Real Concerns for Real Reasons

Subject: CT ATTORNEY GENERAL CALLS SYNTHETIC TURF STUDY DANGEROUSLY DECEPTIVE,
URGES ITS REMOVAL AND REVISION

> Date: Tuesday, August 19, 2008, 1:39 PM
> News from Office of the Attorney General 55 Elm Street
> Hartford,
> Connecticut 06106
>
> Attorney General Richard Blumenthal For Immediate Release
> Contact:
> Tara Stapleton or Christopher Hoffman 860-808-5324
>
> TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2008
>
> ATTORNEY GENERAL CALLS SYNTHETIC TURF STUDY DANGEROUSLY
> DECEPTIVE,
> URGES ITS REMOVAL AND REVISION
>
> Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today called on the
> Consumer
> Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to immediately remove and
> revise a
> report on its website that may dangerously and deceptively
> mislead
> citizens into believing that artificial turf has been
> proven safe.
>
> Blumenthal said the CPSC relied on a grossly inadequate and
> badly
> flawed study in declaring synthetic turf safe to install
> and play on
> -- focusing narrowly and insufficiently on lead, while
> failing to
> examine several other possible chemicals and concerns.
>
> In a letter to CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Ann Nord,
> Blumenthal said
> the CPSC's claims -- based on such a "crudely
> cursory study" -- may
> dangerously deceive municipal and state leaders nationwide
> about the
> safety of synthetic turf.
>
> For the sake of public health and safety, Blumenthal said
> the CPSC
> has a moral and possibly legal obligation to immediately
> remove and
> revise its synthetic turf report from its website.
>
> "This report and release are as deceptive as some of
> the advertising
> and marketing of consumer products prosecuted by the
> Federal Trade
> Commission and state attorneys general," Blumenthal
> said.
>
> "There is a clear and present danger that municipal
> and state
> decision makers -- as well as parents and citizens -- will
> rely on
> this unconscionably deficient report. It is replete with
> unsound
> scientific methodology and conclusions, and unreliable
> findings. It
> may lead t o unsupportable and unwise commitments by towns
> and cities
> or their boards of education to build or replace athletic
> fields.
>
> "I have personally reached no conclusion on the safety
> or health
> issues concerning artificial turf, because no complete or
> comprehensive study has been done. This one, far from being
> complete
> or comprehensive, is profoundly misleading and misguided
> and may lead
> to bad policymaking. Timely corrective action -- indeed
> immediate
> revision -- is essential. Contact: Tara Stapleton or
> Christopher
> Hoffman 860-808-5324
>
> "The CPSC review of artificial turf safety focused
> entirely on the
> issue of lead contamination from artificial blades of
> grass. While
> this one issue is important, it is neither the sole nor the
> most
> significant issue. There is no indication that CPSC staff
> considered
> the transferability or emission -- especially at high
> temperatures --
> of toxic chemicals from the crumb rubber used at the base
> of
> artificial turf. This crumb rubber is usually made from
> recycled
> tires, containing chemicals -- including benthothiazole,
> butyplated
> hydroxyanisole and phthalates -- that may be toxic or
> carcinogenic
> under some circumstances.
>
> "Similarly, there is no indication that CPSC
> considered other
> important risks, some presented or aggravated by very high
> temperatures in the summer sun, and exposure to serious
> infection
> caused by the more extensive skin burns and abrasions
> created by
> falls on this material. Further, while CPSC staff admits
> that aging,
> wear and exposure to sunlight may change the amounts of
> chemicals
> released, CPSC has not even attempted to study or quantify
> the
> effects of those changes on health and safety.
>
> "Even as to the lead issue, the CSPC study is
> seriously and
> reprehensibly flawed. The study evaluated only 14 samples
> of
> artificial turf, even though thousands of these fields are
> in use.
> Worse, six samples were from portions of turf that was
> never
> installed or used, and one sample came from a field that
> was no
> longer in use. Thus, only half of the samples -- or seven
> -- were
> from turf in current use. The severely deficient scope of
> this fact
> finding eviscerates the credibility of CSPC's sweeping
> conclusions
> about thousands of artificial turf surfaces in daily use.
>
> "It is mystifying and mindboggling that an agency
> charged with
> protecting our children from unsafe products would declare
> artificial
> turf 'OK to Install, OK to Play On' without
> studying these critical
> health and safety threats.
>
> "Continued public dissemination of this misleading and
> deceptive
> material might well constitute a violation of our consumer
> protection
> laws if done by a company selling this product. The
> CSPC's
> distributing it -- and vouching for its accuracy --
> constitutes a
> violation of its public trust."
>
> The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
> (DEP) -- at
> Blumenthal's urging and with funding from a lawsuit
> settlement by his
> office -- is beginning a study of artificial turf.
> Blumenthal
> recommended that the CSPC coordinate additional study with
> the DEP to
> ensure a thorough and prompt examination of synthetic turf.
>
> ***END***Co ntact: Tara Stapleton or Christopher Hoffman
> 860-808-5324
> 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.org
>
>
> --
> 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.org