We trust that Harvard will develop other solutions to its need for more playing fields for its many teams and activities rather than choosing an artificial turf field. Artificial turf poses health risks to users and has adverse environmental impacts for communities.
The health risks are not trivial. They include injuries from falls on a harder surface than natural turf, abrasions that can become seriously infected; exposure to multiple toxic chemicals including PFAS, VOCs, and heavy metals that may result in long-term effects including endocrine dysregulation and cancers; and dangerous heat-related illnesses and burns due to high temperatures on and above the surface when the sun is shining. The surface of artificial turf can reach 150-160 degrees, and heat in the air above the fields makes them unsafe to use when temperatures are at 90 degrees or higher. Because of these hazards and the need for careful attention to decontaminating and maintaining artificial turf, such fields are typically off limits to all when they are not in official use, making what would otherwise be public open space inaccessible.
Environmental effects are also of serious concern. Toxins from the fields leach into soil and groundwater. Heat from an artificial turf field on a sunny day is enough to create a heat-island effect in its general vicinity. Finally, an artificial turf field consists of a huge quantity of toxic plastic that needs to be removed and replaced every eight to 12 years. How and where will it be disposed of? It cannot be recycled and will continue to leach toxins.
Artificial turf has been rejected by professional athletes, and by nearby towns. (In response to communities’ concerns the artificial turf industry now offers a version with “organic infill” but this is only one layer and not the surface layer that contains PFAS and lead.) Let us not add to our health and environmental challenges.
A source for information regarding natural vs. artificial turf as well as resources and recommendations for managing heavily used natural turf playing fields—with success stories from Massachusetts communities—is the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at UMass Lowell, at turi.org.
Meredith Fields and Greg Clark
Slough Road
