Fracking site[/caption]Carol Forsloff---“I'd just move out. I figure I'd have enough money to do that. So no problem,” was the answer a rural landowner gave to a journalist's inquiry about the impact of “fracking” on his land in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana and the future of that land, including the potential for water contamination and other environmental issues.
That response from the landowner, however, overlooks an important issue. Even those who move away from the area, collecting their money or “rents” for use of the land by contractors establishing natural gas facilities, can have continuing health problems related to the initial use of the land. These health problems can follow an individual or family in permanent ways, as established by health and environmental research.
“Fracking” is the abbreviated term for a type of natural gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing. New research has established that many of the chemicals used in the process can disrupt the body's hormones. That recent has recently been accepted for publication in Endocrinology, the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
What researchers have determined is that these chemicals interfere with the normal functioning of the endocrine system. These chemicals which are formally called endocrine-disrupting chemicals or EDCS are found in manufactured products such as those in certain foods, air, water and soil. However, these become more intensive in the fracking process. Research has established EDC exposure is linked to health problems such as infertility, cancer and birth defects.
One of the study's authors, Susan C. Nagel, PhD of the University of Missouri School of Medicine says, “With fracking on the rise, populations may face greater health risks from increased endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure.”
What are those long-range concerns for the public interest? Nagel in some ways answers the question as she told interviewers, “Fracking is exempt from federal regulations to protect water quality, but spills associated with natural gas drilling can contaminate surface, ground and drinking water. We found more endocrine-disrupting activity in the water close to drilling locations that had experienced spills than at control sites. This could raise the risk of reproductive, metabolic, neurological and other diseases, especially in children who are exposed to EDCs.”
Other study authors include: C.D. Kassotis, J.W. Davis and A.M. Hormann of the University of Missouri and D.E. Tilitt of the U.S. Geological Survey.
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