One concerned parent in the Northern Valley Regional High School district is using his expertise in the field of toxicology to help the district fields, which have high lead content in the fibers, be a candidate for future testing.
Mark Maddaloni, a toxicologist with the Environmental Protection Agency, informed the district of an upcoming technical meeting between various government agencies, which are studying lead exposure at artificial fields. The meeting, planned for Aug. 13, will include representatives from the EPA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Connecticut, New York and New Jersey State Departments of Health and Environmental Protection.
"It [will be a] meeting of government agencies that are in some stage of forming exposure assessment studies," said Maddaloni.
The intent of the meeting is for the various agencies to discuss how they are addressing the problem of high lead content in artificial fields. Maddaloni said they will "leverage resources" since everyone is working on different aspects of the problem.
"We would like to make sure that … we are not being duplicative. That everyone is not doing the same thing and ignoring other things that they would like to have done but [maybe] don’t have the resources," he said.
After the meeting each agency could adjust its studies accordingly. Maddaloni said the meeting will put people in touch with one another and Northern Valley could be considered for further studies.
"There are studies being planned by the state and they would be looking for fields to test," he said, stressing that Wednesday’s meeting will not set policy, but rather be a technical meeting to discuss sampling methods and other testing specifics.
"We all have the same ultimate goal which is to determine if there is any hazard in using these fields," said Maddaloni.
The district is currently discussing the possibility of re-opening the fields with adherence to the state’s guidelines for safe use. These include wetting the fields before use, aggressive body and clothes washing of individuals using the fields and not permitting eating or drinking on the fields.
The Board of Education will meet at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 19 to discuss the fields.
E-mail: wilde@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6706
