Thomas Bartels: We should not create more microplastics and health hazards

Hello Mt. Greylock Regional School District Committee,

After Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch's input earlier this summer and further research, it's even clearer to me that the School Committee should not decide to take on an unnecessary liability for a NEW ARTIFICIAL turf field.

I'm concerned about the plans for an artificial turf field at Mt. Greylock and hope that our communities can have a sound (and civil) discussion.  I'm alarmed by some School Committee members saying at an earlier meeting that they want to go out to bid to test the waters and that they have not decided to do the project, and then, at a subsequent meeting, voicing severe criticism of people who are (still!) questioning the project since it has been decided.

The fact that the Public Comment period of the SC's Special Session on September 26 (tomorrow) has been restricted to 20 minutes is unfortunate and makes it necessary to write again.

The ECHA - European Chemicals Agency's 2017 investigation and a subsequent restriction proposal for artificial turf fields by the Netherlands in 2018 are a response to the undisputed fact that artificial turf is a substantial source of microplastics to the environment and a potential health hazard.  (Estimated loss from leaching ranges up to 72,000 metric tons of microplastics per year in the EU from artificial turf fields.)

If you have played on an artificial turf field, you know that it heats up faster and becomes hotter than natural grass.  It can cause nasty skin abrasions, smell and leach rubber granules into the environment.  You'll find rubber crumbs in your shoes and sticking to your socks after play time, and every ten years artificial turf fields have to be "reloaded."

Why do you think the US women's national soccer team, reigning world champions, have been demanding for a few years now from US Soccer and FIFA to play on natural grass fields -- something reserved for men so far?

I recommend reading at least the Preface (page 5) of the "Annex XV Restriction Report / Proposal For A Restriction

" prepared by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in cooperation with the ECHA for the 28 (!) EU Member States. I have attached the entire report of 75 pages as PDF to this e-mail.

An EU ban of EXISTING artificial turf fields has been discussed, but is a political hot potato and very unlikely: a ban would affect approximately 5000 existing football (soccer) fields with artificial turf in Germany alone and would lead to the demise of many amateur football clubs.  No politician with re-election ambitions wants to do that.  Instead, a long transition period of several years is favored to give clubs time to go back to natural turf or other playing surfaces.

Restrictions for NEW artificial turf fields, however, have been developed for good reasons as you can read for yourself.

You should not allocate a substantial sum of the Williams College Gift Fund to create more microplastics and potential health hazards in our environment -- this, in my view, is not a sound investment into Mt. Greylock's future.

We should adopt a safe approach: because the risks are unclear and the science is not resolved, and because options for field surfaces are available, many community members would like to hear the rationale for excluding a natural grass field from the bidding process.

Is an artificial turf field so essentiel to fullfilling the educational mission of our middle and high school that it justifies taking the risks outlined above and spending a large part of the Gift Fund to build one?

Regards,

Thomas H. Bartels

American Institute of Architects

NEWS UPDATE: The ECHA's scientific committees at a meeting last week, September 18, 2019, in Helsinki, voted to support the Dutch Restriction Proposal "to ensure that the cancer risk from PAH exposure remains at a low level for those coming into contact (inhalation and skin contact) with the granules and mulches." (PAH are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with carcinogenic properties and are present in tires and granules.)