The following letter was sent to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

I am writing regarding the artificial turf proposal by MV@Play. I am strongly against the proposal.

There is no question that everyone involved has great intentions for the community. I respect that deeply.

My perspective is that these fields are very expensive. According to the MV@Play numbers it would be at least $200,000 per field per year for the maintenance and replacement of these fields as needed.

The other reason is that as a functional medicine practitioner, which is an evidence based, systems biology approach to treating chronic illness, I can promise you that these field are extremely toxic. It’s not a question of whether kids will get sick or not from the fields but when. I can back this up with medical literature. We won’t know which once but they will. It might present as ADHD or diabetes or chronic anxiety or cancer but, it will push some kid(s) over the edge.

Current research states that three quarters of all cancers are due to environmental toxins.

The CDC says there are no safe levels of lead . . . directly correlated to lower IQs and strong links to autism. Lead and other toxins are passed through breast milk, present in these fields and increasingly emitted as they degrade. BPAs have strong links to diabetes which is one of the leading causes of premature death.

I’m not a tree-hugging conspiracy theorist.

Please don’t let this go through. The risk far out weights the benefit.

Stefan Knight
Vineyard Haven