Friday, October 5, 2018

Kitty Litter/Zeolite Dust Cloud at the New Whitman HS Artificial Turf Football Field. Play Ball, But Don't Breathe.

The dust you see in this video is the kitty litter/zeolite infill that the Montgomery County Board of Education now requires on all artificial turf football fields. Kitty litter/zeolite degrades and becomes dust. That is why it is considered a health hazard.

Good luck students.

3 comments:

  1. This video was taken today, October 5, 2018, after 2:30 PM. The first use of this field is a football game between Whitman HS and Richard Montgomery HS at 6:30 PM.

    Good luck students. Let's hope your lungs can handle zeolite dust.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zeolite is being compared to asbestos in the scientific literature and by doctors.
    "Cellular Zeolite and Cancer
    Zeolites are commonly sold in liquid form, but during the manufacturing process of domestic and agricultural goods, zeolites are often found in powder form. Cellular zeolite powder and dust, when inhaled, may act as a carcinogen, or a compound that may cause cancer, according to Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Zeolite inhalation has been linked to an increase risk of developing mesothelioma, which is a rare form of cancer that is usually associated with asbestos exposure that is considered highly fatal."

    From https://www.livestrong.com/article/460566-side-effects-of-cellular-zeolite/

    Erionite is one type of a zeolite mineral that has been studied. As I understand it , The type of zeolite use is clinoptilolite but according to what I have read.. "Associated minerals are heulandite, clinoptilolite, quartz, sanidine, anorthite, smectite and opal." Read that here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24271499.

    It also seems common sense that any ground up asbestos like mineral could have health consequences. I would hope extensive safety testing was done in terms of lung inhalation but I have not . found any studies that show safety from breathing in particles.
    Instead all I see is lots of studies showing harm from a well studied form of ZEOLITE



    High incidence of lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma linked to erionite fibre exposure in a rural community in Central Mexico.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25231672

    Knowledge of carcinogenic and immunologic findings caused by the zeolite fiber erionite
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2164196
    Prompted by the unusually high death rate from cancer of the lungs, in 1975 in the Middle-Anatolian village of Karain, later in two other villages, X-ray screening investigations were carried out. These revealed pleural mesotheliomas similar to those seen following exposure to asbestos, although no asbestos was found neither in the village itself or in its immediate surroundings. Minerological tests and examinations of the lungs of the deceased, together with animal experiments involving dust obtained from the village itself, performed in 1980, demonstrated that erionite, a fibrous zeolite is responsible for tumour lesions in the lungs and pleura.

    A review of the cohorts with environmental and occupational mineral fiber exposure.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29677456

    Consensus Report of the 2015 Weinman International Conference on Mesothelioma.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27453164
    MM is an almost entirely preventable malignancy as it is most often caused by exposure to commercial asbestos or mineral fibers with asbestos-like health effects, such as erionite.

    Environmental occurrence, origin, physical and geochemical properties, and carcinogenic potential of erionite near San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24271499

    Environmental air pollutants and the risk of cancer]
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24231697
    In the Cappadocian villages of Tuzkoy, Karain, and Sarihidir in Turkey, 50% of all deaths among villagers are caused by mesothelioma. This condition has been attributed to exposure to erionite, which is a type of fibrous zeolite mineral commonly found in this area of Turkey.
    New insights into the toxicity of mineral fibres: A combined in situ synchrotron μ-XRD and HR-TEM study of chrysotile, crocidolite, and erionite fibres found in the tissues of Sprague-Dawley rats.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28412454

    Tons of studies on this. Go to pubmed and search erionite and lung, or zeolite and lung

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would think that this also poses a serious public health hazard to motorists on River Road.
    I believe that the county, state and federal governments have departments dealing with carcinogens.

    ReplyDelete

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