More than 15 million Americans live within a mile of a fracking site that has been drilled in the past 15 years. Numerous studies in the past decade have indicated that natural gas drilling and fracking are inherently dangerous, posing threats to the air and water and to residents living close by, according to the report’s authors.
A compendium of fracking research published this week by Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility, two public health nonprofits, includes reviews of more than 500 fracking-related studies and concludes that there is "no evidence that fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health."
"For years we heard stories. … Now that anecdotal evidence is being confirmed by scientific evidence," Kathleen Nolan, a pediatrician and bioethicist in New York and one of the authors of the report, said in a conference call. "There's just no justification to exposing people to these risks."
The studies in the compendium cover a wide range of impacts including the fracking process' contribution to accelerating climate change, worsening air pollution, causing earthquakes, contaminating water sources and endangering public health. Also reviewed were studies related to the social effects of increased gas drilling on communities, the impact of inflated reserve estimates on the economy and the risks to investors. The authors used research covering all oil and gas activity, from production to distribution, transport and waste disposal.
Read more at Fracking Studies Overwhelmingly Indicate Threats to Public Health
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