ABOUT: Medway MA Proposed 3 year moratorium

Petitioner: Turf Grass Forum / group

Drafted: April 14^th 2016

Article:  To determine whether the Town of Medway will adopt a moratorium on the engineering, planning, construction or installation of any synthetic turf (monofilament carpet with infill), any surface covering of loose fill and playground pour-in-place surface covering made from tire derived material on any land, of any size, owned by the town for a three-year time period starting on June 1, 2016 and ending on June 1, 2019; or take any other action relative thereto.

This moratorium does not include pour-in-place surfaces that are currently in use on running tracks or intended for use on running tracks e.g. the Hanlon Field running track. Town land includes, but is not limited to, that of the Medway Public Schools but does not include private land.

So what is synthetic turf?

It was originally promoted as a way of recycling and disposing of old tires instead of putting them into a landfill. They are ground up into tiny pellets and put into a plastic carpet to produce playing fields and playground surfaces. The process of breaking up the tires varies but the product is the same – crumb rubber pellets which are loosely held in place by the carpet. These pellets are not coated with anything or rendered “inert”.

So why the moratorium?

Medway Massachusetts’ current fields contain crumb rubber infill supplied by Liberty Tire.  Liberty Tire is the same supplier of crumb rubber infill in Concord Massachusetts,  a  Town which passed a similar moratorium by residents’ Town Meeting vote on April 6^th, 2016.

Crumb rubber, made from discarded automobile tires and used in synthetic turf, contains about 40% rubber, together with dozens of chemicals. Some are known carcinogens and endocrine disrupters. Those chemicals found in testing requested by the Town of Concord and conducted by Haley and Aldrich on the fields include:

·      Benzo(a)pyrene

·      Benzo(b)fluoranthene

·      Chrysene

·      Indeno(1,32,3-cd)pyrene

·      Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate

The first four of them are carcinogens and the last is an endocrine disrupter that blocks the effect of the male hormone androgen. These are not safe at any level in the environment. There are many other chemicals in crumb rubber, that have never been investigated and for which there is no data available.

In Europe, heavy oils containing benzopyrenes and other toxic chemicals have been banned in automobile tires since 2010 because they are highly carcinogenic. Tires in the US, however, still contain them and are a potential source of benzopyrenes in the environment.

Exposure in Children

To have these chemicals in close contact with children is a major concern. Children are more susceptible to both carcinogens and hormone disrupters since their bodies are still developing. These chemicals can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled during “gassing off” of the rubber on hot days and eaten. One athlete estimated that she swallowed crumb rubber every time she played on synthetic turf. The crumb rubber is also carried home on clothing, in hair and in shoes. Any parent whose child has played on these fields can attest to the quantity of this material that routinely comes home.

Of additional concern are young siblings who play with the crumb rubber on the fields while their parent are watching the games and are also in contact with pellets that are brought home.

National Response

In response to the growing health concerns around synthetic turf nationwide, four US

Congressmen from the Committee on Energy and Commerce and two US Senators have

written letters of inquiry regarding these concerns to the Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA). They asked very specific questions about health and safety and these questions have

yet to be answered.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has not rated synthetic turf or crumb rubber as a child-safe product despite the high level of exposure in young children playing on them. The CPSC has backed away from its 2008 position of approving these fields.

In March of 2016, Mount Sinai announced a very clear position on the use of Crumb rubber advising a moratorium nation-wide:  Dr. Robert Wright, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City states:  "We are advising against the use of crumb rubber fields until safety is proven. This is because the product is made from recycled automobile tires, which are well known to contain metals and other toxic chemicals. Some components of tire rubber are linked to cancer and others are toxic to the nervous and other systems." 

The EPA no longer backs the use of crumb rubber. Together with the CPSC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, they have launched the Federal Research Action Plan. This multi-agency effort will investigate the effects of crumb rubber on human health.

The objectives of this Federal Research Action Plan are to identify gaps in our knowledge of crumb rubber, to understand exactly what chemicals are in it, to investigate the level and means of exposure to these chemicals and to identify further research that would provide information about their potential health risks.  According to the Federal Research Action Plan publicly presented on April 14^th 2016; it will include research and testing of all tire derived materials: crumb rubber used on synthetic turf athletic fields, rubber playground mulch and pour-in-place rubber playground surfaces.  The pour-in-place surfaces are referenced in the April 14^th Federal presentation as “unitary / pour-in or tiles”.  The CPSC admits that: the current CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook addresses the impact attenuation to minimize serious head injuries, and not on other aspects that may pose other risks, such as chemical exposure or ingestion. (addendum to Handbook, Dec 29, 2015)

State Responses:

Medway’s own State Representatives Jeff Roy and John Fernandes along with Massachusetts Senator Karen Spilka wrote a letter of inquiry to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in December 2015 regarding the potential hazards of ingestion and inhalation of toxins; detecting the existence of known human carcinogens and investigation any potential risks to children or adult users.  CPSC response to our legislators indicated that the Federal Research Action Plan is result of their letter inquiry and the culmination of elevated concern through out the US.

The cancer cases found in Washington State soccer goalies are now being investigated by agencies in Washington (state) to determine whether they represent a cluster linked to synthetic turf.

California’s three-year study (OEHHA) is already under way in which they are evaluating the “potential human health effects associated with use of recycled waste tires in playground and synthetic turf products.”

Connecticut legislature is reviewing a new bill to ban crumb rubber playgrounds across the state.

In Conclusion:

A three-year moratorium will allow time for the current research on synthetic turf and tire-derived surface materials to be carried out.  From the data gathered, scientists and public health professionals will be better able to assess the risks involved in using these materials.  We will continue to monitor this research and its conclusions and wish to communicate it to the relevant town boards. Since there are no known artificial turf fields or playgrounds currently being planned, this moratorium will ensure that the Town of Medway will have ample time to make a considered and informed policy about these materials for the future use.  A vote in favor of this Moratorium would provide our Community the option to avoid the unknown while still improving our recreational facilities.