A nonprofit made up of 10 physicians and public health professionals — many of whom are on the Yale Medical School faculty — is staunchly against the use of astroturf in the Yale Bowl, Yale University's historic stadium.
Yale Athletics is currently considering replacing the grass in the Yale Bowl with astroturf. The New Haven, Conn.-based university is one of two Ivy League schools that do not have synthetic turf fields, according to KWQC.
However, the North Haven, Conn.-based nonprofit Environment and Human Health Incorporated studied the effects of synthetic turf for nine years and concluded that the material is unsafe due to the presence of carcinogens, according to a column in the New Haven Register.
In 2007, EHHI recommended putting an end to the use of synthetic turf. Although the recommendation wasn't adopted, EHHI claims student athletes who played on synthetic fields have an increased risk of cancer.
But Yale administrators noted some positive effects of installing astroturf. "The stadium is actually below sea level, so it's hard to maintain a grass surface," Yale football coach Tony Reno said in a statement to the Hartford Courant. "And due to the harsh winters, it's hard to use the field in other than a small window in time. This will help all of athletics and Yale."
The issue will certainly remain a topic of debate. "It will be very interesting," said Nancy Alderman, president of EHHI. "Will Yale go against its own physicians?"