Northwood News ♦ February 2018

Blair H.S. Tough Artificial Turf Endangers Students

By Jim Zepp

The artificial turf field at Montgomery Blair High School has been the focus of local and national news coverage on the County Parks Department’s decision to join a class action lawsuit that agencies from 46 states and Washington, D.C., are already participating in against Field Turf, the manufacturer of these fields.  Risks to students using the field include exposure to known carcinogens and other toxic chemicals and possible concussions on a hard surface that may exceed NFL safety standards for professional players.

The Blair field was specifically cited in news coverage by NBC 4 [www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Turf-Company-Knowingly-Sold-Defective-Unsafe-Product-Lawsuit-Says-470776623.html] and an article in Forbes magazine [www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2018/01/17/maryland-county-has-joined-huge-artificial-turf-class-action-lawsuit/ #440779245f6b].

The agencies contend that Field Turf misled them by selling them a defective product.  However, in the case of the County Parks Department, it may be a situation of willful ignorance.  In 2012, I served on the Countywide Recreation Advisory Board.  At the Board’s February 6th meeting that year, Mike Riley (currently the Parks Department’s Director, then the Director of Facility Development) presented his plans for artificial turf fields.  Members of the Safe Healthy Playing Fields Coalition (including a nationally recognized NIH neuroscientist) presented scientifically based research on the hazards of these fields.  Mr. Riley said that he preferred information provided by the vendor over independent analyses of the risks of the product.

The Manager of the fields at Soccerplex, which are of such quality suitable for national and international games, contended at the time that the overall costs of installing and maintaining artificial turf fields for a 10-year period are substantially more than that for natural grass fields.  Again, Mr. Riley preferred to listen to statements from the vendor.

Another concern raised about the issue was the County school system’s practice of making sole source purchases from Field Turf rather than seeking competitive bids from other vendors.  The Parks Dept.’s Director, Mary Bradford, would not do this and have competitive bids.  However, the agency did buy from Field Turf anyway.

More information about these concerns can be found at the Coalition’s Website, www.safehealthyplayingfields.org.   ■