Grandmother Struck by Out of Control Van in Ozone Park, Queensby NJ Burkett - 7online.com

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A grandmother is fighting for her life after two vans collided in Queens.

The force of the impact sent one of the vans careening through the intersection and onto the sidewalk.
The victim, a 53-year-old woman, was left sprawled across the pavement, gasping for breath and covered in blood.

Family members say she was waiting on the corner to cross the street, on her way to pick up her grandchildren from school.

The accident happened at 103rd Avenue and 93rd Street in Ozone Park.

There is a stop sign on each corner, but witnesses told police the van ran one of them and ended-up on the sidewalk after it was struck broadside by another vehicle.

Neighbors say it's not only tragic, it's infuriating because it happens all the time.

We watched tonight as drivers routinely barreled through the intersection without stopping-or looking.

It happened over and over and over again, barely three hours after the blood and car parts from this latest crash had been cleared from the street.

The van came to rest on the doorstep of 85-year-old Anita Bajardi, whose insurance company installed steel poles to protect her home because accidents are so common.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Launches Fix Gun Checks Tour - Mayors Against Illegal Guns

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on Good Morning America to launch the National Drive to Fix Gun Checks and raise awareness of gun crime across the country.

This morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on Good Morning America to launch theNational Drive to Fix Gun Checks and raise awareness of gun crime across the country.

The Fix Gun Checks billboard truck started off the tour in Times Square and keeps a running toll of the numbers of the Americans murdered by guns since the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Our National Drive will criss-cross at least 25 states to meet with mayors, law enforcement, faith leaders, victims of gun violence, sportsmen, and supporters.

Leading the drive is Omar Samaha, whose sister Reema was shot and killed in the Virginia Tech Massacre. He will help urge Congress and the President to fix the broken background check system that makes it too easy for dangerous people to purchase guns.

More than a quarter million Americans have signed the Fix Gun Checks petitions, and you can join them by adding your name today. Visit www.fixgunchecks.org to learn more and follow our Drive across the country.

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand On The View... -

On January 17, 2010, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) went on The View.

Gays Call "Don't Ask, Don't Rell" Repeal a Civil Rights Milestone | Video | 7online.com

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"Gays call 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal a civil rights milestone
Kemberly Richardson reports"

Warren Buffett: Please, Raise My Taxes by Susie Madrak | Crooks and Liars

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On 'This Week,' Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told Christiane Amanpour the rich should be paying more taxes and that the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy should be allowed to expire:

'If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further,' Buffett said. 'But I think that people at the high end -- people like myself -- should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it.'

The full Buffett interview will air on a special Thanksgiving edition of 'This Week' focused on The Giving Pledge, a major philanthropic effort spearheaded by Buffet, and Bill and Melinda Gates.

The billionaire brushed aside Republican arguments that letting tax cuts expire for the wealthy would hurt economic growth.

'They say you have to keep those tax cuts, even on the very wealthy, because that is what energizes business and capitalism,' anchor Amanpour said.

'The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on,' Buffett explained.

Near Miss at New York's JFK Airport - ABC-tv News

An experienced air traffic controller speaks out about how bad the near-miss incident really was...

WABC TV Town Hall Meeting at Queens Center Mall on August 25th...

What: WABC-TV Town Hall

Where: Queens Center Mall

When: Wednesday August 25th

Time: 7pm - 8:30pm

D.C. Sports Bog - Controversy at the Spelling Bee By Dan Steinberg - The Washington Post

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Not a good week for sports judges. I'm going to try to lay this out as clearly as possible.

Round Six of the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee began with 19 contestants, one of whom had been reinstated after a previous judging controversy. Between the several commercial breaks, only four of the first 13 to spell got their words correct. The primetime broadcast typically begins with around a dozen spellers, so it seemed like the pool was being whittled far too quickly.

After yet another ESPN commercial break, the Bee organizers then announced that all 10 remaining spellers on stage -- the four who had already gotten words right, and the six who had yet to spell -- would advance to the ABC primetime broadcast on Friday night. The order of spellers, I should note, is based on the alphabetical order of their home state. So the remaining kid from Texas was in, while both kids from California -- who had already spelled and missed -- were out.

