By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
Artificial turf athletic fields at schools in the Princeton area likely pose no threat to athletes because of the newer materials they are made of, area school officials said this week.
Those statements followed reports this week that testing undertaken by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services found an older turf field made of nylon fibers at The College of New Jersey campus in Ewing Township showed potentially dangerous levels of lead.
The test findings meant that athletes using the fields had direct contact with the fibers and could have been at risk for lead poisoning. There was also the potential for athletes to ingest or inhale lead-laden dust that accumulates on the field because of the breakdown of the fibers, according to Dr. Eddy Bresnitz, the assistant commissioner of epidemiology at the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
”Lead dust is absorbable,” said Dr. Bresnitz. “You don’t have to eat paint chips to get lead poisoning in an old house with lead paint.”
Regardless of the warnings of state officials, it appears that athletes at all of the major schools using artificial turf for athletics in the Princeton area should be in the clear.
All of those schools use artificial turf fields made of polyethylene fibers and other materials, which are more modern and totally different from the materials at the offending field at The College of New Jersey campus, officials said.
Those high school fields include both fields at the two high schools of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, and fields at Montgomery High School, Princeton High School, Princeton Day School, and The Hun School of Princeton.
At Montgomery High School, district officials have decided to take extra precautions until state experts make additional information available on the problem.
Montgomery students are being told to take off, in an inside-out fashion, any clothing used during athletic activities on the turf field, along with vigorously washing their hands and body after athletic activity. Also, no children under 7 years of age are being allowed on the field.
”Experts told me the issue is small children, who are most vulnerable,” said Superintendent Sam Stewart, who noted the clothing and washing precautions have actually been in place because of the recent controversy over methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus.
Both West Windsor-Plainsboro high schools have turf fields, which were installed prior to the start of this school year and are used for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and football.
District spokeswoman Gerri Hutner said both fields are made of the more modern materials that have not been implicated as dangerous in any of the lead testing conducted thus far by the state.
”Ours are made of polyethylene, which the DHSS has stated is a safe material for the field,” Ms. Hutner said.
Like other area high schools, Princeton High School has a newer field made of polyethylene material.
Director of Plant Operations Gary Weisman said he had researched the field and consulted with its manufacturer and determined it was not made out of the nylon fibers found at The College of New Jersey field.
”We do not have the type of fields that are in question,” Mr. Weisman said.
Princeton High School’s artificial turf field was completed in time for some October sporting events in 2003, according to press reports of the field’s opening.
Princeton Day School’s turf field — like West Windsor-Plainsboro’s two fields — is used for a variety of purposes and is of the more modern, safer variety, according to spokeswoman Michelle Ruess.
Known as the Bill Smoyer Class of ‘60 Field, it is used for field hockey, lacrosse and soccer after opening in the fall of 2004.
”It’s a totally different product from the fields that are raising concern,” Ms. Ruess said.
Hun School’s Natale Family Field is also made of the more modern, polyethylene-based fiber material known as FieldTurf, according to district spokeswoman Maureen Leming.
”The nylon-style fibers are not even remotely similar to FieldTurf,” said Ms. Leming, of the material the two-year old Natale Family Field is made of. “It’s completely safe, and no levels of lead have been detected in FieldTurf.”
Princeton University currently uses two artificial turf fields, with one made of the newer, polyethylene-based FieldTurf and the other made of AstroTurf 12, which is a nylon-based turf from the same company that made The College of New Jersey fields, according to Athletic Department spokesman David Rosenfeld.
FieldTurf is used at Princeton Stadium, while the older field is at the Class of 1952 Stadium. It is not known whether the Class of 1952 facility’s turf is of the same age and makeup as The College of New Jersey field flagged by state officials.
The AstroTurf company released information this week on The College of New Jersey fields and others like it stating, there was an extremely low chance of lead from such a field getting absorbed into the bodies of athletes using the fields.
One other field in Hoboken was found to have elevated levels of lead, according to the state report, which stated that The College of New Jersey field had lead levels up to 10 times what is considered safe.
State officials are conducting more testing of the dust found at the fields to see if exposure presented any threat to the health of the athletes.
