Six former Phillies died of the identical most cancers

The Philadelphia Inquirer gave a grasp class on journalism this week, publishing a report on the poisonous chemical compounds infused within the turf at Veterans’ Stadium, which was (at the least partly) launched by somebody coming to the conclusion that six former Phillies gamers all died of the identical uncommon mind most cancers.

The media will get a variety of focused crap today from all angles. The appropriate bashes the media for reporting on issues they don’t wish to hear; the left is normally upset the media isn’t reporting issues the way in which they wish to see them reported; and from everybody within the center, who has simply gotten within the behavior of adopting each side’ speaking factors and blaming the media for all the pieces. However the Inquirer is out right here reminding everybody why journalism, particularly native journalism issues.

Right here’s what they discovered:

Many years after the ultimate out of the 1980 World Sequence was recorded, [Tug] McGraw, [John] Vukovich, [Ken] Brett, and [Dan] Quisenberry had all died from mind most cancers.

They weren’t the one ones: In all, six former Phillies have reportedly been felled by glioblastoma — a very aggressive and lethal type of mind most cancers — together with former catcher Darren Daulton and former reduction pitcher David West, who died in 2022.

The speed of mind most cancers amongst Phillies who performed on the Vet between 1971 and 2003 is about thrice the typical fee amongst grownup males.

YIKES. How did nobody begin investigating this till now? I learn the headline and the primary individuals I considered had been Darren Daulton and Tug McGraw. Looks as if somebody concerned with the Phillies extra intimately ought to have began placing the items collectively a very long time in the past. However I digress.

Was it the outdated turf?

So the Inquirer dug up some outdated items of the turf, had them scientifically examined, and located some actually dangerous stuff.

Inquirer determined to check the Vet’s turf. Athletes had dreaded taking part in on the floor, which was infamous for inflicting critical knee and ankle accidents. By way of eBay, the newspaper bought 4 memento samples of the faux grass that had blanketed the stadium’s discipline from 1977 to 1981. The workforce gave away the inexperienced keepsakes to 1000’s of followers in 1982, in 4-by-4-inch sealed plastic baggage labeled “Official Turf of Champions.”

Checks run on two of the samples by Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environmental Testing discovered the turf contained 16 various kinds of PFAS, or per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances — so-called “endlessly chemical compounds,” which the EPA has stated trigger “antagonistic well being results that may devastate households.”

Again once we had been all making jokes about how dangerous the turf was at The Vet, we had no thought how proper we had been. A few different samples had been despatched to a different lab, which additionally discovered PFAS, although the article is fast to level out that we’ll by no means actually know the extent of PFAS the gamers had been uncovered to. Or how damaging they had been.

“As soon as PFAS will get into [a person’s] blood, they flow into by means of all of the organs,” stated Graham Peaslee, a physicist on the College of Notre Dame who has spent years learning PFAS compounds.

“We all know that the liver is affected. We all know that the kidneys are affected. We all know the testicles are affected. However no person’s ever accomplished the examine to see if the mind is affected, as a result of glioblastoma is such a uncommon illness.”

I don’t wish to share greater than this, as a result of I would like individuals to go over to the Philly Inquirer and browse the complete piece. And the follow-up piece. Firms and their merchandise (typically unknowingly, typically not), actually do have an effect on the standard of life for billions of individuals all over the world. And all too typically, journalists like these on the Philly Inquirer are the one ones investigating antagonistic impacts on that high quality of life.

As for the Phillies, right here’s what they needed to say:

In an announcement, the Phillies stated the group shares “the frustration and unhappiness of dropping six members of our baseball household to mind most cancers.”

The workforce stated it consulted a number of mind most cancers specialists who informed the group that there isn’t a proof of a hyperlink between synthetic turf and the illness.

Shout out to Craig Calcaterra for highlighting this story in his every day e-newsletter (which is great, btw).

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