(Organizers later explained that the sixth round would resume mid-stream during the primetime broadcast, so no spellers were gifted into the championship round, but this wasn't announced in the ballroom. As you can see above, they all celebrated as if they were in; one of these girls had already spelled, and the other hadn't.)

And then, chaos. There was some scripted bit involving Shaquille O'Neal. Everyone was trying to take pictures of Shaq. Organizers were attempting to set up a press conference for the 10 remaining spellers, less than half of whom had actually qualified for what is known as the championship round. Parents of at least one recently eliminated speller tried shouting out questions to Paige Kimble, the Bee director, and she tried to silence them.

"The rules have a provision for it," she told the parents and media members. "These children are competing in the championship finals," she said, gesturing to the press conference. "The rules have a provision for this."

Then the press conference started. There were a series of run-of-the mill questions for the 10 left standing, whatever you want to call them. Included in that group is Potomac's Lanson Tang, attempting to become the first D.C. area winner since 1984. Finally, at the end of the press conference, one of the kids themselves chimed in on the controversy.

"I don't think it's fair that so many got out and some just whooshed along," said 13-year old Elizabeth Platz, as audience members clapped and Kimble managed a frozen smile. "I'd rather have five finalists than five who didn't deserve it. I think it was unfair."

Kimble later dealt with the media again, explaining that the sixth round would simply be continued from where it had stopped, and that any of the remaining sixth rounders who missed his or her first primetime word would not be considered a championship finalist and would receive an identical prize as the previously eliminated contestants.

"These kids haven't gotten a free pass, the ones who didn't spell," she said. "And if they misspell, then they get the same prize and the same rank as the [previous] kids who misspelled....They're competing in what ABC calls 'The Championship Finals.' They're not officially championship finalists until they spell that final word in the sixth round."

That distinction, clearly, will be lost on most Americans, who are coming to this fresh. I don't know if this was a Bud Selig moment, exactly, but it certainly defies common sense. Why do the in-between spellers go to the finals press conference? Why do they get to be part of this Shaq event? Why will their local news broadcasts talk about them? Why do they get spotlighted on ABC? Why are they LISTED AS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALISTS ON THE BEE'S WEB SITE? I'm not the only one asking.

"It's not fair that just because you're from California and someone else is from Wisconsin that you shouldn't be there," thundered Sonia Schlesinger, a former D.C. speller who was eliminated in the fifth round but understands that what's right is right. "It's not fair. [Anvita Mishra's] from California and Andrew Grose is from Wisconsin and he gets to go and she doesn't?

"The Bee doesn't really understand. They're more worried about TV than about the Spelling Bee," she continued. "Ok, it's true, that they can't go over the time on TV and that they need enough finalists for TV, so they wouldn't be able to do another round. But that's the Spelling Bee. I mean, I know TV is a big deal, but it's not what the Bee is all about. The Bee is about spelling your words right and being fair."

She was standing near Mishra, who was in tears. Mishra tried to suggest that they should have finished the round, and if there weren't enough remaining spellers for ABC's purposes, then they could have some sort of re-spell-off.

"They're promoting TV rather than education," she said. "I could have done better. If they didn't have enough, they could have brought people back, and I could have done better."

"Maybe next year we should move to a state that starts with G," her dad, Anil joked.

Sure, a lot of this was about the honor of being recognized in front of those lights on ABC, but that's about rewarding them for their studies, too. This is the time the nerds get saluted by the sports broadcast. And then some of them get treated like the play-in teams in the NCAA tournament.

"Attention is encouragement," Anil explained. "There are so many different bees: geography bee, math bee, science bee. So many bees, and this is most popular. Why? Because it is there on the primetime TV. It is there, everywhere, everyone knows who is there. All the news, CNN, everyone covers it."

The early-exiting sixth rounders won't get covered. Because their states come early in the alphabet.

"It's just not right, at all." Schlesinger said. "If [the six remaining sixth rounders] get out in the first round tonight and they're not considered finalists, nobody's gonna know that. Everybody's gonna be watching them and thinking of them as finalists. It kind of tells you something about the Bee. They always say our mission is primarily an educational one. It's like, well, actually, our mission is primarily a media one."

