Two recent studies have confirmed growing evidence that air pollution from natural gas development is associated with birth defects and sickly newborns.
In a study presented to the American Economic Association in Philadelphia, researchers from Princeton, Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (including chemist John Deutch, former director of the CIA) studied Pennsylvania birth records from 2004 to 2011 to assess the health of infants born within a 10-mile radius of natural gas development sites.
The study concluded that proximity to the drilling sites increased the likelihood of low birth weight from about 5.6 percent to more than 9 percent. The likelihood of a low Apgar score (a measure of the health of newborn children) roughly doubled, to more than 5 percent.
Establishing a direct link between fracking and human health has been hampered by refusal of the industry to provide information on the chemical substances used in the process. Also, public health records frequently do not include residence data.
The study was based on birth records containing the latitude and longitude of the mothers’ residences, matching them to the locations of fracking sites. The study was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and the MacArthur Foundation.
“This study suggests a positive association between greater density and proximity of natural gas wells within a 10-mile radius of maternal residence and greater prevalence” of congenital birth defects, the study said.
“Recent data indicate that exposure to NGD [natural gas development] activities is increasingly common. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission estimates that 26% of the more than 47,000 oil and gas wells in Colorado are located within 150 to 1,000 feet of a home or other type of building intended for human occupancy. Taken together, our results and current trends in NGD underscore the importance of conducting more comprehensive and rigorous research.”
Federal study in Colorado
Meanwhile, a federal study released by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences found a strong association between the number and closeness of natural gas wells within a 10-mile radius of homes occupied by mothers, and the prevalence of congenital heart defects and possibly birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord.
The study examined data from more than 124,000 rural Colorado births from 1996 to 2009.
The study was undertaken by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health and Brown University.