The implications of unconventional drilling for natural gas: a global public health concern

doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2013.07.005

Public Health

Volume 127, Issue 10, October 2013, Pages 889-893

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2013.07.005 Get rights and content

Abstract

Unconventional drilling for natural gas by means of high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is an important global public health issue. Given that no sound epidemiologic study has been done to assess the extent of exposure-related adverse health effects among populations living in areas where natural gas extraction is going on, it is imperative that research be conducted to quantify the potential risks to the environment and to human health not just in the short-term, but over a longer time period since many diseases (i.e., cancers) appear years after exposure. It should not be concluded that an absence of data implies that no harm is being done.

Section snippets

Environmental concerns

There is a growing concern that the serious and dirty downside to natural gas needs to be addressed before irreparable damage is done to the environment and to human health. For example, there are significant concerns surrounding its implications for the climate. Natural gas is mostly methane, a potent greenhouse gas, which when emitted raises concerns about contributing to global warning. Studies have shown that approximately 3.6–7.9% of the methane from shale gas production escapes to the

Adverse health effects

The paucity of scientific evidence looking at the public health impact of natural gas extraction complicates the issue. It is difficult to formulate policy and regulations in a vacuum absent data. While there have been anecdotal reports of adverse health effects ranging from minor to serious among those living in close proximity to shale gas drilling, there is a paucity of objective, evidence-based epidemiologic research. To date, for example, there have been no extensive epidemiological

Policy implications

The economic needs of society need to be appropriately balanced with the protection of the environment and public health. At present, the natural gas industry operates in a world where health and environmental safety measures are self-regulated and laws in the United States are protective of the industry rather than for those living in close proximity to drilling sites. Despite an EPA study of groundwater contamination near Pavillion, Wyoming that suggests a pathway for exposure,¹⁸ no state has

Domestic and global reaction

Response to the potential for harm to human and animal health has been varied within the United States and internationally. In the US, the EPA is studying the safety of hydrofracking, but its final report is not expected until 2014. Meanwhile, many states have taken action including New York State, which has imposed a moratorium on drilling (unlike neighbouring Pennsylvania where drilling continues unabated). Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposal, announced in June 2012, was to permit hydraulic

Concluding thoughts

Until research is properly conducted, the unconventional development of natural gas from shale formations should not occur in places where it is currently prohibited, e.g., New York and Maryland. In places now under development it should be constrained with strong regulations in direct proportion to inspection capability and closely monitored for its impact on the health of populations. There is one comprehensive epidemiologic study currently underway by Geisinger Health Systems that may help

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr Adam Law, Principle of Physicians Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy and Endocrinologist at Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca, NY for his comments on the manuscript.

Ethical approval

None sought.

Funding

None declared.

Competing interests

None declared.

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Citation Excerpt :
In 2000, there were approximately 26,000 HF wells and the number of HF wells reached to over 300,000 in 2015, whose natural gas production had grown to over 53 billion cubic feet per day, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the total U.S. marketed gas production for the HF alone (USEIA, 2016). HF involves high-pressure injections of large amounts of fracturing fluids, which consist of tons of chemical additives, solids (sand), and primarily water, creating fissures in the shale formation and thus releasing trapped gas (Finkel and Hays, 2013). Each HF well uses about 11–30 million liters of water (Brittingham et al., 2014; Kargbo et al., 2010).
Thousands of chemicals exist in hydraulic-fracturing (HF) fluids and wastewater from unconventional oil gas development. The carcinogenicity of these chemicals in HF fluids and wastewater has never been systematically evaluated.
In this study, we assessed the carcinogenicity of 1,173 HF-related chemicals in the HF chemical data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
We linked the HF chemical data with the agent classification data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) at the World Health Organization (WHO) (N = 998 chemicals) to evaluate human carcinogenic risk of the chemicals and with the Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB) from Toxnet (N = 1,534 chemicals) to evaluate potential carcinogenicity of the chemicals.
The Chemical Abstract Service Registry Numbers (CASRNs) for chemicals were used for data linkage. Among 1,173 chemicals, 1,039 were identified only in HF fluids, 97 only in wastewater, and 37 in both. Compared with IARC, we found information of 104 chemicals, and 48 of them may have potentially carcinogenic risk to human, among which 14 are definitely carcinogenic, 7 probably carcinogenic, and 27 possibly carcinogenic. Using the CPDB data, it suggests that 66 chemicals are potentially carcinogenic based on rats and mouse models.
Conclusions Our evaluation suggests that exposure to some chemicals in HF fluids and wastewater may increase cancer risk, and the identified chemicals could be selected as the priority list for drinking water exposure assessment or cancer-related health studies.

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Review PaperThe implications of unconventional drilling for natural gas: a global public health concern

Abstract

Section snippets

Environmental concerns

Adverse health effects

Policy implications

Domestic and global reaction

Concluding thoughts

Acknowledgements

Ethical approval

Funding

Competing interests

Science of the Total Environment

Global energy statistical yearbook

EIA annual energy outlook 2012

Inching toward energy independence in America

Methane and the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations

Climate Change

Methane leaks erode green credentials of natural gas

Nature

Should fracking stop? (point/counterpoint)

Natural gas operations from a public health perspective

International Journal Human and Ecological Risk Assessment

EPA: Dimock, PA water quality initial test results revealed

Childhood lymphohematopoietic cancer incidence and hazardous air pollutants in Southeast Texas, 1995–2004

Environmental Health Perspectives

In fracking's wake: new rules are needed to protect our health and environment from contaminated wastewater

Review Paper
The implications of unconventional drilling for natural gas: a global public health concern