"Is it just about making money?" asked Anju Mishra, Anvita's mom, who was especially angry that no one would answer her questions. "It's a bad precedent. Everybody should be equal.... This could be one of the reasons why there's a decline in the quality of the education in the United States."

I asked Kimble, the director, whether she feels badly for the kids who got sent home early.

"I don't feel bad at all for giving these children the opportunity," she said of the remaining 10 contestants. "Do I wish we could give it to 19? Yes, certainly, but that's not practical in a two-hour broadcast window. And, again, the provision is there for it in the rules. In fact, we met with the kids last night and we discussed it. It's happened before, and that's why it's in our rules, so we have provision for it. We know it's unpopular, and we don't like to do it, but sometimes you get into a position where that's exactly what you have to do."

Anyhow, about an hour later, they put the 10 sort-of-finalists in a group on stage. Some producer type directed all the remaining people in the audience to stand and clap and whoop for "the winners, who are going to be in the finals tonight," as he put it. Good times.

Postscript: From where I sit, the concerns were not allayed by ABC's handling of the primetime show.

"Ten have earned the right to be here," the host said to start the broadcast, even though only four had earned that right at the time.

"We started with 10 finalists tonight," he said later, completely missing the point.

This is just what the kids were saying Friday afternoon: that regardless of the exact definitions provided by organizers, anyone on that stage would be seen by the world at large as a real finalist. They each earned the flashy pre-produced ABC profiles, with hardly an indication that they weren't finalists yet.

And another concern of diehard fans was that the brutal words from the start of the sixth round would ease up at night, since the primetime broadcasts traditionally begin with more forgiving words. No balm there, either; only four of 13 sixth rounders survived in the afternoon, but four of six got their words right in primetime.

A former competitor agrees.

All in all, it was still a great event, but this one needs to be fixed. Maybe put them in a random order. Maybe have them ranked by how they qualified. Maybe tell the TV folks to take a hike. But something has to change.

Bill Thompson Clear Winner in Final Mayoral Debate

Last night Bill Thompson showed why he is the right choice for Mayor. Thompson laid out his vision for the future of New York City while Mike Bloomberg offered little more than negative attacks and stuttering answers. Mike was uncomfortable onstage and seemed unsure of his own policies. Once again Bloomberg would not look Thompson in the eye as he launched baseless and inaccurate attacks.

ON MIDDLE CLASS/OUT OF TOUCH Criticism

• · Bill continued to stand on the side of the middle class and showed an understanding of the struggles middle class New Yorkers are facing under a Bloomberg administration. Mike stumbled and couldn’t even answer the simple question—what is middle class?

• · Bill reminded New Yorkers that Bloomberg said that he did not think that pharmaceutical executives earning tens of millions of dollars made that much money.

• · Bill stressed that under Bloomberg, one million middle-class New Yorkers have been squeezed out of the city and Mike couldn’t refute it. Thompson went further and said “I will tell you what middle class is—middle class is the 1 million people that were driven out of New York City by Mike Bloomberg.”

http://billthompson.3cdn.net/60c40a31f6fcca03a5_e5m6vqyak.pdf

BUDGET PLAN

• · Throughout the debate Mike Bloomberg seemed uncomfortable and offered no real plan to deal with his $5 billion dollar deficit despite being in City Hall for eight years.

• · Bill gave New Yorkers real examples of how he would cut this deficit including the civilianization of desk jobs at the NYPD, revoking of MSG tax breaks, halting no-bid contracts at the Department of Education and cutting $9 billion in outsourcing of city services.

• · Bloomberg wrongly suggested that Bill had proposed 5 billion in new spending. Thursday at Crain’s he said it was 7 billion and in his television commercial the number is 4 billion. In actuality Bill’s proposals cost just over 1 billion dollars which will be offset by his budget plan.

http://billthompson.3cdn.net/a3d40b959616994ba8_9am6bn654.pdf

ON TAXES AND TAX BREAKS

• · Mike Bloomberg said that he wouldn’t raise taxes but his record contradicts this statement. As Mayor, Mike Bloomberg instituted the City’s first permanent sales tax in 35 years, water rates have gone up 98%, property taxes have increased 87% and over 10 million parking violations were issued this year alone. Raising taxes and fees on the middle class has been Bloomberg’s solution to every fiscal problem he has created over the last 8 years.

