STC offers clarity & context to concerns about New Jersey fields

16 Apr '08

3 min read

The City of Newark recently conducted elemental analysis testing using EPA approved protocols on turf fibers from Ironbound Stadium, one of the fields identified in the New Jersey report.

A separate independent test, supervised by Dr. Davis Lee, PhD of Chemistry with InnovaNet, was also conducted. Both tests concluded that under EPA approved test conditions, no leaching of heavy metals occurs. In other words - the lead chromate can't escape the nylon within which it is contained.

In addition, the City of Newark ordered an air monitoring test which was conducted by Weston Solutions at the Ironbound site during removal of the stadium's nylon surface. The test found no detectable levels of airborne lead or lead chromate. The technical data and summaries of these tests are available to the public and the media.

It's important to point out that the evaluation by the New Jersey DHSS of the safety of the material content of the synthetic turf in question is being made by using EPA residential soil safety standards.

The EPA soil safety standard does not take into consideration the extremely low bioavailability of compounds that are bound and encapsulated in plastics such as synthetic turf. Given the serious nature of the report issued yesterday, it's critically important to point out the DHSS report itself acknowledges there is "a very low risk of exposure" to the users of the fields in question.

Synthetic Turf Council

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