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.

New petition forwarded from Coach Griffin

Happy Holidays everyone.

 
A few of you have expressed interest in keeping up to date on any new news as far as Synthetic Turf goes. So far, not much but continued interest is always good. This was sent to me and I thought I would forward along to you. RE : Petition to remove crumb rubber in the White House grounds. 

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Remove the Carcinogenic and Toxic Tire Mulch from the White House Playground & Replace with Wood Chips or Wood Mulch.

Amy Griffin

amygriff65@gmail.com
Twitter: GKCoachGriffin
FBook: UW Women’s Soccer

Commissioners: I hate what you are doing to this town

Dear Commissioners:

I abhor what you have done to this town. If it isn't about subjecting us to seeing deer killed before our eyes and our children's eyes, and later when the game commission issues the permit to allow you to torture deer, it is forcing us to pay for the installation of toxic turf and expecting parents to make difficult choices concerning their children's participation in field sports.

Commissioners, you took us down the same path with both subjects by ignoring documentation that your constituents sent to you, shutting down public comment, humiliating those with opposing views, lying to our faces, and doing back room deals with the puppet masters who are pulling your strings.

I get much criticism from your anonymous minions of Gozer when Lebo Citizens readers disagree with them. Yet, you have no problem attacking residents during Citizen Comments after they give their names and addresses during public meetings. You're despicable.

Parents are worried that their children might want to sled ride after a snow fall between December 26 and January 24, 2015. Do they permit them to go to the parks or golf course? Building snowmen in their own yards could get dicey. What about golfers, if there is no snow? Will your municipal staff be calling "Fore" before shooting their arrows?

Today, I received two emails about turf which I will share here. I had sent an email to Coach Amy Griffin and would like to share her response.

From: Amy Griffin <xxxxxxxx@xxxxx>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, Dec 12, 2014 3:55 pm
Subject: Re: Artificial turf
Elaine,
After the NBC Crumb Rubber story, my INBOX grew quite a bit.  I cannot remember if I returned your email, but since it is in my inbox, I am assuming I have not.  Thank you so much for reaching out, sharing your struggle with being unable to stop the influx of more fields with that crap in it. :)
I saved your document and email and will let you know if and when something moves forward on this topic.
I hope your holidays are off to a great beginning. 

Respectfully, 

Amy Griffin 

xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx
Twitter:  GKCoachGriffin  

FBook:  UW Women’s Soccer

On Oct 16, 2014, at 7:08 PM, egillen476@aol.com wrote:
Dear Coach Griffin, 

I want to thank you for sharing your story with NBC. I am a community blogger in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. I have been trying to stop our toxic turf project for several years. You may have seen lebocitizens.blogspot.com since I do get visitors from the University of Washington.
Today was a sad day for Mt. Lebanon. The Department of Environmental Protection granted a permit to begin our toxic turf project. I am attaching the letter from the DEP which includes a comment/response section. Please read Comment #14. It is heartbreaking.  

I am just sick that our commissioners have rejected all our resources. I sent them the NBC investigation piece that you did with them. No response from the four commissioners pushing the project. They all have children who participate in field sports and are hoping for scholarships.  

Here in Mt. Lebanon, we are ruled by the sports cabal. I hope other communities have better luck than we did. 

Keep your message going, Coach. Thank you for your courage. 

Elaine Gillen

Email Number 2 [which was forwarded to me]:

From: Nancy Alderman Sent: Dec 11, 2014 2:31 PM To: undisclosed-recipients@null, null@null Subject: To the Media - Recommendations to parents and students who are in schools where there are synthetic turf fields. 

Contact Information
Nancy Alderman, President
Environment and Human Health, Inc.
203-248-6582
December 11, 2014 - North Haven, Connecticut

