Begin forwarded message:
From: Mary Swan Bell
Date: February 18, 2009 8:00:50 AM PST
To: oaklandoffice@earthjustice.org
Subject: "FieldTurf" Carpets Country's Schools- Is it Safe for Our Kids and Our Environment?
Dear Earthjustice,
Our local Tamalpais Union High School District is currently placing another FieldTurf synthetic turf field at Sir Francis Drake High, in San Anselmo, Marin County, Ca. http://www.tamdistrict.org/ It is doing so despite the knowledge of the chemical make-up of the infill soil, which is recycled crumb rubber tire waste. There are 40,000 tires per field, a number available on the manufacturer's site, http://www.fieldturf.com/ When completed, there will be approximately 120,000 tires worth of crumb rubber tire waste at that one school. That equals ten pounds of crumb rubber per square foot of field. The high school district has placed these expensive fields at all district high schools for costs well into seven figures.
Special permits are required by California for tire facilities with 500 tires or more! http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Tires/Facilities/ Is a tire not a tire if it's been crushed and placed on the Corte Madera Creek in Marin County, California? When is a tire not a tire? Is it no longer a tire when it is crushed into particulate and placed on a playing fields for the school children and communities of Marin? Are public school and community playing fields built with hundreds of thousands crushed tires which blanket tens of acres of animal habitat and public land, legal? Does the mere conversion of tires into particulate form change their toxicity to the water, soil, and human health?
Drake High is only one of thousands of fields that have been sold to school districts across our country by FieldTurf Tarkett, a company based out of Europe and Canada. With each field costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, the profit on these fields is staggering. FieldTurf Tarkett also has a home and business company, http://www.fieldturfgreenscapes.com/, for using this product throughout communities. They report on their website that when building one school play field."FieldTurf. . . removes over 40,000 tires from landfill sites." This seems on first glance to be an altruistic venture, however, on closer study it becomes apparent that this is a matter of pure greed and a profound disregard for the health of our children and the environment we are trying so hard to protect. These fields have been sold as the answer to water shortages, pesticide usage and the maintenance cost of grass fields. Of course these are matters of concern for school districts and communities alike, but to come into schools and communities and present FieldTurf as the answer is a case of despicable marketing. Our children are playing on a surface of rubber tires, a product which normally is placed in toxic waste sites. Tires contain California Prop 65 chemicals, such as benzene, a chemical that requires labelling at gas stations. Tires contain PAHs ,(http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastemin/minimize/factshts/pahs.pdf) polycyclic aromatics that are listed as a U.S. E.P.A. TOP 31 PRIORITY CHEMICALS (PCs) to be eliminated from consumer products. http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastemin/priority.htm Phthalate, also present in tires, is to be banned from products used by children 12 and under beginning next year. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-11-19-phthalate-federalban_N.htm And yet, our school district and FieldTurf are putting down another field at our high school, at many schools at this very time!
As a retired Speech and Language Specialist, concerned parent, and community member, I began researching this product last May. Since that time, there has been a question of lead in old synthetic turf. FieldTurf, while it has little or no lead in the "grass blades, " clearly states on their website that they have been given a clean bill of health by the U.S C.P.S. after studies were completed for lead testing. However, testing for the chemical make-up of the crushed rubber particulate infill was never addressed. In an effort to appear safe for all, FieldTurf is now applying for LEED certification. The FieldTurf company, "Greenscapes" appears on the current U.S. EPA website as a new partner in the environmental program of the EPA titled, interestilngly, "GreenScapes".
Below are two letters and one site I would like to share with you. The first letter (1) from Nancy Alderman, President of Environment and Human Health Inc.,EHHI, to the U.S Green Building Council in charge of LEED Certification, which clearly lists chemicals present in ground rubber waste particulate. The second (2)is from Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, Professor of Pediatrics , Director of the Children's Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City to the Journal News. He clearly cites the three major concerns regarding synthetic turf and the health of children. They are extreme heat, MRSA infections, chemical hazards. The site below (3) is the EHHI ejounal report on rubber crumb waste.
Dear Earthjustice, this is a story which requires true legal investigation. I believe Earthjustice would aid the children of this country if you got to the core of this matter, is this material safe? The effects of these chemicals may not be seen for years, and in that time how many children, athletes, families, flora, fauna, soil and water could be affected by these toxicants?
Please read on. Please refer my concerns to the appropriate Earthjustice attorney. I would be very interested in sharing months of research in this matter.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mary Swan Bell, MS
Marin County, California
415-459-5836
(1)
To the Executive Staff and Board of Directors at the U.S. Green Building Council in charge of LEED Certification,
It has come to the attention of Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) that synthetic turf athletic fields can be part of a "LEED" certification process. If true, this is a shocking revelation. Although recycling is good, certain materials should not be recycled. We should not recycle asbestos, we should not recycle lead or used rubber tires where children play. Recycled used rubber tires make-up then in-fill for most artificial fields.
Leed certification indicates that a building is a "green" building. That means, in part, that it is designed and constructed to promote profitability while reducing the negative environmental impacts of buildings and improving occupant health and well-being. http://www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen/leed.asp
It is hard to claim that artificial turf fields "improve occupant health and well being" when the fields have in-fill made up of ground-up used rubber tires that contain the following chemicals.
Chemicals found by the CT Agricultural Experiment Station in rubber tire "crumbs".
