Hopkins study links fracking to asthma
Sufferers who live near wells are up to four times more likely to have an attack
Asthma sufferers who live near wells in which hydraulic fracturing is used to extract natural gas are up to four times more likely to have an asthma attack than those who live farther away, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins University.
The findings are the latest in a string of studies that have linked health problems to proximity to such wells, and come as Maryland prepares to lift a moratorium next year and issue permits for the controversial method of extraction known as “fracking.”
“Ours is the first to look at asthma, but we now have several studies suggesting adverse health outcomes related to the drilling of unconventional natural gas wells,” said Sara G. Rasmussen, a study leader and doctoral candidate in the department of environmental health sciences at Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“Going forward, we need to focus on the exact reasons why these things are happening,” she said, “because if we know why, we can help make the industry safer.”
Hydraulic fracturing involves drilling deep wells and injecting water, sand and chemicals at high pressure to break up rock and release natural gas.
The method is needed to access natural gas in the Marcellus shale rock formation, which extends from New York through Allegany and Garrett counties to Ohio and West Virginia and is believed to be the largest onshore reserve of natural gas in the United States.
Under then-Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, Maryland imposed a moratorium on fracking in 2011 out of concerns about possible groundwater contamination, air pollution and earthquake activity. Under Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, the state recently released draft rules for use when the moratorium expires in the fall of 2017.
Critics call the rules insufficient to protect air and water quality, while supporters say they are among the nation’s most stringent.
While New York has banned highvolume wells using the process, other states have active industries, including Pennsylvania, where the Hopkins study was conducted between 2005 and 2012.
Fracking proponents deny that the wells cause health problems, and point to various measures of air quality, which the Hopkins study did not assess.
Rasmussen and other investigators agree that more study is needed to determine the cause of the negative health outcomes. Other research has connected proximity to the wells to pre-term births and lower birth weights, respiratory and skin irritation, and increased hospitalizations in neurology, oncology and urology.
The Hopkins study looked at the health records of 35,000 asthma patients in the Geisinger Health System and found there were more mild attacks requiring inhalers, more moderate attacks requiring an emergency room visit and more severe attacks requiring hospitalization.
The attacks occurred during most points in development and operation of the wells, though researchers found the risk was greater during the production phase, which can last many years.
Other factors that can worsen asthma, including proximity to major roads, family history, smoking and socioeconomics were accounted for in the study, published in July in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.
Rasmussen said air pollution and stress from added noise, vibrations and truck traffic could explain the risk. She said asthma complications manifest quickly after exposure to triggers, making the disease a good bellwether for potential health effects.
A recent analysis of more than 685 published peer-reviewed health and environmental studies involving fracking found that most concluded that there were potential problems.
More studies are planned to assess whether fracking is responsible for the observed health problem, said Seth Shonkoff, executive director of PSE Healthy Energy, an energy science and policy organization that produced the analysis.
“We’re in kind of dot-connecting time in this field,” said Shonkoff, also a visiting scholar in the University of California, Berkeley’s department of environmental science, policy and management. “But there