Fracking sites raise the risk of low-birth-weight babies

Fracking sites raise the risk of low birth weight babies.

Women who lived within that distance to fracking operations in Pennsylvania were 25 percent more likely to give birth to low weight infants than expecting mothers who lived more than 2 miles beyond the sites.

Over these babies lifetimes, their low birth weights raise the likelihood they will suffer poorer health and lower achievement, including reduced earning and educational attainment.

Researchers compared infants born to mother living near drilling sites to those living farther away before and after fracking began. The study found lower birth weights up to two miles from the drilling sites. however there was no indication of any impact to babies born more than two miles away.

In Colorado, Where more and more oil and gas sites are popping up next to homes and schools, the study confirms fears.

That's a huge concern for us, especially since we have a pad that's pretty close to a kilometer away from us' said David Nolan a Broomfield resident who recently joined north metro Neighbors for safe Energy once he found out wells would soon be drilled a block from his house.

What caused the low birth weights? it's unclear

as the authors point out, that is the manor limitation of study, said Susan Nagel, a reproductive and perinatal research at the university of Missouri, who was not involved in the study the are inferring exposure from proximity.

Hydraulic fracturing pumps a cocktail of water and chemicals into the ground. the pressure fractures shale rock, which releases oil, natural gas and wastewater back to the sufrace. This wastewater is stored temporarily in storage containers, before typically being deposited back underground in sealed storage wells.