Group takes legal action against university and city over maintenance of sports facility: 'Spreading relentlessly and causing harm'

A grassroots environmental group is suing Cornell University and the city of Ithaca, New York, over their use of artificial turf.

What's happening?

According to FingerLakes1.com, volunteer organization Zero Waste Ithaca's lawsuit challenges the approval of synthetic turf fields, citing public health and environmental risks such as microplastic pollution and exposure to carcinogenic chemicals.

"Synthetic turf is like an invasive species, spreading relentlessly and causing harm," a ZWI representative told the digital news outlet. "Cornell's continued investment in these fields, despite overwhelming evidence of their harms to human health and the environment, is a betrayal of their responsibility to students, athletes, and the community."

Why is this lawsuit important?

According to Beyond Plastics, artificial turfs contain a number of harmful chemicals, including known human carcinogens benzene, arsenic, and crystalline silica. Environment America reported that synthetic grass solutions also contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals," which have been tied to cancer, among other serious health impacts.

In addition, Beyond Plastics asserted that synthetic turf fields lose 0.5 to 8.0% of their "grass" blades each year, adding 200 to 3,200 pounds of plastics and microplastics to our environment. For instance, one group of Spanish researchers found that 15% of the larger plastic particles they discovered off the Barcelona coast originated from artificial turf.

When plastics and microplastics enter our air, soil, waterways, and oceans, it puts humans and wildlife at risk. The effects of microplastic exposure are still being studied, but they have already been linked to heart damage and increased risk of respiratory illnesses.

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What's being done about artificial turf?

Some places, like Millbrae, California, have enacted laws that prevent residents from installing artificial turf. Beverly Hills is working on a similar ban.

However, artificial turf isn't the only source of polluting plastics — they're all around us, from the throwaway silverware given by many restaurants to the bottled water sold at the grocery store.

You can protect yourself and the environment from the dangers of microplastics by limiting your use of single-use plastics, which turn into smaller microplastics as they degrade over time.

When it comes to PFAS, you can protect yourself by seeking out PFAS-free brands with the help of PFAS Central, opting to forgo nonstick cookware, and limiting your purchases of stain- or water-resistant clothing.