New research: Fossil fuel pollution irreversibly harms kids’ brains, including causing cancer. Imagine babies born into and growing up in bitumen, H2S and or frac fields (rampant in Alberta) where crews spew clouds of diesel fumes and facilities blast out mystery chemicals 24/7 for years on end as they frac and refrac and refrac. No wonder Albertans vote so stupidly.

Dr. Robert Howarth @howarth_cornell:

And most air pollution comes from burning fossil fuels.

Above photos in Alberta frac fields.

The last one is spewing toxic pollution just NW of Calgary.

Above photos in NEBC frac fields, all near homes and farms.

David Roberts@drvolts:

More research finding that air pollution fundamentally alters children’s brains, for the worse, irreversibly. If anyone in this country actually were “pro-life,” air pollution would be at the very top of the public policy priority list.

DL 138@DL_138:

Let’s not forget noise pollution. Almost all of which comes from traffic.In urban, resort and major highway area. Rurally, there is also traffic, the worst traffic (air pollution and noise) harms caused by industry, such as rigs, frac’ers, coal and other miners, but also, noise from compressors. Numerous studies have proven serious health harms from compressor and other noise; it’s even been proven noise has and can cause harmed people to commit murder.

JuanCarlos Nuke@MSAdvocate_JC:

Air pollution is a perfect example of where the ‘pro-life’ movement chooses to remain silent, isn’t it?

Clearing the air: A systematic review of studies on air pollution and childhood brain outcomes to mobilize policy change by Anna M. Parenteau, Sally Hang, Johnna R. Swartz, Anthony S. Wexler and Camelia E. Hostinar, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Volume 69, October 2024, 101436

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101436

Highlights

  • Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution, as their brains and bodies develop.
  • A systematic search identified 40 empirical articles on air pollution and brain outcomes.
  • Results link air pollution to varied child brain outcomes (structural and functional).
  • Policy recommendations for reducing children’s air pollution exposure are provided.

Abstract

Climate change, wildfires, and environmental justice concerns have drawn increased attention to the impact of air pollution on children’s health and development. Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution exposure, as their brains and bodies are still developing. The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize available empirical evidence on the associations between air pollution exposure and brain outcomes in developmental samples (ages 0–18 years old). Studies were identified by searching the PubMed and Web of Science Core Collection databases and underwent a two-phase screening process before inclusion. 40 studies were included in the review, which included measures of air pollution and brain outcomes at various points in development. Results linked air pollution to varied brain outcomes, including structural volumetric and cortical thickness differences, alterations in white matter microstructure, functional network changes, metabolic and molecular effects, as well as tumor incidence. Few studies included longitudinal changes in brain outcomes. This review also suggests methodologies for incorporating air pollution measures in developmental cognitive neuroscience studies and provides specific policy recommendations to reduce air pollution exposure and promote healthy brain development by improving access to clean air.

Brain Pathology
14.1. Cancers
In addition to studies that have found associations of air pollution with measures of brain structure and function, others have found it increases risk for brain pathology such as cancers. For example, a large U.S. study from Texas showed that children living in census tracts exposed to higher levels of air pollution such as ambient 1,3-butadiene, benzene, and diesel particulate matter (DPM) have been found to have higher incidence of tumors such as astrocytomas and medulloblastomas compared to those who had lower exposure (Danysh et al., 2015). However, one study from Florida could not link geographic clusters with high pediatric cancer incidence to air pollution (Amin et al., 2019). In the western region of the United States, prenatal exposure to PAHs elevate medulloblastoma risk in children (Von Ehrenstein et al., 2016), while other studies in this same region show no significantly elevated risk of central nervous system tumors (Park et al., 2017) or gliomas (Reynolds et al., 2003) in high-exposure areas, though these studies linked high pollution exposure to leukemia incidence (Park et al., 2017; Reynolds et al., 2003). A study conducted in Switzerland (Mazzei et al., 2022) found that children exposed to emissions from petrol stations had significantly increased odds of developing central nervous system (CNS) tumors when compared to children who were not exposed to such pollutants. However, regional CNS tumor clusters there were not always associated with air pollution exposure (Konstantinoudis et al., 2020).

