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{"id":1719,"date":"2022-07-20T16:06:38","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T16:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kechambers.com\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2022-07-20T16:06:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T16:06:38","slug":"your-letters-wausau-school-district-should-rethink-artificial-turf-amid-safety-health-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kechambers.com\/your-letters-wausau-school-district-should-rethink-artificial-turf-amid-safety-health-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Your letters: Wausau School District should rethink artificial turf amid safety, health concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Wausau Pilot & Review<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email editor@wausaupilotandreview.com or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.<\/p>\n

Dear editor,<\/p>\n

At its June 13, 2022 meeting, the Wausau School District (WSD) Board of Education approved an April 2022 Referendum Project Timeline and Bid Process. The timeline lists four phases (design, bidding, construction, and Cx\/Punchlist) of a project to install artificial turf, lighting and safety nets at both Wausau East and West High Schools with the design phase slated to begin in late August\/early September.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Artificial turf was first created in the 1960s by the Monsanto Company. At that time, it was known as ChemGrass (now known as \u201cfirst-generation synthetic turf\u201d) and consisted of short-pile nylon carpet installed on top of soil or asphalt.1 In 1965, it was installed in the Houston Astrodome. Since then, \u201csecond-generation\u201d and \u201cthird-generation\u201d artificial turf have been developed in efforts to improve the quality and variety of surfaces. Today, third-generation turf is commonly used and most often consists of nylon, polypropylene or polyethylene grass blades attached to a backing and an infill of silica sand and crumb rubber from used tires.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally, synthetic turf was most used in professional sports, but there is a growing trend among school districts and municipalities to install it as well with current estimates of over 11,000 turf fields in the U.S. While reports and forecasts regarding the Global Artificial Turf Market vary, the Synthetic Turf Council reported an estimated $2.7 billion of installed systems in the U.S. in 2020. The artificial turf business overall is a lucrative one with estimated global revenues in the 7- to 12-billion-dollar range.2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among often-stated benefits of artificial turf are that it:\u00a0<\/p>\n