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Saturday, October 10th, 2015

Fracking Health Risks For Mothers, Babies: Premature Births, At-Risk Pregnancies Linked To Fracking, Data Review Finds

Author:     Elizabeth Whitman
Source:     International Business Times
Publication Date:     October 09 2015 4:32 PM EDT
 Link: Fracking Health Risks For Mothers, Babies: Premature Births, At-Risk Pregnancies Linked To Fracking, Data Review Finds
Stephan:   Happily the fracking industry is contracting because the cost of production and the price of petroleum make it very difficult to make a profit. It should be contracting to zero simply because nothing good comes from it. Fracking places profit for the few over the well-being of the many, who must also suffer great cost for their pain. It is an almost cartoon example of greed over wellness. On top of increasing by many orders of magnitude the frequency of earthquakes, as has happened in Oklahoma, we must now add birth prematurity. Here's the story.
Another study has linked fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, to an increased risk of premature births. Above, a pump jack operates at a well site leased by Devon Energy Production Co. near Guthrie, Oklahoma, Sept. 15, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Nick Oxford

Another study has linked fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, to an increased risk of premature births. Above, a pump jack operates at a well site leased by Devon Energy Production Co. near Guthrie, Oklahoma, Sept. 15, 2015.
Credit: Reuters/Nick Oxford

Expectant mothers have a lot to be concerned about, but those living near fracking sites have even more to fear, an expanding body of evidence shows. Most recently, a data review of more than 10,000 pregnancies has linked living in heavily fracked areas with a higher risk of premature births.

In the study, published Sept. 30 in the journal Epidemiology, scientists at Johns Hopkins University, Brown University and the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco, analyzed data from the 10,496 pregnancies of 9,384 mothers in nearly 700 communities in Pennsylvania from 2009 to 2013. At the same time, they tracked shale gas […]

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