15. Summary

The majority of studies in this review examined the associations between exposure to air pollution and structural brain measures (k = 18). Many of these studies had a focus on basal ganglia structures, such as the caudate (Alemany et al., 2018, Pujol et al., 2016a, Mortamais et al., 2017). Other structural studies examined cortical thickness and found differences in cortical thickening and thinning related to air pollution exposure (e.g., Beckwith et al., 2020; Cserbik et al., 2020; Guxens et al., 2018; Peterson et al., 2022; Pujol et al., 2016a). Over a two-year period, residential air pollution was associated with changes in brain volume in several gray and white matter regions (Miller et al., 2022b). Early exposure to air pollution (such as during pregnancy and in the first year of life) was associated with reduced gray matter volumes in the cerebellum in adolescence (Beckwith et al., 2020) and smaller white matter volumes in several regions during childhood (Peterson et al., 2022). Prenatal exposure to air pollution was also linked to decreased corpus callosum volumes in childhood (Mortamais et al., 2019). Across these studies, several regions of the brain were found to have reduced gray and white matter volume and differences in cortical thickness. However, some findings are mixed (Pujol et al., 2016a).

DTI studies (k = 7) showed several associations between air pollution exposure and atypical white matter microstructure. Air pollutant exposure was associated with increases in cellular barriers in white matter, and positive associations with restricted isotropic intracellular diffusion in several regions in the ABCD study (Burnor et al., 2021, Sukumaran et al., 2023). Higher exposure to air pollutants prenatally and during early childhood was linked to lower global FA and higher MD later in childhood (Binter et al., 2022, Lubczyńska et al., 2020). However, school-based exposures to copper air pollution in Barcelona were linked to increased FA in white matter surrounding and in the caudate nucleus, and a combination of diffusion changes in the caudate nucleus (Pujol et al., 2016a); but exposure to different air pollutants was not associated with FA in the same sample (Pujol et al., 2016b).

Studies using fMRI (k = 4) highlighted changes in network integration and segregation (Cotter et al., 2023, Pérez-Crespo et al., 2022, Pujol et al., 2016a, Pujol et al., 2016b). A longitudinal study measuring the changes in FC using the ABCD study cohort found evidence of altered cortical and subcortical FC associated with air pollution exposure (Cotter et al., 2023). Yet, more longitudinal studies are needed with larger datasets (such as ABCD) and more longitudinal measures to assess changes across development. MRS studies (k = 4) indicated potential metabolic effects of pollutant exposure on brain health, with effects on brain metabolites being associated with air pollution. Findings from these studies suggest that air pollution is associated with altered levels of markers of neuronal integrity and metabolism.

One study revealed links between air pollution and DNA methylation of genes involved in neurodevelopment, which were related to birth head circumference (Zeng et al., 2022). These initial findings suggest possible mechanisms for prenatal effects of air pollution.

Tumor studies (k = 8) illuminated that there is spatial clustering of tumor incidence in areas with higher air pollution (Danysh et al., 2015; Mazzei et al., 2022; Peters et al., 2013; Von Ehrenstein et al., 2016). However, these findings were not always found consistently across studies (Amin et al., 2019, Konstantinoudis et al., 2020, Park et al., 2017; Reynolds et al., 2003). Lower BDNF levels (k = 1) have also been observed in children from highly polluted areas, which sheds light on potential molecular effects due to chronic pollutant exposure (Calderón-Garcidueñas et al., 2016a). Autopsy studies (k = 4) also revealed structural and vascular damage from air pollution exposure, particularly in geographical locations burdened with higher pollution levels (Calderón-Garcidueñas et al., 2008b; Calderón-Garcidueñas et al., 2011a; Calderón-Garcidueñas et al., 2016b; Calderón-Garcidueñas et al., 2018), though sample sizes are small in these studies. As some of these findings show that the impact of air pollution exposure on child brain health is not uniform across geographic regions, they underscore the need for region-specific strategies to mitigate these risks and safeguard child brain development.

In sum, we draw preliminary conclusions from this review in Box 1.

