The Toxic Turf Times, Vol. 2
Thanks for picking up Volume 2 of the compelling story of CEH’s quest to end the threat of lead exposure for anyone who plays on artificial turf. In case you missed Volume 1, Iron Man teamed up with Captain America and Thor to save the Hulk from his aggressive behavior (one of the many symptoms of lead poisoning). Long story short, he actually turned into the color of artificial turf when he got angry, and they calmed him down by showing him CEH’s new informational video, which describes ways for parents and teachers to protect their children from being exposed to lead, and from turning into the Hulk.
We now have a new resource for all you geography nerds out there. If you often find yourself using Google Maps as a procrastination tool (let’s face it, it’s really fun!), we now have a “turf map” of our own that can tell you if there is lead in the neighborhood field that you play on! So let’s say you’re a college student who plays intramural sports and you get wind that artificial turf might have lead, and you’re not sure if the turf you play on is safe. Now you can go to the map, click on the county you’re playing in, and (as John Madden would say), “Boom!” You’ll see a list of all the fields that CEH has tested within that county, and it will tell you whether it contains lead.
Or, if you’re a parent of a high school soccer or football player and you know that the team’s home turf is safe, but you’re wondering about all the road games your child has, you can look into those schools’ fields as well. You’ll possibly gain another reason to bash your teams’ rivals if they have unhealthy turf, but most importantly, you can make sure that ALL players on the fields know the proper protocols for playing on turf that might contain lead. You can also bring this to the attention of the PTA, athletic directors, or principals of schools that might have unsafe turf.
We hope the map helps you to protect yourselves and your children (and possibly even other people’s children) from being exposed to lead. And if you missed the video last month, be sure to give it a quick watch so you’re armed with the most up-to-date information on preventing lead exposure. And no, it does not actually star any of the Avengers, but wouldn’t it be awesome if it did? Play safe everyone!