June 07. 2016 11:15PM
Bear with me as we run through a brief history. For decades, our country has faced a growing challenge with a rather mundane problem: what do we do with all the old tires that no one needs anymore? In all honesty, I found it somewhat surprising that no one saw this coming. Everyone who drives a car has to replace the tires at least once, sometimes multiple times, in the life of the car. Did no one think about where those old tires would go? Apparently not, because they began piling up in disturbing quantities in landfills all across the nation. In an effort to address this issue, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supported the grinding up of these tires into crumb rubber to be recycled in a variety of ways, including on athletic fields and playgrounds.
Everything was going well, until concerns began to surface about the toxicity of the crumb rubber. Suddenly the solution to the landfill problem raised another serious question: are there health risks associated with tire crumb? Cases of blood cancers and health problems started cropping up among otherwise healthy athletes who played on this tire-derived crumb rubber. Ultimately, the EPA withdrew its previous endorsement of tire crumb in light of increasing concerns that its safety had not yet been adequately studied.
Hang in there with me – the history lesson is almost over. On February 12, 2016, the EPA entered into a three-year action plan in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to study key environmental human health questions related to tire crumb.
In case I lost you, here’s the short version: the EPA previously endorsed the use of tire crumb as a partial solution to the significant problem of scrap tires piling up in landfills; they have since reversed this position, and will be partnering with other federal agencies to study what impact tire crumb has on human health.
Does this mean that tire crumb is harmful? We don’t know. That’s actually the point – no one knows. The study has only just begun, and it will likely take many years before we have more information on the health impacts of crumb rubber.
In the meantime, I urge Medway residents to mirror the actions of the EPA, CDC and CPSC, and vote not to use tire-derived crumb rubber on any new surfaces or fields on town land for the next three years while these agencies complete their research. Town officials have repeatedly assured residents that there are no plans to construct any new fields or surfaces using tire crumb, so a “yes” vote on Article 1 would not interrupt any current projects and would ensure that we do not expand our usage of a material that might ultimately be deemed harmful in the future. We don’t know what the federal study will find. Is it worth the risk of knowing that tire crumb could be harmful, that we had a chance to stop further use of it, and we did nothing? Or worse, that we actively voted against it?
I will be voting in favor of the moratorium on tire-derived crumb rubber on June 9, and I urge the residents of Medway to join me in support.
SUSAN DIETRICH
Medway
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