The shocking results of an investigation carried out by the Philadelphia Inquirer has linked the deaths of six former Phillies player to the astroturf at the team’s old grounds, Veterans Stadium.
Retired MLB players Tug McGraw, Darren Daulton, John Vukovich, John Oates, Ken Brett, and David West are all dead before the age of 60 and they all played for Philadelphia. The cause of death? The rare and aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma.
According to The Inquirer, there were dangerous “forever chemicals” in the Monsanto-produced turf which was used from 1977 until 2001, when the team switched to another surface called NexTurf.
The Inquirer was able to source pieces of the astroturf via eBay as the Phillies started selling them in small bags in 1982. After West died at the age of 57 last year, the publication purchased four pieces.
Two different labs found 16 types of dangerous chemicals in the turf branded “forever chemicals” as they don’t disintegrate and can remain in the human body for several years.
“We know that the liver is affected. We know that the kidneys are affected. We know the testicles are affected,” University of Notre Dame physicist Graham Peaslee told the Inquirer. “But nobody’s ever done the study to see if the brain is affected, because glioblastoma is such a rare disease.”
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Said chemicals have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, among other complications. While they haven’t been tested in relation to the brain, the brain cancer rate among the 532 Phillies players who played at Veterans Stadium from 1971 to 2003 is around three times the average of adult men.
The stadium was demolished in 2004.