• · While Bloomberg tried to justify the millions in tax breaks that the city has provided the New York Yankees, calling it a “little bit of money for infrastructure.”Thompson attacked and characterized the millions the city has given to the Yankees under Bloomberg’s watch as one of the “Mayor’s giveaway to another one of his developer friends” Thompson noted that once again New Yorkers are “being shortchanged under Mike Bloomberg”.

ON EDUCATION

• Thompson successfully knocked back Mike’s ridiculous attacks on his record as President of the Board of Education, telling Bloomberg to stop lying to New Yorkers and called Bloomberg’s lies a “constant distortion of my record.” Thompson challenged Bloomberg “to stop deceiving the public.”

• · While Bloomberg danced around his own education record, Thompson referred to Bloomberg’s record on education as “the Enron of education”, noting that under Bloomberg “scores are inflated” and that he is feeding New Yorkers “fiction.” Bill pointed out that while Mike had full control of the schools the scores on all national tests have either gone down or stayed flat, according to the federal data. Bill even got Mike to admit that scores were up when Bill was President of the BOE.

• · Bloomberg attempted to point out that 3 or 4 public schools were on the US New and World Report’s Best Schools list. This is a very poor showing considering the city has over 1600 public schools.

http://billthompson.3cdn.net/1ca2bb5d48279908d4_azm6bhu7b.pdf

PAY TO ENDORSE

• · The debate moderator gave Bloomberg a chance to explain away a pay for endorsement deal reported earlier in the day by the New York Times. Bill knocked Mike for his hypocrisy while Bloomberg failed to give a credible explanation as to why his accountant made a $26,000 contribution to Newark Mayor Cory Booker just weeks after Booker crossed state lines to endorse Mike. The Mayor’s accountant , Martin J. Gellar, who according to the New York Times has a long habit of contributing money to candidates or committees that the Mayor supported had only once contributed to a candidate in New Jersey.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/nyregion/28booker.html)

CRIME/POLICE COMMISSIONER

• Thompson said that crime started falling well before Mike Bloomberg became Mayor and would continue to fall when Bill is Mayor and Mike is long gone. Bill recognized the role that all police officers have played in reducing crime in the city, noting that these gains are not a credit to any one individual. He also reminded Bloomberg that Commissioner Kelly was actually Mike’s second choice after Bernard Kerik turned him down (NEW YORK TIMES NOVEMBER 10, 2001). Kerik is currently in jail.

MTA/Transportation

• · On transportation the difference could not be starker. Mike refused to offer any new ideas while Bill pointed out that Bloomberg’s four appointees to the MTA have voted for fare hikes and service cuts. Thompson also pointed out that Bloomberg’s appointees are out of touch— not advocates or knowledgeable of transit issues.

http://billthompson.3cdn.net/8e789dfa8576da96ed_72m6b529u.pdf

Housing

• Thompson said he would replace the members of the Rent Guidelines Board with “pro-tenant” members. “People continue to be pushed out across the city of New York,” he said. He committed that he would press Albany for expanding Mitchell-Lama tenant protections. And he said that more could be done with the Housing Authority to make apartments affordable.

• Bloomberg stumbled and offered that “We have to have a balance between rents that people can afford,” and allowing landlords to “turn a profit” so they’ll stay invested in the city, the mayor said.

• · Thompson retorted that the residents of Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town managed to keep their housing development affordable — but only by going to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, which this week ruled that Tishman Speyer, the landlord, had improperly removed apartments from rent regulation. Bill pointed out that Bloomberg had an opportunity to advocate for these residents but instead left it to New Yorkers to take up the fight on their own.

• · Bill pointed out that 1/3 of all New Yorkers are paying 50% or more of their monthly salary on rent and asked— How can Bloomberg claim that is a successful affordable housing policy?

http://billthompson.3cdn.net/e61bd4aca7f49987b5_af3m6wt7r.pdf

Riptide Danger in the Rockaways by Carolina Leid - 7online.com

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If you want to know what a rip current feels like ask Debbie Ryerson. She almost died in one last year.

"I thought I was dead. I really thought it was going to take me out," she said. "Every time I would try to get up the tide would pull me back under."

So far this year six people drowned off the Rockaway coast because of strong rip currents.

