Children in Pennsylvania who lived near unconventional oil and gas (UOG) developments at birth were two to three times more likely to develop leukemia between the ages of 2 and 7 than those who did not live near these oil and gas developments. gas activity, taking into account other factors that may influence cancer risk, a new study from the Yale School of Public Health finds.
The registry-based study, published Aug. 17 in the journal Environmental health perspectivesincluded nearly 2,500 children from Pennsylvania, 405 of whom were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common cancer in children.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also called ALL, is a form of leukemia that results from mutations in lymphoid immune cells. While long-term survival rates are high, children who survive this disease are at higher risk for other diseases health issues, developmental and psychological problems. Unconventional oil and gas development, more commonly known as fracking (short for hydraulic fracturing), is a method of extracting gas and oil from shale rock. The process involves injecting water, sand and chemicals into rock at high pressure, allowing gas and oil to flow into a well and then be collected for the market.
For communities living nearby, the development of UOG can pose a number of potential threats. Chemical threats include, for example, air pollution from vehicle emissions and the construction of wells and roads, and water pollution from hydraulic fracturing or wastewater discharges. Hundreds of chemicals have reportedly been used in UOG injection water or detected in wastewater, some of which are known or suspected carcinogenic. The lack of data on the link between UOG and childhood cancer outcomes has fueled public concern about possible cancer clusters in heavily drilled regions and calls for more research and government action.
“Unconventional oil and gas development can both use and release chemicals associated with cancer, so the potential for children living near UOG to be exposed to these chemical carcinogens is a major public health concern” , said lead author of the study, Nicole Deziel. , associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.
“Studies on UOG exposure and cancer are extremely few in number. We wanted to conduct a high-quality study to further explore this potential relationship,” added Cassandra Clark, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral associate at Yale Cancer Center. “Our results indicate that exposure to UOG is an important risk factor. can be for ALL, especially for children exposed in utero.”
The study also found that drinking water can be a major exposure route to oil and gas-related chemicals. The authors applied in this study a new measure of exposure they call “IDups” (which stands for “inverse distance to the nearest upgradient unconventional oil and gas well”). This means the researchers identified UOG wells that fell within a child’s watershed — the zone from which a drinking water source serving their home would likely draw water — and calculated the distance from the home to the closest of those UOG wells. UOG wells that fall within the watershed are expected to have more impact on the home’s drinking water supply, they said.
“Previous health studies have found a link between the proximity of oil and gas drilling and the health outcomes of several children,” Deziel said. “This study is one of the few specifically focused on drinking water and the first to explore a new stat designed to capture potential exposure through this pathway.”
This work contributes to a growing body of literature on UOG exposure and child health to inform policy, such as fallback distances (the minimum distance required between a private home or other sensitive location and a UOG well). Current setback distances are the subject of much debate in the United States, with some arguing for an extension of kickback distances beyond 305 meters (1,000 feet) and to 1,000 meters (3,281 feet). The allowable setback in Pennsylvania, where the study was conducted, is 500 feet or 152 meters.
“Our findings of an increased risk of ALL at distances of two kilometers or more from UOG surgeries, combined with evidence from numerous other studies, suggest that existing setback distances, which can be as low as 50 feet, are insufficiently protective of the health of patients. children,” Clark said. “We hope studies like ours are taken into account in the ongoing policy discussion on UOG setback distances.”
Other Yale School of Public Health authors include Xiaomei Ma, Joshua L. Warren, Keli M. Sorrentino, Nicholaus P. Johnson, and Nina S. Kadan-Lottick (Kadan-Lottick is now at Georgetown University). Yale School of Environment authors include James E. Saiers and Mario Soriano Jr. (Soriano is now affiliated with Princeton University).
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Featured photo by Kyle Field | CleanTechnique.
Article courtesy of Yale News.
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