Box 1

Preliminary Conclusions from This Systematic Review

  • Air pollution exposure is associated with a range of structural brain alterations in children, including alterations in cortical thickness and surface area, white matter volume, and subcortical volume.
  • Associations between pollution exposure and structural MRI measures are specific to the region examined, the type of pollutant, and the timing of exposure.
  • DTI and functional connectivity findings are mixed, and more research is needed.
  • Air pollution exposure is associated with alterations in brain metabolites, although no consistent associations with certain metabolites have been detected.
  • Large studies have linked air pollution exposure to childhood CNS tumor incidence.
  • Autopsy studies indicate structural and vascular damage from air pollution exposure.
  • Early development (e.g., prenatal period, early childhood) appears to be a vulnerable window of exposure.
  • The pollutants of most concern seem to be PM2.5 and traffic-related pollutants.

16. Discussion

Increasing evidence supports the association between air pollution exposure and brain-related outcomes in developmental samples, suggesting the need for urgent policy actions. Examining these associations is imperative, as children are more susceptible to the effects of air pollution compared to adults (Salvi, 2007). Exposure to pollutants during periods of rapid brain development can increase susceptibility to adverse effects. This review included empirical studies of exposure to outdoor air pollution and brain outcomes in developmental samples (ages 0–18 years old). Studies examined air pollution exposure across a range of developmental periods, from the prenatal period to adolescence. Studies included measures of brain structure, function, and potential pathology, but additional research is needed to uncover longitudinal brain changes related to air pollution and potential sensitive periods of exposure. Additionally, more experimental data is needed in humans, given the predominance of correlational study designs in the current literature. Acknowledging the significance of air pollution exposure, developmental researchers may consider incorporating measures of air pollution in their studies.

We identified 40 studies linking air pollution exposure to brain outcomes in children and adolescents. The studies reviewed included various methodologies to assess brain outcomes. The majority of studies used brain imaging methods (MRI, DTI, fMRI, MRS) and others incorporated additional functional measures such as brain auditory evoked potentials. Other studies examined associations between spatial distribution patterns for air pollution and pathological outcomes, such as CNS tumors or autopsy tissue sample analysis.

Structural MRI studies were the most prevalent in our review and revealed associations between air pollution and differences in gray and white matter volumes, cortical thickness, and subcortical brain region volumes. While many studies showed reduced volumes, some findings were mixed and showed no volumetric differences (Pujol et al., 2016a) and larger volumes of specific brain regions (e.g., Binter et al., 2022; Bos et al., 2023). Studies that demonstrated decreases in gray matter volumes revealed that these decreases were not a function of brain maturation or pruning associated with age (Beckwith et al., 2020). Overall, effects in structural MRI studies appeared dependent on a variety of factors, including the brain region examined, the type of pollutant exposure, and the timing of exposure. Although there does not appear to be a consistent pattern of effects across all MRI studies, these studies do suggest that air pollution is associated with a range of structural alterations, including alterations in cortical thickness and surface area, white matter volume, and subcortical volume. However, more research is needed that systematically compares effects of pollution exposure at different developmental periods, effects of different types of pollutant exposure, and effects for specific brain regions in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of associations between pollution exposure and brain structure.

DTI studies emphasized links between pollution and differences in white matter microstructure, including increases in cellular barriers and restricted intracellular isotropic diffusion, lower global FA, and higher MD (Binter et al., 2022, Burnor et al., 2021, Lubczyńska et al., 2020, Sukumaran et al., 2023). However, some findings were mixed, showing increases in FA in white matter (Pujol et al., 2016a) or decreased MD (Burnor et al., 2021). These studies point to potential effects of air pollution exposure on microstructure development. Similar to the findings for structural MRI, there was no consistent association between air pollution exposure and white matter structural properties across studies. Instead, the direction of associations differed depending on the type of pollutant, the timing of exposure, the white matter tracts examined, and the DTI methods and parameters assessed.

