I am deeply concerned that the City of Newton has installed artificial turf at Newton South High School and plans to do so at Newton North and Albemarle field. The major reasons given for doing this are that it will allow more playing time for student athletes and it will be less expensive to maintain than real grass.
Do we really want our children to be spending more time on fields that cause more knee, ankle, and foot injuries, severe skin abrasions, heat exhaustion, and exposure to toxic chemicals? Are these fields really less expensive when they poison our waterways, release toxic chemicals, are made from fossil fuels (worsening climate change) and are difficult to dispose of after their useful lifetime of 10 years?
The dangers and disadvantages of Toxic Turf have been amply documented but are being dismissed by our Mayor and many of our council members while other communities are putting a moratorium on decisions or have natural grass fields. They have taken the advice of industry consultants who championed the benefits, more playing time and less maintenance expense, of artificial turf while denying the risks. All told, the benefit/risk ratio for Toxic Turf is not good.
This reminds me of the tobacco industry and the fossil fuel industry who for years denied the dangers they knew to be present and had their “experts” lobby governments to support their products.
Our dedicated city officials have been misled by a greedy industry that is vigorously promoting its product. I hope they will take the time to rethink their position before we suffer the considerable harm that Toxic Turf will cause.
Arthur Glasgow, M.D.
Newton Centre
