After reading Alyssa Sunkin's February article in The Citizen about an artificial turf field proposed for the Auburn Enlarged City School District, noting that a vote would occur in May, I assumed that the public would have ample time to become informed. To be well-informed is to cast a negative vote. Knowledge of research showing serious children's injuries, infectious disease and long-term illnesses, as well as environmental degradation has helped defeat artificial turf elsewhere.
Texas has artificial turf in at least 18 percent of its high school football stadiums, and an MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) infection rate among players that is 16 times higher than the estimated national average. One Austin teenage player has died of MRSA linked to the turf, while another death in Brooklyn and one in Virginia have not been verified.
How could any parent vote yes to a budget item that might kill a student?
How could a school board go ahead when a moratorium on artificial turf installation had been proposed?
How could the New York State School Boards Association be opposed to such a moratorium? Recent research on five major brands of turf, done by reputable labs, have revealed levels of carcinogenic substances that are in violation of the Department of Environmental Conservation's levels for brown fields (hazardous waste sites). No one would suggest sending kids to play on a hazardous waste site, but only a NO vote on the Auburn school budget can prevent this happening. The Citizen article ended, “...no conclusive evidence linking synthetic turf to suggested health effects like birth defects and cancer.” As Philippe Grandjean, MD, Harvard School of Public Health, said in speaking of mercury in tuna, “It is very unwise to wait until we have complete scientific truth.”
Byrna Weir
Rochester
How could any parent vote yes to a budget item that might kill a student?
How could a school board go ahead when a moratorium on artificial turf installation had been proposed?
How could the New York State School Boards Association be opposed to such a moratorium? Recent research on five major brands of turf, done by reputable labs, have revealed levels of carcinogenic substances that are in violation of the Department of Environmental Conservation's levels for brown fields (hazardous waste sites). No one would suggest sending kids to play on a hazardous waste site, but only a NO vote on the Auburn school budget can prevent this happening. The Citizen article ended, “...no conclusive evidence linking synthetic turf to suggested health effects like birth defects and cancer.” As Philippe Grandjean, MD, Harvard School of Public Health, said in speaking of mercury in tuna, “It is very unwise to wait until we have complete scientific truth.”
Byrna Weir
Rochester
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brew1234 wrote on Apr 6, 2008 1:29 PM:
tlb4 wrote on Apr 6, 2008 9:33 AM:
A Penn State study showed "The infill rubber used on synthetic turf contains Zinc and and sulphur,(both zinc and sulphur are found in multivitamins) both of which inhibit microbial growth." In fact several other studies have showed Staph microbes are found more prominently on blocking pads, weight equipment, stretching tables, and used towels. This same Penn State University study showed NO MRSA GROWTH on any of the 20 synthetic turf fields tested in Pennsylvania.
You wrote about "carcinogenic substances" found in turf. You must be writing about the hydrocarbons found in the infill rubber. I will be happy to show you several studies including one completed at Rutgers University.These studies repeatedly showed that the only way the hydrocarbons could be released from the rubber particles were in a laboratory when exposed to BOTH INDUSTRIAL SOLVENTS and HIGH HEAT CONDITIONS for extraction. Just playing on the turf was not enough.
You should re-read your well written editorial and realize that "... no conclusive evidence linking synthetic turf to suggested health effects like birth defects and cancer." I will go a little further, no definitive evidence linking synthetic turf DIRECTLY to MRSA infections either. Abrasions yes, but not infections. Public Health experts all agree that the VERY BEST way to fight infections in skin abrasions of any type is timely washing with soap and water. "