NO PLASTIC TURF IN LGUSD

WHY say NO to plastic turf (a.k.a. artificial turf)?

Find out by drilling down on facts and perspectives regarding issues related to plastic turf provided by the experts, government agencies, and organizations below.

Note to the LGUSD community and other communities where the proposal specifies using an alternative infill:
Issues alluded to below that are specific to tire crumb infill are, of course, not pertinent. However, as you drill down, it will become clear infill toxicity represents just one of a litany of serious concerns related to plastic turf. The weight and volume of these concerns are more than sufficient to warrant saying NO to plastic turf regardless of the infill product proposed.

Government agencies and partners:

1. Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ***

2. Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit for Western States at UCSF Dept of Medicine ***

3. Valley Water, the primary water resources agency for Santa Clara County

4. Santa Clara County

5. Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program Association *** which represents:

   • the County of Santa Clara,

   • Valley Water,

   • the Town of Los Gatos,

   • 12 other cities, and

   • West Valley Clean Water Authority, the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Authority for 4 West Valley communities including Los Gatos ***

6. California Department of Water Resources ***

7. California Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

8. California Environmental Protection Agency Department of Toxic Substances Control

9. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, retraction of synthetic turf safety assurances

10. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, compliance with standard most definitely doesn't mean safe

11. Centers for Disease Control

12. National Park Service

Subject matter experts:

13. Grass experts: Drought-tolerant natural grass fields for sports are feasible and manageable. ***

14. Chip Osborne, organic turfgrass expert

15. Marc Curran of TenCate, a leading manufacturer of artificial grass: No artificial turf recycling in the U.S.

16. Dan Sawyer, CEO of Brock, an artificial turf system company, on natural grass significantly outperforming safety-wise

17. Dr. Graham Peaslee, physicist at University of Notre Dame and one of the world’s top experts in detecting PFAS

18. Dr. Graham Peaslee, again

19. Kristen Mello, analytical chemist, on how to test for PFAS

20. ~200 scientists, mostly with Ph.D.s advising to avoid products containing PFASs whenever possible

21. Dr. Kyla Bennett, Director of Science Policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

22. Dr. Jamie DeWitt, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University

23. Colorado State University on landscape water use

24. University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources on landscape water use

25. Dr. Greg Guyton, orthopedic surgeon and Co-Director of the Foot and Ankle Fellowship at Union Memorial Hospital

26. Marine Biology Research Division at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography on synthetic turf greenhouse gases

Organizations:

27. Safe Healthy Playing Fields Inc.***

28. Our City Forest ***

29. Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society ***

30. Sierra Club of San Mateo, Santa Clara & San Benito Counties ***

31. Sustainable Sharon Coalition ***

32. Women’s Democratic Club of Montgomery County MD

33. National Center for Health Research ***

34. Ecology Center

35. Beyond Pesticides

36. Non Toxic Communities

37. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

38. Toxics Use Reduction Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell