A continually growing number of studies have associated fracking and other shale gas extraction processes with cancer and serious health threats to almost every system in our bodies. Expectant mothers and infants seem especially vulnerable to premature birth, low birth weights, and congenital heart and brain defects. Risks for childhood leukemia, asthma and other respiratory diseases increase. Many of the chemicals used in fracking can disrupt our hormone systems, and cause developmental and reproductive problems lasting a lifetime. Reviewers of all the medical research have stated that they can see no way for the industry to operate safely as regards public health.
Read More:
- Health-Canada-Potential-Health-Hazards-from-Shale-Gas (2012)
- Chief Medical Officer of Health’s Recommendations Concerning Shale Gas Development in New Brunswick (2012)
- Environmental Impacts of Shale Gas Development, Council of Canadian Academies Study (2014)
- New Research Documents Fracking’s Health Effects on Workers and Communities (October 20, 2014)
- Evaluating the effects of living with contamination from the lens of trauma: Case Study of Fracking in Alberta, (28 July 2017)
- Study: Benzene byproducts found in pregnant women near BC fracking sites, (Nov 2017)