Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Commissioners, think about this tonight as you raise our taxes.

Commissioners, remember how you blew almost a million dollars on the toxic turf on Cedar Blvd.? Think about this when you raise our taxes tonight.

The latest cancer data from soccer coach Amy Griffin about players who've played on artificial turf. And it's not good. This calls for an epidemiological study by our Federal Government.

CANCERS AMONG SOCCER PLAYERS WHO HAVE PLAYED ON SYNTHETIC TURF AND REPORTED THEIR CANCERS TO AMY GRIFFIN.

Eight months ago, in April of 2016 -- there were 166 soccer players who had gotten cancer -- and 102 of those were goalkeepers.

Now, in December, 2016, there are 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer and 116 of them are goalkeepers. That is 62% of the soccer players who have gotten cancer are the goal keepers, who we know are the most heavily exposed to the synthetic turf. The average age of the soccer players who have gotten cancer is 20-21 years old.

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer, 48 have Hodgkin's Lymphoma -- 29 of the 48 are Goalkeepers == which is 60 % of the soccer players who got Hodgkin's Lymphoma are goalkeepers;

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer 26 have non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma -- 13 are Goalkeepers === which is 50% of the soccer players who got non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma are goalkeepers;

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer 42 Leukemia -- 29 are Goalkeepers == which is 70% of the soccer players who got Leukemia are goalkeepers;

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer 17 have Sarcomas -- 9 are goalkeepers == which is 53%of the soccer players who got Sarcomas are goalkeepers;

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer 11 have testicular -- 6 are Goalkeepers == which is 55% of the soccer players who got testicular cancer are goalkeepers;

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer 9 have Thyroid -- 8 are goalkeepers == which is 89% of the soccer players who got Thyroid cancer are goalkeepers; (1 was a field hockey goalkeeper)

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer 9 have brain cancer -- 6 are goalkeepers = which is 67% of the soccer players who got brain cancer are goalkeepers;

Of the 186 soccer players who have gotten cancer 3 have lung cancer -- all are goal keepers === which is 100% of the soccer players who got lung cancer are goalkeepers.

There are reported 74 soccer players with either Hodgkin's Lymphoma or non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas while there are 42 soccer players who have gotten Leukemias. In the general population there are usually more Leukemias than lymphomas -- in this instance there are almost double the number of lymphomas to Leukemias.

All in all, there are 116 cases of blood cancers among the 186 who have gotten cancer. That is 62% of the soccer players who have gotten cancer have gotten blood cancers.

Thus far: There are 234 Total Athletes who have played on synthetic turf and have cancer -- and have known to report their cancers to Amy Griffin.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"No, but we're entitled to play when it rains."

Anonymous said...

While I don't disagree that the EPA should further investigate toxic turf and not to argue with the findings of Amy Griffin but I was watching two NFL games in recent weeks where the turf was packed with crumb rubber. Many of us saw the Steelers-Bill game when at halftime they had an issue with the crumb rubber piling up on the sidelines. This past week I saw some of the Giants-Lions game where the receivers seemed to be kicking up an enormous amount of crumb rubber and it made me think of this controversy in Mt. Lebanon.

This week I searched for some studies on cancer rates in the NFL. I found a couple studies that indicated that cancer rates in the NFL were "lower than" or "not greater" than the general population. It occurred to me that since football players also play in these fields as much as soccer goalies and that greater numbers of them land on crumb rubber fields at a much greater frequency than soccer goalies that it would be easy to find similar evidence of Hodgkin's lymphoma and other cancers in football players occurring at a high frequency similar to what Amy Griffin found. I could not find such evidence.

I did find Connor James from Pitt, Eric Berry from the KC Chiefs and one other NFL player. However, I found no evidence of any study or news report that indicates that cancer was occurring in football players at an above average rate. I can only find this Amy Griffin findings for soccer goalies. You would think that would be the case for football players since it is suggested that soccer goalies are experiencing this due to the increased number of impacts they are having with crumb rubber. I think we can all agree that a soccer goalie hits the turf at more infrequent level than your average football player.

Can anyone provide a link to a study that shows cancer is occurring in football players at an increased rate over the general population? I await the EPA study and have seen the other recent reports, but I'm sincerely interested if anyone knows of cancer analysis among football players that indicates a higher propensity for cancer.