the staff of The Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, artificial turf advisory signs now posted in other communities.
Artificial turf fields have become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly for sports like soccer, football, and lacrosse. However, there are some concerns about the potential dangers of playing on turf fields, especially for young people. Here are some of the potential risks:
- Increased risk of injury: The harder surface of artificial turf can increase the risk of injuries like sprains, strains, and concussions. This is because the surface does not absorb impact as well as natural grass, leading to more force being transferred to the body upon impact.
- Heat-related illness: Artificial turf can become significantly hotter than natural grass, especially in hot weather conditions. This can increase the risk of heat-related illnesses like heat stroke and dehydration, particularly for young athletes who may not be as acclimated to high heat.
- Exposure to harmful chemicals: Some artificial turf fields are made with chemicals like lead, cadmium, and phthalates, which can be harmful if ingested or inhaled. While newer synthetic turf fields are generally considered safer than older ones, it’s important to ensure that the materials used in the turf are non-toxic.
- Increased risk of skin abrasions: The harder surface of artificial turf can also increase the risk of skin abrasions, especially for sliding sports like soccer and baseball. This can lead to increased risk of skin infections and other skin-related injuries.
- Potential long-term health risks: Some studies have suggested that exposure to the chemicals used in artificial turf fields may increase the risk of certain health problems over the long term, including cancer. However, more research is needed to fully understand these potential risks.
Seems like a good idea to us. What say you Mr. Kazmark and Dr. Schwarz?
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And why do we want to install this stuff???
usually it’s kick backs
Wonder who is getting kickbacks in Ridgewood. I have my suspicions and as they say, politics make strange bedfellows.
… or actually the 100s of kids who want to use them but forced to play on scrub because there’s no space.
There are plenty of fields. So it is a maintenance problem, which is what everyone has been saying forever. Do not justify the use of very expensive toxic materials. Fix the issue with maintenance and your problems will be solved. Ridgewood has plenty of fields. Just drive around and take a gander, most not being fully utilized.
Many of you suffer from “tds”, turf derangement syndrome.
Eat a bag of turf and enjoy your nut cancer then.
Love it…
Had anyone else seen this? RHS has signs in the bathrooms over the perfectly functional hand dryers–asking “patrons” to not use them!
The sign warns that bathroom hand dryers increase germs.
Is there anything they will allow us to not worry about?
“The sign warns that bathroom hand dryers increase germs.”
Wow.
In the old days they had a sign that said, “Press here for a message from your Congressman.”
I’d guess that its in response to the overabundance of ambulance chasing lawyers who sue for ‘failure to warn”.
The cost of warning stickers on step ladders exceeds the cost of materials to make the ladder.
Too bad there wasn’t a sign on the ladder that Peter Primavera fell off of when he broke his arm trying to climb to the top bunk at the Newark Y.
The temperatures of the artificial turf fields in Ridgewood are substanttially higher and registered upwards of !50 degrees during last week’s heat dome. So aside from the immediate health issues putting our kids at risk to be on a giant heat island breathing in the PFAS chemicals on hot plastic, there are major environmental and climate issues. On top of this, chemicals need to be used to sanitize the turf from bacteria, bodily fluids and most of the time, the fields are recommended to be sprayed with water to cool them down, which is not done. The environmental and public health concerns below have been shared over the past months with the BOE and the Village. Mt. Sinai wrote to Ridgewood, many other organizations have pleaded with the village to head their warnings against turf. Parents should be outraged that our children are not being prioritized and only the fields extended playability is what is important. Your tax dollars are going to support toxic turf and maybe line someone’s pockets.
This is the time to save our children and the only way is to join forces and STRIKE! Right now all Highschool parents must prohibit their kids from playing any sports practiced on the field until they find a resolution. Is the sports scholarship more important to you or the safety of your child? I call for STRIKE!
Should we listed to that baseball nut in his grown up uniform saying that if companies are still making it, then it must be safe?
Lots of children are now playing on rubber surfaces giving the impression of safety to unsusepcting parents. It looks so cool and modern and playing on grass at the playground seems to be over. The use of human-made surfaces on playgrounds has increased dramatically over the years. I recently learned from other parents that this was first developed in 1964 and was marketed as “Chemgrass” by Monsanto (think Roundup) , andwas later rebranded as Astroturf a few years later when it was installed at the Houston Astrodome, at the time being very cool because people did not know. In addition to artificial grass, these artificial surfaces have expanded and many look like colorful rubber surfaces. But regardless of what they look like, all are made with materials that can be dangerous to children and adults (think ground up rubber tires full of chemicals). These are not safe and the infill in the sandwich layer of the turf field is also crumb rubber. Ridgewood bought extra infill to ensure they could “fluff” up the turf fields. Bad for health, especially in children, bad for the ozone and climate, think long term and if you get sick, who you gonna call?
Parents in Ridgewood are afraid of the sports machine and being ostracized. They are willing to let fear and intimidation control their kids health.
Maybe the top dogs in the sports machines have breathed a little too much turf dust…
“You guys know where I can score some turf around here?”
So many surrounding towns followed suit, claiming they needed it because everyone else had it.
We should start our own local chapter of Keep Our Own Kids Safe.
Don’t hold your breath, Keith Kazmark and Mayor Paul Vagianos only do the right thing when ordered by a higher authority.
I think the days of any democracy in Ridgewood with this majority crew of bad actors is over. The fact that it could or would extend to the BOE is even more shocking. Who is the puppetmaster?
Public safety is not a priority for this administration, especially when there is money to be made.
Ridgewood Superintendent has to get the Kazmark thumbs up before making such a move. And Kazmark won’t jeopardize the sports votes for Mayor Paul Vagianos…so…
One of the vendors that Whinograd is pushing for that markets “cool play” turf, is in a major class action lawsuit with multiple NJ towns for misrepresenting the truth about their products costing municipalities millions of tax dollars collectively and taking years to fix the fields because of their misrepresentation. So this would be very interesting to then see if Winograd and the rest of the council supporting the artificial turf, Mayor Vagianos and Evan Weitz, would be willing to give this vendor more municipal tax dollars. Would be very unwise but with this group, anything is possible.
There should definitely be signs posted to play at your own risk. Artificial turf is a petrochemical product made with plastics and chemicals. The fake grass blades are made from plastic threads. A football field, is comprised of “approximately 2,500 bobbins” of thread.It then gets coated in chemicals. It is estimated that each artificial turf field contributes up to 1500 CO2e tonnes in total life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, from cradle to grave artificial turf is toxic to humans and aquatic life. Kids and adults playing on hotter than hell plastic, inhaling PFAS, playing on the chemicals used to sanitize it from blood, spit, sweat bacteria, really gross!
VVO. VOTE VAGIANOS OUT