From Asthma to Cancer, ‘Blistering’ New Report Details Human Cost of Fracking
A team of researchers on Tuesday released a “blistering” report on the serious public health threats—from headaches to asthma to cancer—posed by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process of injecting a mix of water and chemicals into rocks to release oil and natural gas.
The study—described as “the most authoritative” of its kind—was published by Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Researchers found that “by several measures, evidence for fracking-related health problems is emerging across the United States and Canada.”
Looking to Pennsylvania—a hotbed for fracking—as an example, the report says that “as the number of gas wells increase in a community, so do rates of hospitalization, and community members experience sleep disturbance, headache, throat irritation, stress/anxiety, cough, shortness of breath, sinus, fatigue, wheezing and nausea.”
“Drilling and fracking operations are also correlated with increased rates of asthma, elevated motor vehicle fatalities, ambulance runs and emergency room visits and gonorrhea incidence,” according to the report, for which researchers analyzed thousands of journalistic investigations, government research and peer-reviewed scientific articles.
The report also notes that levels…
