Residents Say Pennsylvania Has Failed Communities After State Studies Linked Fracking to Child Cancer
Dimock, Pennsylvania, resident holds up well water sample from near a fracking well. Last year Pennsylvania Department of Health researchers found that residents living near fracking wells were more likely to experience childhood cancer, severe asthma attacks and low birth weights. Credit: Sarah Carballo, FracTracker Alliance, 2024
Last year Pennsylvania Department of Health studies showed increased risk of childhood cancer, asthma and low birth weights for people living near fracking. Advocates say not enough has been done since.
More than a year after the Pennsylvania Department of Health published three studies linking fracking to cancer and other health effects, advocates say the agency failed to keep promises to help residents living near fracking wells.
The studies, conducted by University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Department of Health researchers, found that residents living near fracking wells were more likely to experience childhood cancer, severe asthma attacks and low birth weights. They added to dozens of other studies linking living near fracking wells with various health problems, including cancer, poor birth outcomes and cardiovascular and respiratory issues
Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf ordered the studies, commonly referred to as “the Pitt studies,” after residents of fracking communities with high rates of rare childhood cancers demanded more research.
The researchers who conducted the study shared the results in August 2023 at a public meeting. They looked at health records and fracking data from 2010-2020 in the eight county Southwestern Pennsylvania region and found, among other things, that children who lived within one mile of one or more fracking wells were five to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma compared to children who don’t live near fracking wells. It also found people with asthma living within 10 miles of fracking wells were four to five times more likely to experience a severe asthma attack during the production phase and an increased risk of having babies that are small for gestational age among Pennsylvanians living within 10 miles of fracking wells. 09-19-24
