods on its athletic fields. Cheshire's grass athletic fields are beautiful, and they stand as an example for all of Connecticut for what school athletic fields should be. They are healthy for students to play on and they have been wonderfully maintained.
Schools today are teaching their students how to be good environmental stewards of our planet. This is imperative as the next generation moves on to be adults into the 21st century. What kind of example will Cheshire set by replacing their beautifully groomed organic fields with acres of plastic that is then spread with 40,000 ground-up used rubber tires used as the plastic grass's "infil".
Not only would installing an artificial turf field in Cheshire be a bad environmental example for students, it would also be a very bad financial example. In this economy, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an artificial turf field instead of on academics, sends all the wrong messages about what is important in our schools and in our lives.
Artificial turf fields stand as the antithesis to Cheshire's beautiful organic athletic fields.
One has to ask, "Why would any school district want to trade their beautifully maintained organic grass fields, that are safe for the environment and safe for students, for a plastic and rubber tire field that poses a potential hazard to students?"
The recently released Connecticut Artificial Turf Study showed that the synthetic turf fields contain chemical carcinogens, neurotoxins, respiratory toxins and skin and eye irritants.
A sampling of some of the toxic chemicals that the study reported finding include:
benzothizole - harmful if swallowed or inhaled;
toluene - a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant and can cause headaches;
acetone - a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant, and can affect the central nervous system;
zinc - a respiratory irritant;
acenaphthene - a carcinogen;
naphthalene - a possible carcinogen.
The health assessment looked at one chemical at a time for the artificial turf's affect on people's health - yet the data indicates that children are being exposed to a soup of toxins from these fields, and these exposures are experienced all at the same time.
The study indicates a very high variability of the levels of toxins found in each field. Since there are 40,000 used tires in each field, enormous variability of toxins would be expected. The data also shows that the more people who play on a field the more toxins are released -- and thus the greater the exposures to students
The actual field-testing took place last summer when temperatures were unusually cool, between 70 and 80 degrees. If the testing had been done this summer, with so many days at ninety degrees or higher, the off-gassing of chemicals would have been higher and health risks shown in the report would have been much greater.
Although new fields off-gas more chemicals, all the fields tested were two years old or older.
There is nothing in the recent State's study that reduces Environment and Human Health, Inc.'s concern about students playing on artificial turf. In fact the data from this study suggests that we all should be more concerned than ever.
After performing a peer review of the CT DEP's Artificial Turf Study, the Conn. Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) advised that the findings "be softened" to avoid alarming the public. CASE warned, "Parents may be motivated to withdraw their children from beneficial athletic activities, and schools and towns will consider the financially wasteful removal of existing fields."
The CASE Report shows how concerned they were about the study's findings. Their quote, "It is almost certain that the 'headline' conclusion of the CT Department of Public Health (DPH) report will become the focus of media reports and will unnecessarily frighten parents as well as school and municipal supervisors."
This was their explanation for urging that the data assessment from the report be "softened." Knowing this - why would Cheshire trade their beautiful fields for acres of plastic and ground-up used rubber tires.
Nancy Alderman, President
Environment and Human Health, Inc
Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) is a nine-member, non-profit organization composed of doctors, public health professionals and policy experts. It is dedicated to protecting human health from environmental harms through research, education and improving public policy. EHHI does not receive any funds from businesses
