Happy Birthday Lew

Nigel has become a friend to many of us who continue to work towards the truth surrounding synthetic turf toxicity. We’ve had many phone calls. He’s a wonderfully humble Englishman, a medical professional: the former chief executive of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) of Cumbria and most importantly: Dad to Lewis Maguire.

Our beloved son Lewis John Marcel Maguire died peacefully from complications following a bone marrow transplant. He was and always will be my hero. The emptiness he leaves behind has left us all bereft and at sea. pic.twitter.com/8CXCKKrxVN

— Nigel Maguire (@Duran1177) March 17, 2018

“Lew” as Nigel affectionately calls him, lost his battle with cancer in March of 2018. 
Lew was 20 years old had Hodgkin lymphoma and he was an extraordinary Soccer player.

This man is not just forever heartbroken. He and Lew put themselves out there and did everything from writing the highest level of government to appearing on the international media circuit.

They wanted answers.
They wanted regulation.
They wanted change.
All of this while Lew fought cancer.

If you do one thing today, take the time to watch Dangerous Play (load in Chrome for English)

(Around the 34 minute mark) You’ll see Nigel and Lew standing at the gates of his training fields.....
“It looks very innocent...... it brings back bad memories.......I used to bring Lewis here week in and week out. If I knew then what I know now I would have never walked through those gates.” said Nigel.

Be an advocate for your child, be sure to look at the artificial grass they are playing on. Ask questions and don’t accept empty or vague answers.
We know plenty about tire crumb and now various types of #PFAS has become a true discovery at various levels in artificial grass.

There’s a simply wonderful answer and it’s grass. You have the power and the right to ask your child’s coach, school, town, sports league, soccer club (etc) to put their play on grass.

So what’s true? Nigel said: "I will continue to press for answers, not least because Lewis wanted those answers and I owe it to him to get them." and we’re with you Nigel.

Our beloved son Lewis John Marcel Maguire died peacefully from complications following a bone marrow transplant. He was and always will be my hero. The emptiness he leaves behind has left us all bereft and at sea. pic.twitter.com/8CXCKKrxVN

— Nigel Maguire (@Duran1177) March 17, 2018

Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands tweets answers on PFAS in artifical grass

In antwoord op onze kamervragen bevestig @SvVeldhoven dat er #PFAS zit in #kunstgras. Geen antwoord op de vraag welke gezondheidsrisico’s dit met zich meebrengt. Ondertussen stapelen de kunstgrasmatten zich verder op..... pic.twitter.com/ueh1yaLkwM

— Suzanne Kröger (@suzanne_GL) December 4, 2019

Kroger's Tweet translated:  "Confirm in response to our parliamentary questions @SvVeldhoven that there #PFAS sit in #kunstgras . No answer to the question of what health risks this entails. In the meantime, the artificial grass mats are piling up further ....."

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Parliment member Suzanne Kroger (twitter @suzanne_GL ) has posted the response to Parliment's questions on #PFAS in Artificial Grass.  Responses are from Stientje v Veldhoven  ( twitter @SvVeldhoven ).   Veldhoven is a Dutch politician and former diplomat and civil servant serving as State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management in the Third Rutte cabinet since 26 October 2017.

The  Secretary of State has admitted that the Industry uses PFAS to produce artificial grass.
Therefore it’s in there.
She now asked the EU for a guidance in this subject. En probably there will be a ban to use PFAS to produce artificial grass
She answered in questions asked by our parliament.
She didn’t answer the question about health issues. 
On October 10, I received written questions from member Kröger about PFAS in artificial grass. I hereby send you the answers to the questions asked.

Question 1
Do you know the message "Toxic PFAS Chemicals Found in Artificial Turf"? (1)
Answer 1
Yes.

Question 2
As far as you know, is polypropylene and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used in the production of artificial grass used in the Netherlands?

Answer 2
Yes. Fluoropolymers from the PFAS group are used in extrusion processes in the plastics industry, such as in the production of fibers for artificial grass. Due to the wide application of PFAS in a large number of processes and the risks that this poses to the environment and health, the government has opted to work in a European context on phasing out the use of PFAS in non-essential applications via the REACH regulation .

Question 3
Has the PFAS content of artificial grass used in the Netherlands been investigated? If not, are you planning this now that PFAS is a very worrying substance?

Question 4
If Dutch artificial grass is contaminated with PFAS, what are the exposure risks for athletes, employees of artificial grass companies or maintenance staff of artificial grass sports fields?

Question 5
What are the risks for the environment, soil and water, due to leaching of PFAS?

Answer questions 3, 4 and 5
Because PFAS is used worldwide in a large number of products and processes, I have a broad focus on the risks of PFAS. At the moment nothing is known about the specific risks of PFAS in artificial grass in scientific literature and at RIVM and ECHA.
The Minister of IenW and I have promised two investigations into the release of PFAS from different sources. I asked Rijkswaterstaat to do research into (diffuse) discharges from PFAS and the causes thereof. The RIVM is also involved in this. Completion is planned for the second quarter of 2020. In addition, I promised to have a study carried out into PFAS in products, production processes and waste streams. This will be done by Arcadis. This investigation is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020. These investigations have since been started. Given the size of the PFAS group, it is not feasible to include all processes and products that potentially use substances from this group. Based on available literature and previous studies, the scope is focused on products, processes and discharge points with the greatest risk of environmental and health effects due to release of PFAS into the environment and / or human exposure. For the research into PFAS in products, production processes and waste streams, this scope will be further specified in the first phase that has recently started. This will also include the production of plastics and plastic products.

Question 6
What are the risks arising from the processing and recycling of artificial grass?

Answer 6
At the moment nothing is known about the specific risks of PFAS in artificial grass in scientific literature and at RIVM and ECHA. This also applies to its processing and recycling. I will await the aforementioned investigations for this. In a general sense, the Environmental Management Act requires waste processors to take measures to control risks to the environment that they are aware of (or may reasonably be aware of). On behalf of the competent authority, this is supervised by the environmental services.“