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According to the study, the risk of asthma in the regions of fracking facilities has increased significantly
According to a US study, the risk of asthma near natural gas fracking plants may be up to four times higher than under normal circumstances. The technology is associated with other health risks. In Germany and numerous other countries the use of the procedure is discussed.
Controversial technology
Fracking has been practiced for years in the US, where already one-third of total natural gas production comes from this technology. The use of the procedure is also being discussed in Germany and many other countries. But there are big reservations about the technology. Investigations showed that fracking chemicals can reach the groundwater. And a US study found last year that more premature births and fracking-related risk pregnancies can occur. According to a recent study, this technique also increases the risk of asthma.
A US study found that the risk of asthma in the vicinity of fracking systems can be up to four times higher than under normal conditions. (Image: jon_mullen / fotolia.com) Increased risk of asthma near fracking facilities
According to a US study, the risk of asthma near natural gas fracking plants can be up to four times higher than under normal environmental conditions. This emerges from a scientific study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Internal Medicine. According to the data, the study was based on data collected by researchers between 2005 and 2012 in Pennsylvania. In total, over 35,000 asthma patients between the ages of five and 90 years were considered. In the course of their investigation, the scientists registered the place of residence of the patients as well as the location, size and extent of the nearby natural gas production. Then they compared the data with asthma patients who had no asthma attacks in the same year.
Health effects are worrying
It was found that the likelihood of asthma attacks in patients closer to a large number of natural gas wells or larger conveyors was "1.5 to four times higher". The study also said that taking into account other factors that can trigger asthma, such as proximity to busy roads, family history or smoking, did not lead to a different outcome. "The growing number of studies showing the impact of this industry on health is worrying," study author Brian S. Schwartz said in a Johns Hopkins University (JHU) communication..
Fracking boom in the US
Senior Researcher Sara G. Rasmussen from the Bloomberg School of Environmental Health at the JHU said it was the first ever study on asthma related to fracking technology, but, "We now have several studies that looked at damage from health unconventional production of natural gas ". Now the exact causes would have to be determined "so that the industry could be made safer". The fracking industry in the US has continued to grow in recent years. Pennsylvania already has more than 6,000 holes. The question of air and water quality is therefore increasingly coming to the fore.
Experts demand a complete ban
It has long been known that factors such as air pollution, stress or sleep disturbances can aggravate asthma. These three factors are also linked to the fracking industry in other studies. Fracking is particularly used in the US to squeeze out natural gas as well as crude oil from rock strata from which the raw material can not easily flow through the borehole. In the process, rock is broken up at great depth under high hydraulic pressure, whereby normally a liquid mixture of water, sand and chemicals is first led through boreholes in the depth and pressed there horizontally into the respective target layer. This causes cracks in the rock, through which gas or oil can escape and then be transported with pipes through the borehole to the surface. With this technique it is possible to exploit otherwise unusable resources. In Germany there is considerable resistance to fracking due to the feared environmental consequences. The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) requires a legal regulation of the technology. Fracking should in principle be prohibited in water protection and medicinal spring protection areas as well as other sensitive areas. An extensive risk assessment is to be carried out both before pilot drilling and before production wells. Nature conservation organizations and many other experts are calling for a complete ban on technology. (Ad)