AG requests $200k for tire mash research

Tire crumbs are cause for concern on athletic fields across the state. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has requested $200,000 in state funding to research the potential health hazards of synthetic turf, made of crushed tires. A study conducted by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven showed the turf released harmful chemicals that caused eye and skin irritations. Nancy Alderman, president of Environment and Human Health Inc., which funded the study, called to end the installation of synthetic fields until more information is obtained. The Synthetic Turf Council calls the fields safe and the attorney general is not calling to cease installation. Blumenthal told the Associated Press: “I’m simply trying to be completely honest, as a non-scientist and a non-technician, in digesting what I’ve read and heard from experts, which is that there are several points of view.”