In Battlestar Galactica, fracking causes pregnancy.
October 10, 2015 9:59 AM Subscribe
Premature birth and problem pregnancies near fracking wells A new study in the US's 'fracking capital' Pennsylvania has found that pregnant women who live near gas fracking wells are far more likely to give birth prematurely or develop problems during their pregnancies.
For his study, Schwartz and his colleagues analyzed data from Geisinger Health System, which covers 40 counties in north and central Pennsylvania. They studied the records of 9,384 mothers who gave birth to 10,946 babies between January 2009 and January 2013.
They compared that data with information about wells drilled for fracking and looked at how close they were to the homes of the pregnant mothers as well as what stage of drilling the wells were in, how deep the wells were dug and how much gas was being produced at the wells during the mothers' pregnancies. Using this information, they developed an index of how active each of the wells were and how close they were to the women.
The researchers found that living in the most active quartile of drilling and production activity was associated with a 40% increase in the likelihood of a woman giving birth before 37 weeks of gestation - considered pre-term.
Ungated paper here.
For his study, Schwartz and his colleagues analyzed data from Geisinger Health System, which covers 40 counties in north and central Pennsylvania. They studied the records of 9,384 mothers who gave birth to 10,946 babies between January 2009 and January 2013.
They compared that data with information about wells drilled for fracking and looked at how close they were to the homes of the pregnant mothers as well as what stage of drilling the wells were in, how deep the wells were dug and how much gas was being produced at the wells during the mothers' pregnancies. Using this information, they developed an index of how active each of the wells were and how close they were to the women.
The researchers found that living in the most active quartile of drilling and production activity was associated with a 40% increase in the likelihood of a woman giving birth before 37 weeks of gestation - considered pre-term.
Ungated paper here.
I dunno Etrigan, injecting saline for example might kinda suck for agriculture maybe but is pretty harmless to people; injecting whatever the hell is in fracking fluid apparently causes premature births. Seems like a valuable thing to know.
posted by indubitable at 10:16 AM on October 10, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by indubitable at 10:16 AM on October 10, 2015 [5 favorites]
No problem. We'll just suspiciously put wealthy retirement communities around old fracking wells sine those people don't want kids around anyways.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:19 AM on October 10, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by jeffburdges at 10:19 AM on October 10, 2015 [3 favorites]
Meanwhile, Republicans are willing to shut down the PA state government to keep the Governor from taxing the gas companies. So we get to have our water polluted and don't even get any revenue out of it.
posted by octothorpe at 10:19 AM on October 10, 2015 [20 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 10:19 AM on October 10, 2015 [20 favorites]
In all seriousness, there is a good opportunity here to estimate the amount of damage to property values due to (a) knowledge of local fracking plus (b) a few dead babies that can semi-credibly be blamed on fracking. And activists could then run around to all the local residents, landlords, etc. saying look at how much money this gas operation cost you, look at what representatives voted to aid that company, etc.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:22 AM on October 10, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by jeffburdges at 10:22 AM on October 10, 2015 [3 favorites]
And activists could then run around to all the local residents, landlords, etc. saying look at how much money this gas operation cost you, look at what representatives voted to aid that company, etc.
..and those residents, landlords, etc. will keep voting for those same representatives who believe in low taxes and no regulation, because conservatism's defining feature in the US is the unshakable belief that you should make things better for the people at the top because you'll eventually be one of them. Corbett's "Texas of natural gas" rhetoric worked here precisely because so many folks believed they'd be Jed Clampett, or at least be able to collect some crumbs from the table in the form of a handful of extraction industry jobs.
Wolf's electoral victory obviously puts the brakes on things statewide, but I think it's going to take more than one paper to change the residents' behavior enough to stop the environmental damage to these areas. The Gasland films showed a lot of profiles in courage from activists, but also demonstrated that it only takes a few people willing to take a paycheck before all that effort is squandered.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:39 AM on October 10, 2015 [12 favorites]
..and those residents, landlords, etc. will keep voting for those same representatives who believe in low taxes and no regulation, because conservatism's defining feature in the US is the unshakable belief that you should make things better for the people at the top because you'll eventually be one of them. Corbett's "Texas of natural gas" rhetoric worked here precisely because so many folks believed they'd be Jed Clampett, or at least be able to collect some crumbs from the table in the form of a handful of extraction industry jobs.
