PA Environment Digest Blog: Between The Lines Podcast: Pediatrician Dr. Ned Ketyer Explains The Results Of New Studies Of The Health Impacts Of Natural Gas Development On Children And Adults

On August 30, Between The Lines Podcast host Melinda Tuhus interviewed Dr. Ned Ketyer, a retired pediatrician and president of the board of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, about the results of new studies by the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health on the health impacts of natural gas development on children and adults.

Background

The studies, released on August 15, were designed to answer this study question: “Does living near unconventional gas development activities or other environmental hazards in Southwestern Pennsylvania increase the risk for specific health issues?”

The study area included these counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania-- Allegheny (excluding the City of Pittsburgh), Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Dr. James Fabisiak, a toxicologist and environmental health scientist with the University of Pittsburgh, presented the results which found shale gas wells--

-- Can make asthma worse in children and adults

-- Lymphoma is more likely in children

-- Slightly lower birth weights

-- No link to childhood leukemia, certain other cancers.

The study controlled for many other known risk factors. Read more here.

During the August 15 presentation, the state Department of Health apologized to the residents of Southwest Pennsylvania for not listening to them earlier about their health concerns. Read more here.

Interview With Dr. Ketyer

Dr. Ned Ketyer:

The University of Pittsburgh embarked on three separate studies looking at the impact of fracking on health here in Pennsylvania.

One looked at asthma, the other one looked at birth outcomes, and the third one looked at rare childhood cancers that seemed to be on the increase in southwestern Pennsylvania.

For the asthma studies, they looked at more than 46,000 patients diagnosed with asthma from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's data and what they found, to me, was a bombshell.

They found that people who have asthma, who live close to fracked gas wells, had a much bigger, four to five times risk, of having an asthma attack.

Their risk of hospitalization, their risk of emergency room visits, their risk of having severe asthma attacks was higher, and it seems that the biggest risk came when the wells were in the production phase.

In other words, after the well preparation phase, which lasts for weeks, the drilling and fracking phase, which can last from weeks to months, the production phase can last for years and even decades and the risk was found up to 10 miles from a fracked gas well.

That's a long distance to have an impact on air quality and on health in residents who live nearby. Asthma is not a mild disease.

Asthma can be a quite serious disease, even life threatening for some people.

In Pennsylvania, there was a study that came out in 2019 by two reporters at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that found that there was a spike of rare childhood cancers in southwestern Pennsylvania between 2008 and 2018.

They found 27 cases of a very rare bone cancer called Ewing's sarcoma.

That's a brutal and often deadly cancer, and 40 episodes of other rare childhood cancers, for a total of 67 rare cancers in children, teenagers, and young adults.

The second study on childhood cancers was really eye opening and it found that for people who lived within one mile of a gas well.

Those children had a much higher risk-- five to seven times of a risk-- compared to someone who lived further away of developing lymphoma, which is a rare cancer but a very serious cancer as well, and that was also a bombshell of this report.

The third study involved looking at the Pennsylvania Department of Health Birth Registry, and they evaluated 185,000 births in Pennsylvania.

What they found was that infants that were born to pregnant women who lived near wells, during the production phase, they were 20 to 40 grams smaller at birth.

In other words, their birth weight was affected but also they were born small for gestational age. There was also an association with prematurity due to air pollution.

This is consistent with other findings that show that birth outcomes are worse the closer mothers are to fracked gas wells.

Other studies have also shown abnormal birth outcomes related to prematurities, low birth weight, and small for gestational age newborns.

Melinda Tuhus:

Dr. Ned Ketyer, I know these studies weren't the first to show the health impacts of fracking but, with even more evidence now, what do you think can happen to address this grave problem?

Dr. Ned Ketyer:

The ball is now in Governor Shapiro's lap and in the lap of the Pennsylvania legislature to do something.

It's past time for health protective policies when it comes to fracking and there are already many things that can be done.

When Governor Shapiro was Attorney General, he convened a grand jury in 2020, and that grand jury came up with eight recommendations, specific ideas to protect the public against this industry.

It's important for the governor and the legislature to come to an agreement to increase setback distances.

Right now in Pennsylvania the allowed distance between a home or a business and a fracking well is 500 feet, and that's way too close, it needs to be much bigger than that.

Other things that can be done include, I mentioned those aggregate emissions.

It's important for health researchers as well as policy makers at the Department of Environmental Protection who grant permits to keep those aggregate emissions in mind instead of just looking at one site at a time.

Click Here to listen to the Between The Lines Podcast.

NewsClips - Health Study:

-- TribLive: Environmental Advocates Weight In On State Dept. Of Health, Pitt Study Of Natural Gas Development Health Impacts

-- Capital & Main - Audrey Carleton: PA Residents Call For Action After Pitt Study Links Natural Gas Development To Asthma, Childhood Lymphoma

-- PA Capital-Star: PA Residents Call For Action After Health Studies Link Natural Gas Development To Asthma, Lymphoma

-- The Center Square: Natural Gas Well Setbacks May Not Be Protective Enough After Health Impact Study Results

-- Warren Times: Natural Gas Well Setbacks Questioned After Health Impact Studies

-- AP: Pennsylvania Study Suggests Links Between Shale Gas Wells And Asthma; Lymphoma In Children

-- The Allegheny Front: Pitt Researchers Find Higher Risks For Lymphoma And Asthma For Those Living Near Shale Gas Development, But ‘No Association’ To Ewing Sarcoma Cancer

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak/Hanna Webster: ‘Is It Safe To Live Here?’: Questions Loom At Presentation Of Reports On Shale Gas Development And Health In Southwestern PA

-- Observer-Reporter - Karen Mansfield: Pitt Study Shows Link Between Fracking, Increased Lymphoma, Asthma Reactions

-- KDKA: PA Study Suggests Links Between Shale Gas Development And Asthma, Lymphoma In Children