The artificial playing field at Stamford High School?s Boyle Stadium has been closed due to unsafe amounts of lead.

City officials say the amount of lead in the field was nearly eight times higher than what is considered to be safe. According to officials, the lead comes from the dye that is used to give the field its green color. However, they also say that in order for the lead to be dangerous to people who use the field it would have had to be ingested.

Nancy Alderman, the president of Environment and Human Health, Inc., says dust created by the field is a major concern. She says that no one really knows how dangerous the dust can be, since there was never a study conducted on it. Alderman?s group has been talking about the dangers of artificial fields since late last year.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be conducting an analysis on the field, and Stamford officials say they will wait for it to be complete before deciding what to do next. Officials say they hope to replace the field, but that they probably won?t be able to until this fall.

Boyle Stadium History