Studies using fMRI showed mixed evidence of decreased and increased FC, depending on the regions and networks examined. Additionally, fMRI findings demonstrate lower between-network segregation, and both lower and higher within-network integration. Only one study highlighted effects of air pollution exposure on longitudinal changes in connectivity (Cotter et al., 2023). However, this emerging literature seems to suggest that air pollution may be linked to alterations in the maturation of neural networks (Cotter et al., 2023), as network segregation and integration are important for brain maturation processes (Fair et al., 2007). Similar to the findings for structural MRI and DTI, the specific associations between pollution exposure and functional connectivity appear to depend on the type of exposure, timing of exposure, and the networks examined. More research is needed to systematically characterize the changes in functional connectivity associated with each of these factors.

Additional studies examined the potential pathological implications of air pollution exposure, linking air pollution to the prevalence of CNS tumors across geographic regions (Danysh et al., 2015, Mazzei et al., 2022; Von Ehrenstein et al., 2016) and BDNF concentrations (Calderón-Garcidueñas et al., 2016a). Other studies found that air pollution exposure was related to differences in key brain metabolites in childhood (Brunst et al., 2019, Peterson et al., 2022).

Refer also to:

B. Carfree@BCarfree:

SARS-CoV-2 damages children’s brains as well and instead of doing the bare minimum (spending the money allocated for clean indoor air at schools on exactly that) we’ve decided to roll the dice that they will magically recover from the damage.

Amazing anti science/reality shift.The billionaires, soon to be trillionaires (as the rest of us struggle to feed our families), want humans dumb as possible to get richer on, the easier to rape and get away with it, and the better to control the masses, force more birthing to make more profits, and make us buy useless polluting life-destroying shit, and control elections with mass propaganda and lies from craven soulless thugs like Pierre Picklehead, the orange felon, Bibi Netanyahu, Putin, Danielle Smith, Doug Ford, Blaine Higgs, Steve Harper et al.

2024: Encana/Ovintiv crimes in Utah punished by U.S. EPA and Dept of Justice with more than $16M settlement ($5.5M fine and upgrades at 139 facilities to reduce over 2,000 tons of VOCs, volatile organic compounds, polluted annually and methane emissions equivalent to more than 53,180 tons per year of CO2)

2024: Dear CAPE, Stop enabling frac’ers! Calling again for yet more study (after decades and many hundreds of studies already) and regulation is synergy, which only aids frac’ers. No regulation or study can make frac’ing safe or return the massive volumes of water lost permanently from the hydrogeological cycle. Besides, companies just ignore laws and regulations, and regulators break laws and regulations letting them, *and* bully and abuse the frac-harmed, further aiding frac’ers.

2024: Liar Liar Frac’er Pants on Fire: CEO Nick Deiuliis says frac’ing “done the CNX way” is “safe and inherently good for the communities where we operate.” The Pitt Studies (PA Dep’t of Health and U Pittsburgh, 2023) reported otherwise, found children who lived within 1 mile of 1 or more frac wells were 5 to 7 times more likely to develop lymphoma compared to children who don’t live near frac wells; hundreds of other studies report more health harms from frac’ing.

2024: Norfolk Southern Railroad East Palestine Ohio train derailment “apocalyptic fire” released “8,580,000 pounds of highly hazardous materials” into the air affecting over 126,000 square miles in eight states and additionally thousands of square miles in southern Canada. Dr. George R. Thompson to PA’s AG: It “may become the worst chemical medical disaster in history.”

2024: Polluting oil patch pimping plastics like drug dealers pushing meth. Why? To keep their greedy unwanted life destroying rape & pillage industry from dying.

2024: Wildfire smoke is hazardous (especially in Alberta’s heavily polluted toxic frac’d oil, gas and bitumen fields and their radioactive waste sites/dumps): Respiratory selection guide by Nicolas Smitt to help protect you and your loved ones

2024: Woodland Cree First Nations (WCFN) oppose more frac’ing and cumulative harms by Obsidian Energy (caused 5.6M frac quake in 2022, biggest in Alberta history). Of course Genocidal Canadian courts order injunction against WCFN to get out of the way of corporate profit-raping.

2024: Sulfolane, health-harming sour gas sweetener, used *intentionally* for decades by oil and gas industry, found in groundwater in “large contaminant plumes across Canada, specifically in Alberta.” Companies *intentionally* dumped it into aquifers with families and cattle poisoned, bullied and *intentionally* gagged by lawyers years ago. Now researchers say it’s emerging and accidental. FFS.

