"Why Fracking is a Crime Against Women: Spontaneous Abortions, Breast
Cancer, and Birth Defects
Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," has generated widespread media
attention this year. The process, which injects water and chemicals
into the ground to release "natural" gas and oil from shale bedrock,
has been shown to contribute significantly to air and water pollution
and has even been linked to earthquakes. But little has been reported
on the ways in which fracking may have unique impacts on women.
Chemicals used in fracking have been linked to breast cancer and
reproductive health problems and there have been reports of rises in
crimes against women in some fracking "boom" towns, which have
attracted itinerant workers with few ties to the community.
Toxins in Fracking Process Linked to Breast Cancer
Not only has the chemical cocktail inserted into the ground been shown
to contaminate groundwater and drinking water, but fracking fluid also
picks up toxins on its trip down to the bedrock and back up again that
had previously been safely locked away underground. Chemicals linked
to cancer are present in nearly all of the steps of extraction -- in
the fracking fluids, the release of radioactive and other hazardous
materials from the shale, and in transportation and drilling related
air pollution and contaminated water disposal.
Some reports indicate that more than 25 percent of the chemicals used
in natural gas operations have been linked to cancer or mutations,
although companies like Haliburton have lobbied hard to keep the
public in the dark about the exact formula of fracking fluids.
According to the U.S. Committee on Energy and Commerce, fracking
companies used 95 products containing 13 different known and suspected
carcinogens between 2005 and 2009 as part of the fracking fluid that
is injected in the ground. These include naphthalene, benzene, and
acrylamide. Benzene, which the U.S. EPA has classified as a Group A,
human carcinogen, is released in the fracking process through air
pollution and in the water contaminated by the drilling process. The
Institute of Medicine released a report in December 2011 that links
breast cancer to exposure to benzene.
Up to thirty-seven percent of chemicals in fracking fluids have been
identified as endocrine-disruptors -- chemicals that have potential
adverse developmental and reproductive effects. According to the U.S.
EPA, exposure to these types of chemicals has also been implicated in
breast cancer.
The Marcellus Shale in the northeast part of the United States also
naturally contains radioactive materials, including radium, which is
largely locked away in the bedrock. The New York's Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) analyzed 13 samples of water,
contaminated by the fracking process, as a result of the hydraulic
fracturing of the shale during the extraction process. The DEC found
that the resulting water contained levels of radium-226, some as high
as 267 times the limit for safe discharge into the environment and
more than 3000 times the limit safe for people to drink. One gas well
can produce over a million gallons of contaminated water. A New York
Times expose in 2011, released secret EPA documents that illustrated
how this water is sometimes sent to sewage plants that are not
designed to process the dangerous chemicals or radiation which in some
instances are used in municipal drinking supplies or are released into
rivers and streams that supply drinking water.
Emerging data points to a problem requiring more study. In the six
counties in Texas which have seen the most concentrated gas drilling,
breast cancer rates have risen significantly, while over the same
period the rates for this kind of cancer have declined elsewhere in
the state. Similarly, in western New York, where traditional gas
drilling processes have been used for decades before hydrofracking
came along, has been practiced for nearly two centuries, rural
counties with historically intensive gas industry activity show
consistently higher cancer death rates (PDF) than rural counties
without drilling activity. For women, this includes breast, cervix,
colon, endocrine glands, larynx, ovary, rectal, uterine, and other
cancers.
Toxins linked to Spontaneous Abortion and Birth Defects
Certain compounds, such as toluene, that are released as gas at the
wellhead and also found in water contaminated by fracking have the
potential to harm pregnant women or women wishing to become pregnant.
According to the U.S. EPA, studies have shown that toluene can cause
an assortment of developmental disorders in children born to pregnant
women that have been exposed to toulene. Pregnant women also carry an
increase risk of spontaneous abortion from exposure to toluene.
Wyoming failed to meet federal standards for air quality due to fumes
containing toluene and benzene in 2009.
Sandra Steingraber, an acclaimed ecologist and author of "Raising
Elijah" -- a book on how to raise a child in an age of environmental
hazards, takes the strong stand that fracking violates a woman's
reproductive rights. "If you want to plan a pregnancy and someone
else's chemicals sabotage that -- it's a violation of your rights as a
woman to have agency over your own reproductive destiny," she said.
Steingraber sees banning fracking as an issue that both the pro-choice
and anti-abortion camps can both rally behind. She has been giving
talks on why opposition to fracking should be considered a feminist
issue. The author won a Heinz award -- which recognizes individuals
for their contributions in areas including the environment -- for her
work on environmental toxins. She dedicated the $100,000 prize to the
fight against fracking.
Crimes Against Women on the Rise in Some Energy Boom Towns
Beyond concerns about cancer and toxins are other societal ills
related to fracking that disproportionately impact women. Some areas
across the country where fracking has boomed have noted an increase in
crime -- including domestic violence and sexual assault. In Dickinson,
North Dakota, there has been at least a 300% increase in assault and
sex crimes over the past year. The mayor has attributed the increase
in crime to the oil and "natural" gas boom in their area.
The Executive Director of the Abuse & Rape Crisis Center in Bradford
County, Pennsylvania, Amy Miller, confirmed that there has been an
increase in unknown assailant rapes since the gas industry moved into
the region -- which are much harder to prosecute. Miller also noted
that domestic abuse has spiked locally, with the cases primarily from
gas industry families. The county has more than 700 wells drilled,
with more than 300 of these operational, and another 2,000 drilling
permits have been issued.
The Gas Industry's Pink Rig
Even though fracking and drilling are dependent on a potpourri of
carcinogenic chemicals, big energy companies don't hesitate to slap on
pink paint in PR campaigns championing breast cancer awareness.
In 2009, a natural gas drilling rig in Colorado was painted pink with
a percentage of the daily profits from the unit going to the Breast
Cancer Foundation. This and other showy gestures by the methane gas
industry appear to do little to alleviate concerns about the impact
that fracking chemicals and practices may be having on public health
and safety."
By Sara Jerving | Sourced from PR Watch
Posted at April 4, 2012, 4:05 pm
This article is from Alternet.org
