City's turf estimates are far too low

I did not say that it was illegal in Europe to recycle synthetic fields, because no technology exists to do so. What I did say was "In Europe, where environmental regulations are precedent-setting for Canada, it is currently illegal to throw out tires at all — either whole or shredded."

Why is it illegal? Because rubber tires, the material from which synthetic fields are made, leach toxic substances including carcinogens into water. A study that the Golder report cited to say that rubber crumb is safe actually found that water exposed to the rubber crumb was toxic to every life form tested (Birkholz, 2003). Given the necessity for watering the synthetic field to cool its extreme temperatures, the question of rubber leaching is not incidental. I direct anyone interested in the research on the toxicity of recycled tires to the brief given by Dr. Gillian O'Driscoll, a Harvard-trained neuroscientist and government-funded health researcher who teaches at McGill. Unlike the two physicians whom Mr. Barry cites, who relied entirely on anecdotal evidence, Dr. O'Driscoll provides scientific, peer-reviewed data. Her brief is available on the forum on artificial turf on the Westmount Municipal Association website www.wma-amw.org). Further, the claim that a new surface is necessary to protect our soccer players from injury is completely unfounded: less than 3% of youth soccer players sustain an injury of any kind over the course of a whole season (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2000) and there is no evidence that synthetic turf reduces these very low rates of injury in soccer.

Secondly, the figures Mr. Barry quotes (provided by the City of Westmount) on the costs of the field to taxpayers are inaccurate. The minimum cost of artificial turf is $3.3 million by the City's own report, since financing alone will cost $1 million. Even their $3.3 million estimate is far too low, since it does not include the costs of disposing of the field. The Fauteux report says the costs of disposal, since it is unrecyclable hazardous waste, will likely be "substantial;" the Sports Turf Managers of America estimate that for a field of this size it will run into the hundreds of thousands. The City's figures also do not include the cost of replacing the field in the very likely scenario that the first one does not last 20 years (the maximum warranty is eight years), which will add an additional $1.2 million of cost and financing to the project. With these additional costs, artificial turf will cost about $4.5 million, that is, between $1- and $2 million more than grass. Of course the City doesn't want you to know that. That is why they bury the disposal costs in a French footnote in the Fauteux Report and why they amortize over 20 years, although the Quebec government document on soccer fields says the expected life is 10. If it were a good idea to invest up to $4.5 million in these soccer fields, City Council wouldn't need to hide the costs. The problem is that it is not a good idea, most particularly from the standpoints of the environment and our children's health.