Pitt to lead gas study on possible ties to cancer

The University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, partnering with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, will conduct a twopronged study of the potential links between shale gas development and the proliferation of childhood cancers in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Pitt’s involvement and the award of a $2.5 million research contract were announced by Dr. Rachel Levine, state health secretary, in a news release late Tuesday morning.

“We have heard the concerns from families and community members impacted by cancer and other health issues in the southwestern part of the state, and we are dedicated to taking the proper steps to keep our residents healthy,” Dr. Levine said in the release.

“We are committed to a healthy Pennsylvania for all and efforts that prevent injury and disease in the state. This essential research project is a testament to that.”

Pitt Public Health will conduct two observational epidemiological studies focusing on known or suspected health effects of hydraulic fracturing.

One study, led by Evelyn Talbott, professor of epidemiology and director of the Environmental Epidemiology section, will investigate the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and the development of childhood cancers in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“I grew up in Washington County, and one of my first epidemiology investigations at Pitt involved a health study of thyroid cancer among those living near a uranium mill tailings site,” said Ms. Talbott, who has more than 35 years of experience. “So this investigation holds both personal and professional significance to me. I am committed to community inclusion and openness as we go forward in our endeavor to learn the facts.”

A second study, led by Jeanine Buchanich, a research associate professor of biostatistics and director of Pitt Public Health’s Center for Occupational Biostatistics and Epidemiology, will aim to replicate earlier studies on acute conditions, such as asthma and birth outcomes, using data from southwestern Pennsylvania.

“As a lifelong resident of southwestern Pennsylvania with much of my research focusing on environmental health in the area, I am personally and professionally committed to a systematic investigation of the health effects of hydraulic fracturing,” Ms. Buchanich said.

The goal is for both studies to be completed within the next two years.

The studies fulfill a promise made in November 2019, when the Department of Health authorized $3 million to study childhood cancers, including Ewing sarcoma, in the Canon-McMillan School District in Washington County and throughout the state’s southern shale gas fields.

More than 12,000 wells have been drilled and fracked in four mostly rural southwestern Pennsylvania counties in the past 15 years, using dozens of toxic chemicals, many of them known to cause cancers.

The shale gas industry has strongly and repeatedly denied the air and water pollutants emitted by its already pervasive and expanding drilling, fracking, processing and transport operations have any human health impacts.

In June 2019, more than 100 community, health and environmental-organizations and 800 individuals sent an open letter to Gov. Tom Wolf and Dr. Levine requesting the health study and also the suspension of all new shale gas permitting operations until it is completed and can demonstrate the childhood cancers are not the result of shale gas development operations. crisis that requires immediate and significant action,” according to the text of the letter.

That letter followed a series of articles in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that documented up to 67 cases of childhood and young adult cancers in Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties where shale gas operations are active.

That total includes 27 cases of Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

Findings reported in April 2019 of a state Health Department review of 12 Ewing sarcoma cases in Westmoreland County and six in Canon-McMillan School District in Washington County failed to conclude either met the criteria for designation as a “cancer cluster.” The study included only three of the six Canon-McMillan area cases in the cluster assessment.

In March, the Department of Health published a fourcounty report on the number of Ewing cases and total childhood cancer cases in Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. That report found although the rate of all childhood cancers and Ewing tumors was slightly higher in counties with shale gas development compared with counties where there was no such activity, the differences were not statistically significant.

Mr. Wolf said in Tuesday’s release he is “committed to ensuring that Pennsylvania is a healthy, vibrant place for all who call it home. We look forward to the invaluable research that will be done by the University of Pittsburgh and the information it will provide for the commonwealth.”

Karen Feridun, co-founder of the Better Path Coalition, which organized the June 2019 letter to Mr. Wolf and Dr. Levine, is concerned the Pitt studies will delay urgently needed action.

“According to the release today, the studies are still a two-year process, and what we’ve been saying from the beginning is we need answers now to keep our children safe,” Ms. Feridun said.

While the acute impacts study focuses on southwestern Pennsylvania, there are no plans to look at health impacts occurring in other parts of the state where shale gas development has been ongoing for more than a decade or at impacts related to pipelines, power plants and processing facilities, Ms. Feridun said.

“By now, we should have much better information on what’s happening statewide,” she said. “These studies will take two years, and we still won’t know about impacts statewide. That falls short of what we need. We want action, not studies.”

Alison L. Steele, executive director of the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, was more hopeful, saying she is “pleased” the Graduate School of Public Health is involved in research “into health effects experienced by so many in southwestern Pennsylvania.”

“Assuming the studies investigate all sources of emissions and contain the appropriate controls, we believe these new studies will show results similar to dozens of other studies already completed — that shale gas development does indeed raise the risk of health impacts in people who live nearby,” Ms. Steele said. “This is borne out by the health effects we have witnessed by so many in these vulnerable communities.”

David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a drilling trade group, said in an email statement protecting community health and safety is a daily focus of the industry.

“We understand these complex and emotional issues have raised important questions,” Mr. Spigelmyer said, “and while the Wolf administration has limited the scope of the research, we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively as this work gets underway given the priority we place on our communities.”

The state’s contract with Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health also requires the researchers to produce publicly available quarterly summaries of their research and a report on the progress of the studies after the first year. At the end of the studies, researchers will hold a public meeting to report their findings.