Forum Committee Issues Report on Health, Safety, Environmental Impacts and Exposure Risks of Synthetic Turf

The Scarsdale Forum's Municipal Services, Sustainability and Parks and Recreation committees have issued updates to their initial Report on the use of artificial turf (AT) in Scarsdale Village recreation fields and courts, dated January 15, 2025. The Forum's March 29, 2025 Report update included additional research findings about the inherent health and environmental harms and risks associated with AT. The subsequent March 2, 2026 Report update was circulated to the Scarsdale Village Board and Manager, the Scarsdale Board of Education, and the Scarsdale School District's Superintendent, among others, and is reprinted below:

Scarsdale Forum Inc. Update to the January 15, 2025 Forum Report on the "Health, Safety, Environmental Impacts and Exposure Risks of Synthetic Turf Recreation Fields and Courts

Dear Mayor Arest, Village Trustees, Superintendent Dr. Drew Patrick, Manager Marshall, and Members of the Scarsdale Board of Education, et al.:

Scarsdale Forum Inc. is the 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to community education through discussion and analysis of issues relevant to Scarsdale residents. Since 1904, the Forum has contributed meaningfully to village affairs through written reports, prominent public speaker programs, social gatherings, and other public events. Membership is available to all Scarsdale residents, regardless of citizenship status.

The undersigned members of the Forum’s Board of Directors are hereby following up on recommendations made in the January 15, 2025 Forum Report on the "Health, Safety, Environmental Impacts and Exposure Risks of Synthetic Turf Recreation Fields and Courts.

As recommended in that Report, we continue to request that the Village Board, the Scarsdale School District, and the Board of Education implement an immediate moratorium on artificial turf (“AT”) installation in Scarsdale, considering that the clear health and environmental harms associated with AT has translated into New York taking aggressive legislative action. 

New York’s recent legislation bans the sale of any carpet, including artificial turf, containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” effective December 31, 2026. The Village, School District and Board of Education should not approve the installation on Scarsdale’s fields of material that has been recognized by New York State as harmful to the health of children and the environment. 

The State has undertaken comprehensive efforts geared toward phasing out "forever chemicals" from various other consumer products, as these chemicals are definitively linked to serious health issues. The state’s “carpet” law also requires manufacturers to set up collection and recycling programs to address the 515 million pounds of carpet waste generated annually, of which less than 1% was previously recycled. It aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 165,000 tons yearly, in addition to eliminating PFAS chemicals in new carpets. Yet there are additional hazards associated with AT that need to be addressed.

The Forum's recommendations made last year were supported by extensive medical, scientific, and environmental research and evidence, urging the Village and School District to (1) place a moratorium on the installation of new artificial turf athletic and recreation fields and courts, (2) consider eventual replacement of existing artificial turf with natural grass turf in view of the health, safety, environmental impacts and exposure risks of artificial turf, (3) investigate, assess and report to the community on the health, safety, environmental impacts and exposure risks associated with the use of synthetic turf athletic and recreation fields and courts in the Village, and (4) evaluate the relative durability and cost of installation, maintenance, replacement and disposal of artificial turf fields and courts compared with natural grass fields and courts. The Forum’s prior update to its Report, with additional support for the imposition of a moratorium of AT, may be forwarded separately.

Having cited in its January 2025 Report Mount Sinai’s Children’s Environmental Health Center research on this subject, the Forum would like to share with the Village, School District and Board of Education Mount Sinai’s more recent recommendations based on the hazards posed by artificial turf:

“The Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai strongly discourages the installation of artificial turf playing surfaces and fields due to the uncertainties surrounding the safety of these products and the potential for dangerous heat and chemical exposures. In addition, recent studies demonstrating the presence of PFAS and microplastics in these products raise significant concerns for both human health and environmental contamination.” See The Children’s Environmental Health Center Recommendations, "Position Statement on the Use of Artificial Turf Surfaces" (May 29, 2025), See also Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) Fact Sheet, "Athletic Playing Fields and Artificial Turf: Considerations for Municipalities and Institutions,"

Moreover, substantial cost savings are associated with natural fields over installation of AT. We therefore recommend designating only a fraction of the currently proposed/budgeted Village and School District funds for improved natural turf management, rather than for the purchase, maintenance, and replacement of exorbitantly costly artificial turf."

Sincerely,

Darlene LeFrancois Haber, MD
Chair, Scarsdale Forum Inc. Sustainability Committee

Madelaine Eppenstein 
Chair, Scarsdale Forum Inc. Municipal Services Committee

Erin Rudensky
Co-Chair, Scarsdale Forum Parks and Recreation Committees