A new study suggests that fracking chemicals could cause health problems if they are accidentally spilled to ground water.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of extracting natural gas from the rock layers below the ground. There are more than 500,000 active natural gas wells in the U.S. Approximately 40,000 gallons of chemicals are used for fracturing. Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking liquid including carcinogens and toxins such as lead, uranium, mercury, formaldehyde, and more.
Communities close to fracking sites could be at risk for contacting cancer, birth defects, and infertility due to exposure to dangerous fracking chemicals. The study found that ground and surface water contaminated by these chemicals has hormone disrupting substances. These are Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, commonly known as EDCs, and they can interfere with the optimal performance of the endocrine system.
Dr. Susan C. Nagel, lead author of the study the Missouri School of Medicine, told The Telegraph: “More than 700 chemicals are used in the fracking process, and many of them disturb hormone function.”
"With fracking on the rise, populations may face greater health risks from increased endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure”, she added.
The researchers gathered 12 samples of suspected or known EDCs used by natural gas factories. They measured them by their ability to block or replicate the effect of the body’s female and male hormones. The samples were extracted from surface and ground water sources from sites near drilling spills or in areas where accidental spilling was recorded.
Water samples from the Colorado River- the basin of these drilling sites, were also found to contain moderate levels of these hormone-blocking chemicals.
“Spills associated with natural gas drilling can contaminate surface, ground and drinking water.
"We found more endocrine-disrupting activity in the water close to drilling locations that had experienced spills than at control sites,” stated Dr Nagel.
The study was published in the online journal Endrocrinology.
