Late last year, a nearly $1 million bond was approved to install a long awaited synthetic turf surface on the high school football field and just over a month ago, the township entered into an agreement with the Trump Organization to lay synthetic turf on the new recreation fields.

The recreation fields, which have been sitting in limbo for years, were required by the state to be complete by May. The synthetic turf is going down this week.

Safety concerns

However, as dozens of towns and schools around New Jersey are in the planning, implementation process or have completed installation on similar synthetic turf fields, often it come with protest. Two Bergen County legislatures last month too have joined the fight in introducing mirrored bills in the Assembly and Senate calling on a moratorium on all synthetic fields until it can be proven they are not detrimental to human or environmental health.

Assemblyman John Rooney and State Senator Gerald Cardinale’s bills call into question the possible long-term health and environmental effects of "crumbs", the two to three inch crushed rubber tire pellets that are used to in-fill synthetic turf fields. Although the bills acknowledge that the use is a great alternative to ridding waste tire stockpiles, it also recognizes that common components of tires include zinc, lead, arsenic, cadmium and chromium. The bill, if passed, would halt the sale and installation of synthetic turf for a period of 180 days from when it becomes effective. That's until the state Department of Health and Human Services in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) would report to the governor research and findings on the turf’s potential adverse health and environmental effects.

In Lyndhurst, both town officials and Trump officials, however, downplayed the possible long-term negative effects that could arise as a result of having a synthetic field in place. "Everybody’s always concerned any time you introduce something that’s not found in a natural state," said Mayor Richard DiLascio.

Geese deterrent

"One of the reasons we have been trying to move away from the real turf is there’s nobody trying to control the geese population that’s creating more of a problem for us than anything else," said DiLascio. "We have kids playing out there diving into this stuff [feces] and that’s bad. It’s a horror show…you have to put fertilizer on the field and if you don’t, the field dies. Now, if the field is dead, you’ve got these kids playing on rocks and dirt."

The NJDEP, in 2007, conducted a literature review to determine impacts of artificial turf, but independently has not conducted its own research. Many of the previous studies cited in the literature review by the NJDEP pointed to synthetic turf as non-detrimental to human and environmental health.

"We are aware that there is a concern about the health and environmental impacts and we are diligently reviewing the scientific research and studies as they become available," said NJDEP spokeswoman Karen Hershey. "We are also conferring with other states about this emerging issue. We’ll continue to look carefully at artificial turf."

Other organizations, however, say there is infinite supporting data to conclude that the "crumbs" or mashed up rubber tires to create the in-fill of synthetic fields can produce adverse environmental and health effects ranging from detrimental air quality to even cancer in those who use the fields. Last year one of the most comprehensive tests was conducted by Environment and Human Health, Inc. in Connecticut. That study found that the rubber not only contained volatile organic hydrocarbons (VOCs) with carcinogenic potential, but metals such as zinc and lead had leached from the crumbs under testing.

Hot fields

Other studies point to the extreme heat factor that arises on the synthetic turf. A study conducted by Brigham Young University in 2002 soon after a synthetic practice football field was installed found that temperatures on that field were 86.5 degrees higher than a nearby natural turf field and 37 degrees higher than asphalt. After a peak temperature of 174 degrees on the field, the surface was saturated in water, cooling it to 85 degrees. After five minutes, the temperature build back up to 120 degrees and after 20 minutes, shot up to 164 degrees.

Michael Cohen, executive vice president and special counsel at the Trump Organization, said the company made the choice to go synthetic in Lyndhurst because it’s been proven to be of superior quality to grass turf and has yet to see any negatives come from its use.

East Rutherford Mayor James Cassella, who admits he had naysayers of synthetic turf when the town authorized it to be installed at Riggin Field in 2003, suspects interests of natural grass lobbyists are most likely the ones involved with the creation of the dual legislation to ban the synthetic turf. He said now, those same oppositions of protest against the Riggin revamp would not revert back to natural grass.

"Find me soil in New Jersey that’s not contaminated and then tell me where you’d rather have your kids playing; on contaminated soil or on synthetic turf," said Cassella.