Petitioner: Turf Grass Forum / group
Drafted: April 14th
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 6th, 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 14th 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 14th
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.