Environment and Human Health, Inc., a group of 10  physicians and public health professionals, sends this advisory.
Because most synthetic turf fields contain ground up rubber tires that contain a myriad of toxic chemicals;
Because there have now been reported over 90 cancer cases among students who have played on synthetic turf fields;
Because most of the cancers reported are lymphomas.
Environment and Human Health, Inc. is recommending the following:
1. Children and students should be discouraged from playing on synthetic turf fields that contain ground-up rubber tire infill.
2.  If children and students must play on these fields, they should shower immediately after leaving the field, as well as changing their clothing, including their socks and shoes. This is because the tiny rubber crumbs and the rubber crumb dust gets into socks, shoes, hair, ears etc. from the field's rubber tire infill.
3. 20% to 30%l of rubber tires are made up of carbon black, and carbon black is just one of the carcinogens in rubber tires.
4. Every synthetic turf field has 40,000 ground-up rubber tires in it.  This is a lot of toxic material to expose our children and students to.
                Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI)
                North Haven, CT   06473
                (phone) 203-248-6582
                http://www.ehhi.org
EHHI receives none of its funding from businesses or corporations. Below are the people who run EHHI.
 Susan S. Addiss, MPH, MUrS. Past Commissioner of Health for the State of Connecticut; Past President of the American Public Health Association; Past member of the Pew Environmental Health Commission; Vice-Chair, Connecticut Health Foundation Board; Director of Health Education for Environment and Human Health, Inc.
Nancy O. Alderman, MES. President of Environment and Human Health, Inc.; Past member of the Governor's Pollution Prevention Task Force; Past member of the National Board of Environmental Defense; Recipient of the CT Bar Association, Environmental Law Section's, Clyde Fisher Award, given in recognition of significant contributions to the preservation of environmental quality through work in the fields of environmental law, environmental protection or environmental planning, and the New England Public Health Association's Robert C. Huestis/Eric Mood Award given to individuals for outstanding contributions to public health in the environmental health area.
Andrea Gottsegan Asnes, MD, MSW. Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine; Associate Director of the Yale Child Abuse Programs and Child Abuse Prevention Programs; Co-Director of the third year clerkship in Pediatrics, and an Associate Director of the MD/PhD Program.
D. Barry Boyd, MD.   Clinical Professor of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, Oncologist at Greenwich Hospital and Affiliate Member of the Yale Cancer Center. Research areas include environmental risk factors for cancer as well as cancer etiology, including nutrition and the role of insulin and IGF in malignancy. Dr. Boyd is the Founder and Director of Integrative Medicine at Greenwich Hospital - Yale Health System. Russell L. Brenneman, Esq. Connecticut Environmental Lawyer; Co-Chair of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters; Chair of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters Education Fund; Former chair of the Connecticut Energy Advisory Board; Co-chair of the Connecticut Greenways Committee; Adjunct faculty in Public Policy at Trinity College, Hartford; Past President of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association.
David R. Brown, Sc.D. Public Health Toxicologist and Director of Public Health Toxicology for Environment and Human Health, Inc.; Past Chief of Environmental Epidemiology and Occupational Health at Connecticut's Department of Health; Past Deputy Director of The Public Health Practice Group of ATSDR at the National Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Thomas F. Harrison, Esq. Connecticut Environmental Lawyer;  Past Assistant Attorney General in the New York State's Attorney General's office;  Past Regional Counsel in the largest U.S. EPA Office,  Region 5; Past Senior Corporate Council to the BFGoodrich Company; Past Partner at the Hartford law firm of Day Pittney LLP; Served on Connecticut's  Board of Contracting Standards and Review;  Served on the CT Council of Environmental Quality and was the Past Chairman of the Environmental Section of the CT Bar Association.
Pinar H. Kodaman, MD, PhD.  Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Yale University School of Medicine; Director of the Early Recurrent Pregnancy Lost Program at the Yale Fertility Center.
Robert G. LaCamera, MD. Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine; Primary Care Pediatrician in New Haven, Connecticut from 1956 to 1996 with a sub-specialty in children with disabilities.
Hugh S. Taylor, M.D. Anita O'Keeffe Young Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University School of Medicine;Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
John P. Wargo, Ph.D. Tweedy Ordway Professor of Environmental Health and Politics, Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Professor of Political Science. Author of Green Intelligence: Creating Environments That Protect Human Health published by Yale Press.  The book won the Independent Publishers Award of Gold Medal in the field of "environment, ecology, and nature" for 2010.  It also won the 2010 Connecticut Book Award in non-fiction. It was chosen as one of Scientific American's favorite books for 2009. Also author of Our Children's Toxic Legacy, which won the American Association Publisher's competition as best scholarly and professional book in an area of government and political science in 1997.
--
Nancy Alderman, President
Environment and Human Health, Inc.
1191 Ridge Road
North Haven, CT   06473
(phone) 203-248-6582
(Fax)     203-288-7571
http://www.ehhi.orghttp://ehhijournal.org

As families prepare for Hanukkah or Christmas, whatever happened to Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men? You have turned Mt. Lebanon into a battle ground, all because of your personal agendas. You have no regard for facts or opinions other than those who agree with you or those who control you. Whether it is deer or turf, it is all the same.

"Recede and Reseed" UPDATED

Gorgeous day for a rally. KDKA, WPXI, and WTAE cameras were there. The Post-Gazette and The Almanac had reporters present. I counted 75 people in attendance, including the two sports guys.

Thanks goes to the organizers, the speakers, ALL of the people who showed up, the media, and especially to the only commissioner who attended, Commissioner Kelly Fraasch.

Update October 27, 2014 7:09 AM Mt. Lebanon residents, commissioners dig into turf war

But David Brumfield, Mt. Lebanon Ward 4 commissioner, said the NBC report used anecdotal evidence from what some soccer players may have thought caused their cancer in place of actual scientific evidence. He also said that football players spend more time than anyone on turf, and there have been no complaints about the artificial turf used at the Mt. Lebanon High School football field. He said the artificial turf will increase the number of events and time of year the field can be used.

Update October 27, 2014 3:27 PM Lots of publicity! Thanks!

Not a little late; the municipality started a little early. They were supposed to wait three weeks after the permit was issued. The permit was issued on Thursday and construction started the following Monday.

"We were days away from the infill process....We said regardless, stop everything."

Coach Griffin has heard from toxicologists all over the country, telling her that she is not wrong. Local governments are stopping the process and aren't willing to take the chance. But Dave Brumfield, Kristen Linfante, Steve Silverman, and John Bendel are willing to take the chance on yours and their kids.

CBS News: School replaces artificial turf over cancer concerns

Groups Giving Second Thoughts To Those Little Black Crumbs On Playing Fields

Shame on all you media people who read this blog and don't want to cover this issue.