That's compared to two drownings last year and one in 2007.

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State Representative Anthony Weiner helped get funding for a four million dollar beach erosion study.

He wants the Army Corps of Engineers to expand that study to include a look at safety measures to prevent deadly rip tides.

"Maybe over the years there have been some channels that have been built that we never noticed before," Weiner said.

The study originally focused on adding groin fields. They're designed to trap and retain sand.

The plan is while engineers work on that, they'll also take a look at why this stretch has so many rip currents.

But state and local leaders say there will never be a total fix. That's something most swimmers respect.

"There's no solution. Mother Nature is Mother Nature. You can't stop her," Deirdre Cotto of Jersey City said.

The key is following the rules. When the lifeguards leave, get out of the water.

"I really think the currents are different at night. During the day you have to watch yourself too, but you have lifeguards," Sal Ferranti of Howard Beach said.

Debbie Ryerson always swam with lifeguards around, but after her scare she just watches from her beach chair.

"I won't go back in the water, and I love the water," she said.

SUV Carjacked with Child in Backseat - Eyewitness News with Jamie Roth - 7online.com

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An infant took the ride of his young life when carjacker stole his father's SUV, left idling outside a store in the Jamaica section of Queens.

Police say the boy's father left his 1995 Chevy Blazer running when he went into a store at 92nd Street and Jamaica Avenue just before midnight.

He left his son, an 18-month-old named Micholas, in the back seat.

As he entered the store, the father said he turned around and spotted someone in his car.

He yelled, "Bro, my son is in the car! My son is in the car!" But the suspect took off.

The father called police, who quickly responded and searched the area.

The carjacker, apparently spotting the boy in the back, dropped off the child in front of a nearby house on 104th Street.

The boy, left with a bottle, was reportedly found by residents. They called police, who reunited the child with his father.

The boy appeared unharmed. Both were taken to Jamaica Medical Center for evaluation.

The suspect fled in the SUV. No arrests were immediately made.

New Technology May Prevent Bird Strikes - ABC News

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Avian Radar on top of buildings at Sea-Tac Airport's terminal area track the flight of birds to prevent dangerous collisions. (Sea-Tac Airport)

At Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport, an experimental radar system monitors a threat to the nation's aircrafts that goes largely unnoticed: birds.

Birds frequently fly into airplanes, and as it became frighteningly clear last month when such a collision disabled a jet in New York, forcing the pilot to crash-land in the Hudson River, though birds may be small, they can cause serious damage.

While many of the nation's airports defend against flocking birds with crude scare tactics, such as explosives and noise markers, airport wildlife biologist Steve Osmek is testing the nation's first Avian Radar.

The system at Sea-Tac uses a series of small radar units, which have been refined to pick out birds from all the clutter, and determine birds' courses, speed and altitude several miles around the airport.

"We set up alarm zones, we set up alert areas, and so, when you have birds that are flying through, the software alerts us. It can either send me an e-mail [or] it can call my cell phone," Osmek said.

The system, which has been in use at Sea-Tac since 2007, wasn't receiving much attention until the ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 last month. The Airbus A-320 jet was forced to land in New York's Hudson River because of a pair of bird strikes that disabled both of its engines. All of the passengers survived.

To Osmek, who has been cataloguing bird strike data and the damage done to planes for years, the accident did not seem like a fluke, but rather, like a part of a greater trend.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, bird strikes are the second leading cause of aviation deaths and wreak more than $300 million in damages each year in the United States alone.

Inside a hanger at Sea-Tac, Osmek has a freezer full of frozen birds and other evidence of repeated bird strikes over the years.

Among the birds in the collection is a short-eared owl that was struck on April 19, 2008, as well as a red-tailed hawk that had been caught near a runway at Sea-Tac just hours before ABC News spoke with Osmek.

Even a single bird that weighs not even two pounds is capable of causing serious damage to a jet engine.

The Program for Wildlife Management at Sea-Tac has developed the avian radar in conjunction with the University of Illinois to lessen the chances of airplane-bird collisions and protect the safety of passengers and birds alike.

ABC News aviation expert John Nance said this type of technology could have made a difference in the case of US Airways Flight 1549 and shows great promise for the future of aviation.

