Dear Editor:
Last Friday, February 12, NBC World News Tonight reported that three federal agencies have agreed to investigate the safety of rubber crumb artificial turfs. Those three agencies are the Environmental Protection Agency, the Center for Disease Control and the Consumer Products Safety Commission and their charge is to determine once and for all if rubber crumb turf fields pose any health threat to young athletes and to take a clear public position on the issue. To their credit the Synthetic Turf Council, which is the industry group advocating for the continued construction of rubber turf fields, announced their support for the federal effort.
While we wait to learn from the scientists, who will be undertaking this investigation, to determine what chemical compounds are contained in the turf fields and if those chemicals are released when an athlete comes into contact with them, we also continue to wait for the Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education to explain to parents what independent investigation they conducted as to the safety of turf fields prior to spending millions of tax payer dollars to install them at both high schools. The Board’s continued refusal to provide that information suggests that they did not conduct any such investigation and are now hoping that the investigation by the three federal agencies will get them off the hook. Hopefully the Board Of Eduction gets lucky but if it doesn’t then hopefully they will have the courage to admit their mistake, tear up the turf fields and restore the grass fields. After all, it’s all about the kids.
Bob Crawford
