Kira Williams Bingemann: do not yet rule the grass fields option out

Dear MGRSD School Committee Members,

I attended the forum on July 31st about the plan to build an artificial turf field.  I heard all except for the last 30 minutes.

I first want to say that I appreciate all of the time and effort contributed by the subcommittee on the athletic field improvements, and also appreciate the many years of work contributed by the school committee.  We are so lucky as a community to have so many dedicated, intelligent people to volunteer their time and skills to the Mount Greylock Regional Schools overall and especially the monumental task of seeing the renovation through to completion.  (I also just have to say that the landscaping out front is actually really lovely and important, unlike what another attendee expressed at the forum!).

In regards to the athletic fields and their need for improvement, I think that having the forum was an important event.  Because the fields will affect so many students for so many years to come, considering all of the possibilities is crucial.  I found the possible negative effects on children’s health and well-being to be the most serious consideration, and the one that gave me the most pause in supporting the artificial turf.  While as many of those in support of the artificial turf point to the fact that we do not know if there will be negative effects on children’s health from exposure to the toxins in the turf and the extreme heat that emanates from them, as Peter Low pointed out, that is exactly the problem - we don’t know, and the medical community won’t really know for years to come.  

As you know, one of the main dangers of artificial turf for children is the toxicity of tire infill.  The Toxics Use Reduction Institute has evidence that the tire infill is the most toxic of all the infill options, which makes sense since the rubber comes from vehicles and roads. Not only do middle and high school kids get exposed to the infill but everyone at home does as well. Every time my older son has come back from the Williams turf field, a lot of tiny rubber pieces get all over the floor.  No one at home should not be exposed to that - the Center for Environmental Health’s article below actually ends by saying, "All crumb rubber pellets should be removed from students’ clothing, bodies, and equipment after playing. Students should always wash their hands thoroughly after exposure to the crumb rubber and never lie down or eat on the field.”  These things seem impossible to do!  And what is the difference between lying down and falling on the field?

All 3 of these articles discuss the risks associated with tire infill, as well as some of the other risks. 

https://www.turi.org/Our_Work/Community/Artificial_Turf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/does-playing-on-artificial-turf-pose-a-health-risk-for-your-child/2017/03/17/0c61b7b4-0380-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html https://www.ceh.org/get-involved/take-action/a-cocktail-of-harmful-chemicals-in-artificial-turf-infill/ So I’m personally in a quandary, and I feel selfish saying this.  Because my boys will be going into 7th and 9th grades, they might not benefit from well-maintained grass fields if they truly take 3-5 years to establish.  Like many of us, I don’t want them to have to travel more to soccer games just because the fields are too wet, in part because as a single parent I would miss games or have to arrange transportation or leave work early to drive far away.  But if I were a parent with younger children I would be adamant that the school work on grass fields, since there would be time to establish them. I don’t think that in the long run artificial turf field is good for cost or environmental reasons - not to mention the fact that the school would end up with one useable fields instead of two or three.  Please, do not yet rule the grass fields option out.  However, as a compromise, if the consensus is ultimately to build an artificial turf, please choose one of the other safer, more natural infill materials even if they are more expensive. There would still be other worrisome health issues, but at least then you would be eliminating one of them.  

Please let me know if I can assist with any further research, as the Reference Librarian at the Williamstown Public Library, and as a parent, with any additional support, such as fundraising for alternatives to tire infill.

Again, thank you very much for your hard work and for your attention.

Sincerely, 

Kira Williams Bingemann

Williamstown, MA 01267