SAN FRANCISCO -Artificial turf made from recycled rubber tires may save water, but there are growing health concerns among parents, activists and now legislators about these athletic fields that could pose a health risk.
Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) will introduce legislation on Wednesday calling for a new, more comprehensive study of crumb rubber synthetic turf amid growing concerns that the material is linked to cancer.This won't stop the toxic turf project on Cedar Blvd. already protested TWICE here in Mt. Lebanon, but may impact the school district's plan to turf the Rock Pile and Franklin's desire to turf Mellon.
Another unhappy camper may be the EPA. According to the EPA's website, the Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC) Scrap Tire Workgroup formulated an action plan in 2007 to promote increased use of ground rubber made from scrap tires. See pages 7-10.
Calvin Young, Chairman of the RCC, is still selling crumb rubber! Grant Program Overview Tire-Derived Product (TDP) Grant Program The EPA is pushing this through grants as late as August! August 19, 2014 Presentation.
Between exposing children to toxic turf and the possibility of the children witnessing the killing of God's creatures, it is very difficult for me to be in the Holiday spirit. Thank you, Commissioners, for your personal agendas. Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas.
Update December 20, 2014 11:09 PM Yet another article about turf safety. Here is a bedtime story for you to read, Dave, Kristen, John, and Steve. Scrap Tire Playgrounds Lighten Landfills, But Raise Cancer Fears
In the wake of the recent alarm, some schools and municipalities have canceled plans to install crumb rubber turf. Lawyers, such as Connecticut's Ed Jazlowiecki, who called crumb rubber "the next asbestos," are collecting names for class-action lawsuits. And citizen-advocates are pushing their local governments to change policies.
Thank you for consolidating this information. We now know that the EPA was IN on the idea of promoting the use of crumb rubber for playgrounds and sports fields despite KNOWLEDGE of health hazards, especially to young children. They figured they could SELL it if they worked hard enough and partnered with commercial industry.
ReplyDeleteI am not going to rely on the EPA, state or local governments to tell me what is safe for my children. I already know and it is not synthetic crumb rubber turf.
http://thedailyjournalist.com/thethinker/the-new-congress-must-save-the-usa-from-the-epa/
ReplyDelete"Heartland’s Science Director, Dr. Jay Lehr, said “EPA’s budget could safely be cut by 80 percent or more without endangering the environment or human health. Most of what EPA does today could be done better by state government agencies, many of which didn’t exist or had much less expertise back in 1970 when EPA was created.”
The EPA has declared virtually everything a pollutant including the carbon dioxide (CO2) that 320 million Americans exhale with every breath. It has pursued President Obama’s “war on coal” for six years with a disastrous effect on coal miners, those who work for coal-fired plants that produce electricity, and on consumers who are seeing their energy bills soar."
The EPA has declared virtually everything a pollutant except... tire crumbs on our sports fields for young athletes!
They also are complicit in a plan to dig up CO2 absorbing/oxygen producing green plants and replace in with energy inefficient plastic grass.
Why silence from the PennFuture mouthpiece on this travestry? Didn't she once brashly admonish the school board that they should act more like Californians? Is that group also a joke?
How is it a state senator can be concerned about the health risk associated with crumb rubber artificial turf appearing in the news, but a lowly Mt. Lebanon commissioner can find nothing?
ReplyDeleteBecause the large Commissioner limits himself to only managed, screened and biased news that agrees with his warped opinions.
ReplyDeleteYour Update Dec. 20th. - the evidence keeps building and the elected and appointed idiots who have steadfastly supported this here will be unable to plead ignorance when the lawsuits are filed.
ReplyDelete9:52 AM, The commissioners will plead ignorance since they have made public statements that they "do not read the blog." There are commissioners who don't even open my email to them. I am not alone.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Well you can't claim that the commissioners are being dishonest if they do claim ignorance on this one.
ReplyDeleteOne dictionary defines ignorant as: "lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated."
If the shoe fits...
I like to copy the solicitor and manager when I send emails to the commission. I did that this morning when I sent them a link to this post. It is on their conscience.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Where's the list so I can sign up early for the class-action lawsuit? Also PITT is jumping in on the research of turf. The Concussion Center has several years of research already. Dave are you ready? You lose MOST of your cases now... You are going to lose this one too!
ReplyDeleteElaine do you add Delivery and Read Receipts to your emails? I've found that my emails are delivered but are NOT being opened by my Commissioner. I'm keeping a record and will ask him WHY at a meeting. Does he only look at democrat emails? Or his friends? Or what? I've setup others around here to see the same. What I did find is a bunch of people that were afraid to do even this. Many said they were afraid that their house assessment would be reassessed. Many feared that someone from the township would suddenly inspect their property. Seems this happened this past summer. What has this place turned into? I've lived here since the mid 70's and NEVER remember things being this bad. The schools yes... But not the Commissioners.
ReplyDeleteThe legacy of the Bush EPA is not etched in stone. "In an emailed statement, the Environmental Protection Agency said: “The agency's highest priority is protecting public health and the environment, and we will carefully review any new findings or information. The agency believes that more testing needs to be done, but, currently, the decision to use tire crumb remains a state and local decision.”
ReplyDelete