Fracking ‘a risk to babies’

UNITED STATES: Living within

800 metres of a hydraulic fracturing site carries a serious risk for pregnant women, a new study says.

The drilling technique, also known as fracking, injects highpressure water laced with chemicals into underground rock to release natural gas.

The study found that women who lived within 800m of fracking operations in Pennsylvania were

25 per cent more likely to give birth to low-weight infants than those who lived more than 3.2 kilometres beyond the sites.

The five-year study of more than 1.1 million births in the state, published yesterday in the journal Science Advances, also found lower birth weights, although not as low, in infants whose mothers lived between 800m and 3.2km from a fracking site. Beyond 3.2km, there was no indication of any health impact to newborns, a significant dropoff, the study said.

‘‘I think I was surprised by the magnitude of the impact,’’ said Michael Greenstone, a professor and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, and one of three authors of the study.

There are about 4 million births per year in the US, and according to the study’s research, about

30,000 births are within 800m of a fracking site, and 100,000 births are within 3.2km.

Fracking has come under scrutiny because of the potentially toxic chemicals used to crack the shale, and the amount of water used to force out natural gas.

State health officials and residents near fracking operations have complained that wastewater from fracking taints local drinking water. A number of states, such as Maryland and New Jersey, have banned fracking.