Benzothiazole: Skin and eye irritation, harmful if swallowed. There is no available data on cancer, mutagenic toxicity, teratogenic toxicity, or developmental toxicity.
Butylated hydroxyanisole: Recognized carcinogen, suspected endocrine toxicant, gastrointestinal toxicant, immunotoxicant (adverse effects on the immune system), neurotoxicant (adverse effects on the nervous system), skin and sense-organ toxicant. There is no available data on cancer, mutagenic toxicity, teratogenic toxicity, or developmental toxicity.
n-hexadecane: Severe irritant based on human and animal studies. There is no available data on cancer, mutagenic toxicity, teratogenic toxicity, or developmental toxicity.
4-(t-octyl) phenol: Corrosive and destructive to mucous membranes. There is no available data on cancer, mutagenic toxicity, teratogenic toxicity, or developmental toxicity.
Zinc: There is a very large amount of zinc that is added in the manufacturing of tires and therefore there is a great deal of zinc. See North Carolina's Department of Agricultural's study on ground up rubber tire mulch - http://www.ncagr.com/agronomi/pdffiles/rubber.pdf
Other chemicals often found in rubber tires:
Benzene Carcinogen, Developmental Toxicant, Reproductive Toxicant
Phtalates Suspected Developmental Toxicant, Endocrine Toxicant, Reproductive Toxicant
PAHs Suspected Cardiovascular or Blood Toxicant, Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant, Reproductive Toxicant ,Respiratory Toxicant,
Maganese Gastrointestinal or liver toxicants
Carbon Black Carcinogen
Latex Causes allergic reactions in some people
In some states rubber tires are a "Hazardous Waste" and in other states they are a "Special Waste". Whichever the case - one has to get a permit to dispose of rubber tires and there is a cost associated with that disposal. There is the potential for ground water contamination from the chemicals in the ground up rubber tires.
Field Turf, based in Canada, is one of the major manufacturers of synthetic turf with ground-up rubber tire in-fill. Field Turf is now saying it will help these plastic fields get "LEED" certification. These fields consist of a plastic - like material that is dyed green to look like grass - and then the blades of plastic are filled in with used ground-up rubber tire pellets the size of bread crumbs. The end result is that there are yards and yards of dyed green plastic with literally tons of used rubber tires ground up and sprinkled loose over the green plastic synthetic field.
If all that plastic and all those old used tires sprinkled over acres of land lead to a better environment -- and improve occupant health and well-being - then something is definitely wrong. This looks like one more example of industry - with its clever marketing strategies - taking over well meaning and hard fought for environmental progress and turning it inside out for its own uses.
Can you imagine all that plastic and all those old used rubber tires now being considered "Green"? Below is the paragraph from the Field Turf press release found on the Athletic Turf website. Click the blue type if you want their whole article.
"FieldTurf helps organizations earn the necessary points needed for U.S. Green Building Council LEED certification. FieldTurf's reused rubber content and water use reduction, among other factors, can contribute numerous points towards LEED certification. FieldTurf is also a proud member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Greenscapes program that aims towards providing cost-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for landscaping."
http://www.athleticturf.net/athleticturf/Artificial+Turf/FieldTurf-trumpets-its-environmental-benefits/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/568972?contextCategoryId=3209
Environment and Human Health, Inc. hopes that you will not allow these fields to be part of "LEED" certification.
Environment and Human Health, Inc. 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.Its website can be found at http://www.ehhi.org
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
Best,
Nancy Alderman, President
Environment and Human Health, Inc.
--
Nancy Alderman, President
Environment and Human Health, Inc.
1191 Ridge Road
North Haven, CT 06473
(phone) 203-248-6582
(fax) 203-288-7571
http://www.ehhi.org
(2)
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008812110386
The Journal News
The Journal News, is a Gannett Company newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties in New York.
Letter to the Editor * December 11, 2008
Artificial turf fields pose safety issues
Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, Professor of Pediatrics
I urge the Irvington school district not to adopt the use of artificial turf until further examination.
There are several hundred artificial turf fields on the East Coast. Towns and school districts installed them to improve the quality of playing fields and accommodate sports programs. However, they were pursued without analysis of potential negative consequences. A number of these very expensive fields have been installed and we are suddenly, and belatedly, beginning to realize they may lead to health problems, such as:
1. Extreme heat. On hot summer days, temperatures of over 130 degrees Fahrenheit have been recorded a few feet above the surface of synthetic turf fields - the altitude where children play. Vigorous play in these conditions conveys a very real risk of heat stress or heat stroke.
2. MRSA skin infections. Outbreaks of skin infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus have been documented in children who play on synthetic turf fields (New England Journal of Medicine, February 2005).
3. Chemical hazards to human health and the environment. Crumb rubber, a major component of current generation synthetic turf fields, is typically made from ground-up recycled tires containing styrene and 1, 3-butadiene, the major constituents of synthetic rubber. Styrene is toxic to the nervous system, and butadiene is a proven human carcinogen.
Lead was recently found in synthetic turf fields in New Jersey at levels so high that several fields were closed by the state Health Department. Citizens and school boards should question the wisdom of installing synthetic turf until a credible independent study has been conducted and published.
Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc
Professor and Chairman, Department of Community & Preventive Medicine
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Children's Environmental Health Center
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
17 East 102nd Street, Room D3-145
New York, NY 10029-6574
Tel: 212-824-7018
The writer is professor of pediatrics and director of the Children's Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
(3) http://www.ehhi.org/reports/turf/
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