"If we had had a system like this that was perfected, it could have not only helped [the jet's pilot], it could have prevented this collision," Nance said.

JFK, O'Hare and Dallas airports are all in line to test the Avian Radar system used at Sea-Tac sometime this year. Airports across the nation hope that this radar will be an early warning of a problem pilots don't usually see until it's too late.

Interview with Doug Muzzio on THE PEREZ NOTES - January 14th at 6 pm

On Wednesday, January 14th at 6PM Roberto Perez will be interviewing Professor Doug Muzzio. The Professor is one of the top political analyst in the country.

To listen to the interview go to www.lagcc.cuny.edu/webradio. Professor Muzzio's bio is below for those who want to know a little more about his work.

THE PEREZ NOTES airs every Wednesday from 6-8PM, so spread the news and tell a friend.

A specialist in American public opinion, voting behavior and city politics, Doug Muzzio has had extensive political, governmental, and media experience. He is the co-director of the Center for Innovation & Leadership in Government and the founder and former director of the Baruch College Survey Research Unit, both at Baruch College's School of Public Affairs.

Muzzio is also the political analyst and on-air commentator for WABC-TV New York and has done polling and political analysis for ABC-TV and other news organizations for more than two decades.

His governmental experience includes: twice-elected trustee of the Pequannock Township (New Jersey) Board of Education; chief-of-staff to New York City Councilmember At Large Antonio Olivieri; consultant to the New York City Charter Revision Commission; research director for the Dinkins mayoral campaign; consultant to City agencies and not-for-profit organizations, including the New York City Sanitation Department, the New York City Board of Education, the New York City Parks Council, the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, and the Hispanic Federation of New York City. He is in the fourth year of developing and delivering cultural diversity training programs for the New York City Police Department.

He is currently writing a book, The Reel City: The American City in Cinema, 1896-2001 on the images of the American city in movies.

Doug Muzzio was born, raised, schooled, had children in, and has always worked in New York City. He gives instruction in the art of speaking Brooklyn.

Dangers of Artificial (Toxic) Turf - Various Sources...

Dangers of Artificial Turf aired on abc-tv news April 17th, 2008...

High levels of lead measured in artificial turf at Hoboken's Sinatra Park soccer field. From Cablevision Channel 18 Neighborhood Journal, Hudson News edition. 4/15/08

Lead Traces Found in Artificial Turf - Click to read original

'Anything That Our Children Play on, We Want to Make Sure It's Safe'

By MICHAEL MCCARTHY & STEVE BERKOWITZ, USAToday

April 17, 2008

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has begun investigating potential hazards from lead in some artificial turf sports fields across the country.

California State Sen. Abel Maldonado says the scrutiny of federal watchdogs could help his bill calling for a state study comparing the public health and environmental impacts of synthetic and natural turf.

"These fields are a problem," Maldonado said Wednesday, also pointing to the possible risk of infection from turf burns. "Having [the CPSC] come up with a study is huge for me."

Gil Lemmon, associate commissioner of the California Interscholastic Federation's North Coast Section, said at least 20 percent of its 170 schools have artificial turf fields and a CPSC study could spark "huge concern. Anything that our children play on, we want to make sure it's safe for them."

Synthetic playing surfaces are increasingly popular because they are durable and easy to maintain. But two fields in New Jersey, The College of New Jersey's Lions' Stadium Field in Ewing and Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken, were closed this week after state health regulators said they found high levels of lead in turf fiber samples.

The CPSC said Wednesday that it is "looking into the use of lead in outdoor synthetic field surfaces."

Eddy Bresnitz, New Jersey's deputy health commissioner, said users of such fields could potentially inhale or ingest dust contaminated with lead. Although the state thinks there is a "very low risk" for exposure, users should wash up and launder their clothes after playing on artificial fields, he said.

Field managers, meanwhile, should frequently wet synthetic surfaces to keep dust levels down. "To the extent we can take preventive measures, we should do that," Bresnitz said.

The Synthetic Turf Council, a trade group, estimates there are 3,500 artificial fields in the USA and that about 900 to 1,000 are installed each year.

President Rick Doyle accused New Jersey health officials of creating a "media storm" based on "incorrect criteria." Synthetic fields "do not represent a human health risk," Doyle said.