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New research suggests that Pennsylvania residents
with the highest exposure to active natural gas
wells operated by the hydraulic fracturing
(fracking) industry are nearly twice as likely to
suffer from a combination of migraine headaches,
chronic nasal and sinus symptoms and severe fatigue.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health, say their findings add to a
growing body of evidence linking the fracking
industry to health problems.
“These three health conditions can have debilitating
impacts on people’s lives,” says first author Aaron
W. Tustin, MD, MPH, a resident physician in the
Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the
Bloomberg School. “In addition, they cost the health
care system a lot of money. Our data suggest these
symptoms are associated with proximity to the
fracking industry.”
For their study, Tustin and his colleagues created a
questionnaire and received responses from 7,785
adult primary care patients of the Geisinger Health
System, a health care provider that covers 40
counties in north and central Pennsylvania.
The questionnaires were returned between April and
October of 2014.
The researchers found that 1,765 respondents (23
percent) suffered from migraines, 1,930 people (25
percent) experienced severe fatigue and 1,850 (24
percent) had current symptoms of chronic
rhinosinusitis (defined as three or more months of
nasal and sinus symptoms).
The researchers used publicly available well data to
estimate participants' exposure to the fracking
industry.
Their models accounted for the size and number of
wells, as well as the distance between wells and
people's homes.
While no single health condition was associated with
proximity to active wells, those who met criteria
for two or more of the health conditions were nearly
twice as likely to live closer to more or larger
wells.
“We don’t know specifically why people in close
proximity to these larger wells are more likely to
be sick,” says the study's senior author Brian S.
Schwartz, MD, MS, a professor in the Department of
Environmental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg
School. “We need to find a way to better understand
the correlation and, hopefully, do something to
protect the health of these people.”
Previous research conducted by Schwartz and
colleagues has linked the fracking industry to
increases in premature births, asthma attacks and
indoor radon concentrations.
Tustin and his colleagues say there are plausible
explanations for how fracking could cause these
health conditions.
Well development generates air pollution, which
could provoke nasal and sinus symptoms.
This type of drilling also produces stressors such
as odors, noise, bright lights and heavy truck
traffic.
Any of these stressors could increase the risk of
symptoms.
Migraine headaches, for example, are known to be
triggered by odors in some individuals.
Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of
millions of liters of water into deep rock
formations to liberate natural gas or petroleum.
Energy companies moved toward fracking in the early
2000s when natural gas prices were high and supplies
were low.
Pennsylvania has embraced the industry.
Over 9,000 fracking wells have been drilled in
Pennsylvania in the past decade.
Hydraulic fracturing has expanded rapidly in recent
years in states such as Colorado, North Dakota,
Wyoming, West Virginia and Ohio.
In contrast, New York has banned fracking and
Maryland has delayed well production.
Maryland’s fracking moratorium is set to expire in
October 2017. The moratorium was passed in 2015 out
of concern about fracking’s potentially negative
environmental effects, before the more recent health
studies were completed.
Schwartz says Maryland regulators should consider
these new scientific findings when they decide
whether to allow drilling.
“The moratorium was put in place before we even knew
that there were health effects associated with these
wells,” Schwartz says. “Now that we do, regulators
need to carefully consider their next steps.”
“Associations between unconventional natural gas
development and nasal and sinus, migraine headache,
and fatigue symptoms in Pennsylvania” was written by
Aaron W. Tustin; Annemarie G. Hirsch; Sara G.
Rasmussen; Joan A. Casey; Karen Bandeen-Roche and
Brian S. Schwartz.
For more information
Environmental Health Perspectives
Associations between Unconventional Natural Gas
Development and Nasal and Sinus, Migraine Headache,
and Fatigue Symptoms in Pennsylvania.
Aaron W. Tustin; Annemarie G. Hirsch; Sara G.
Rasmussen; Joan A. Casey; Karen Bandeen-Roche and
Brian S. Schwartz.
Link...
Study links fracking industry wells to increased
risk of asthma attacks
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Link...
Increased Levels of Radon in Pennsylvania Homes
Correspond to Onset of Fracking
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Link...
Study: Fracking Industry Wells Associated With
Premature Birth
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Link...
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Link...
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