Wolf's electoral victory obviously puts the brakes on things statewide, but I think it's going to take more than one paper to change the residents' behavior enough to stop the environmental damage to these areas. The Gasland films showed a lot of profiles in courage from activists, but also demonstrated that it only takes a few people willing to take a paycheck before all that effort is squandered.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:39 AM on October 10, 2015 [12 favorites]
Just to clarify -- my "Fucking Duh" comment above was not meant to minimize the valuable contribution to public health that this study makes, but merely to say that I'd rather we as a society had looked at this systematically earlier than 68 years into the history of fracking.
posted by Etrigan at 11:14 AM on October 10, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 11:14 AM on October 10, 2015 [9 favorites]
I wonder how much of this is correlation rather than causation. For example if fracking wells are more likely to go into poor rural areas, where there is a disadvantaged population that would have more of these problems even without the fracking.
Not defending fracking. Just that we've all seen the stories about how the environmentally terrible things tend to end up in the poorer areas. People with more power, are more able to organize NIMBY battles. They don't always win but they could be winning often enough to impact this statistic.
posted by elizilla at 12:47 PM on October 10, 2015 [6 favorites]
Not defending fracking. Just that we've all seen the stories about how the environmentally terrible things tend to end up in the poorer areas. People with more power, are more able to organize NIMBY battles. They don't always win but they could be winning often enough to impact this statistic.
posted by elizilla at 12:47 PM on October 10, 2015 [6 favorites]
They didn't just study the people living near the wells, and if you click through to the paper, they also controlled for socioeconomic status within the areas served by the health system.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:58 PM on October 10, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 12:58 PM on October 10, 2015 [7 favorites]
For example if fracking wells are more likely to go into poor rural areas, where there is a disadvantaged population that would have more of these problems even without the fracking.
I would be absolutely shocked if five scholars from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and the editors and reviews of Epidemiology did not consider this.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:10 PM on October 10, 2015 [11 favorites]
I would be absolutely shocked if five scholars from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and the editors and reviews of Epidemiology did not consider this.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:10 PM on October 10, 2015 [11 favorites]
I wonder how much of this is correlation rather than causation. For example if fracking wells are more likely to go into poor rural areas, where there is a disadvantaged population that would have more of these problems even without the fracking.
Teach the controversy.
Light Your Water On Fire from Gas Drilling, Fracking
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:10 PM on October 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Teach the controversy.
Light Your Water On Fire from Gas Drilling, Fracking
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:10 PM on October 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Here in Florida, where most if not all fracking would have to involve drilling down through the Floridan Aquifer to get to the oil and gas, legislators in districts in the oil-producing areas are working to prevent local governments from banning fracking within their own jurisdictions. One industrial accident from fracking could fuck up our aquifer for the whole state. But the R's working to bring fracking in think it's infringing on property rights if we ban it.
posted by Cookiebastard at 4:27 PM on October 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Cookiebastard at 4:27 PM on October 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
People know it's an environmental and health disaster. People don't seem to care.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:42 PM on October 10, 2015
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:42 PM on October 10, 2015
I don't think it's people, unless you go by the Citizens United definition of "people" to include Big Oil.
When I watched Gasland, they broke down fracking fluid into its constituent compounds, most of which were neurotoxins. They may have changed the mixture a bit since but I would imagine that's what causes the birth defects. So much of development is dependent on the nervous system.
What a world that the people who do this run free but there are still stoners are still locked up in federal prison.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 7:18 PM on October 10, 2015 [4 favorites]
When I watched Gasland, they broke down fracking fluid into its constituent compounds, most of which were neurotoxins. They may have changed the mixture a bit since but I would imagine that's what causes the birth defects. So much of development is dependent on the nervous system.
What a world that the people who do this run free but there are still stoners are still locked up in federal prison.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 7:18 PM on October 10, 2015 [4 favorites]
Just as long as we keep those fracktivists on the watchlist, we can sleep safely.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:32 PM on October 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:32 PM on October 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
It sure would be nice to discuss fracking seriously without having to put a little time aside for Battlestar Galactica references.
posted by Legomancer at 9:22 AM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Legomancer at 9:22 AM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Post Titles are serious business
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:20 AM on October 11, 2015
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:20 AM on October 11, 2015
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posted by Etrigan at 10:03 AM on October 10, 2015 [22 favorites]