The L.I. Herald should be commended for doing such a fine job of researching and reporting on the issues presented by the debate over utilizing synthetic turf for school athletic fields. Unfortunately, as the article by Scott Brinton points out, the ground up tires that are used for the synthetic turf's substrate contain a wide spectrum of chemicals that present health and environmental concerns. It is true that the state environmental department issued a report that has been relied upon by school districts to dismiss concerns when considering switching fields to synthetic turf. However, it is important to note that this report was very limited in scope.

Rather than argue in this letter that synthetic turf simply should never be used, I would like to ask a more basic question. Are there alternative designs for synthetic fields (which do not rely upon contaminated tires) that could be considered for use? Generally, when an environmental impact statement (EIS) is completed, the question about safer alternatives is one of the key questions that must be studied. However, the decisions to build synthetic turf fields at local schools are being made without the benefit of EIS studies. Without environmental impact studies, there is no requirement to evaluate alternatives which minimize or avoid environmental concerns. The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District should be commended for not just rushing ahead, but instead creating a committee to study this issue before a decision is made.

One of the fundamental tenets of environmental protection is that once environmental hazards have been identified, every effort should be made to investigate alternatives that may minimize or avoid the negative environmental impacts of the proposal. In the case of synthetic turf, the obvious question is whether anyone is providing synthetic turf fields that don’t rely upon contaminated tire mulch as a substrate? My research has found the short answer to be yes. One such company is TaragaPro, which utilizes Organite, an alternative sub-surface that avoids tire mulch and silica. There may also be other companies with similar products. I don’t understand why schools investigating synthetic fields are not first considering alternatives that could avoid the environmental hazards presented by the increasingly popular proposal to remove grass fields and replace them with a system built on used tire crumbs.

Neal Lewis is the executive director of the Sustainability Institute at Molloy College.