2024: Rest in Peace Dr. Eilish Cleary. Thank you for warning us of the dangers of glyphosate and frac’ing when you were New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health. It remains unforgivable the gov’t tried to silence you, and trashed you for telling the truth.

2024: Irving Oilboy (for 33 years) Premier Blaine Higgs: Frac’ing is a better climate plan than carbon pricing. CAPE New Brunswick calls for permanent frac ban. Dr. Margaret McGregor: “Fracking introduces carcinogenic, mutagenic, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals into the local environment—and that has serious health repercussions.”

2024: Largest oil spill (1,572 barrels) in NL history: Polluter-enabling Canada kisses Cenovus (Encana spawn) with tiny fine (less than a tenth of one per cent of 2023 net earnings) *six years* after spill by Husky (bought by Cenovus for $2.9Billion). The court order, after the $2.5Million fine propaganda dust cleared: “An amount of $100,000 will be paid to the Receiver General for Canada.”

2024: Justin Nobel’s book, Petroleum 238, on oil, gas ‘n frac industry’s radioactive waste secret now available: “More Radioactivity Than at Chernobyl.” Jesse Lombardi: “In every single oilfield you will find these oilfield waste treatment centers churning radioactive waste around like pancake mix”

2024: Frac’ing is a health crisis! Releases radiation: as airborn particles; *radon into homes and water wells*; in brine/waste dumped on leases, roads, croplands, pastures; contaminating farms, communities, wildlife, livestock, families (frac’ing has been linked to leukemia and lymphoma in kids), workers, foods, landfills, trucks and rig equipment

2024: Gas lighting gaslighting: “Enclosed Combusters” evilly used by oil and gas companies to intentionally hide flares while lying, claiming such equipment reduces pollution, forcing “regulators” to rely on data from oil and gas polluters

2024: Deaths by cancer going up up up. Ever wonder why?

2024: Global warming: Human pollution caused temperature extremes linked to brain damage in kids (before they’re even born).

2024: Humanity’s polluted planet creating plastic-brained zombies?

2024: Human pollution (and over breeding) is taking the breath of trees away: “Trees in warmer, drier climates are essentially coughing instead of breathing,” sending CO2 right back into the atmosphere so they no longer serve as solution to our carbon pollution while earth continues heating and humans continue making more carbon pollution. Stupidest species on earth.

2024: NEBC: Another Encana/Ovintiv sour gas leak. Sour gas damages the brain, even at low concentrations, but illegal aquifer frac’er, run away to the USA, doesn’t care about air, water, forests, neighbours, workers or communities where it leaks deadly gases, Encana just cares about getting more freebies, subsidies, and more deregulation to legalize its unlawful polluting ass.

2024: Louisiana: Another high pressure CO2 pipeline failure, many could have been killed or sickened. Calls to Exxon went unanswered, took operator over two hours to show up to fix the leak. CO2 damages the brain. WTF with Denbury and it’s deadly pipeline failures?

2024: New study: Air pollution, namely nitrogen dioxide (NO2 – from tailpipes, gas stoves, drilling, frac’ing, flaring, production, compressors, gas plants, etc.), linked to uterine cancer. LNG means more toxic frac’ing, more cancers, more deaths.

2024: Self-reporting/self-regulation doesn’t work: Alberta’s tarsands pollution 6,300% higher than bitumen companies/Pathways Alliance/AER/CAPP’s propaganda says. Air quality expert Jeffrey Brook: “there’s a whole class of air pollutants that are being released in large quantities that are largely, if not completely, being excluded from official reporting.”

2024: West Virginia’s frac cruelty and toxic harms: EQT poisons, sickens and drives four families from their homes. Abby Tennant: “Our home is no longer a home. It is a place of sickness, confusion and sadness.” Remember Baytex?

2023: Air pollution may be to blame for thousands of dementia cases each year, researchers say

2023: James Byrne: We must act fast, push for change and dump fossil fuels; “Health-care costs alone are a great reason to get the hell off of fossil fuels”

2023: Faces of Greed, Lies & Evil: LNG2023 Vancouver BC Canada, July 10-13, Sponsors include Bennett Jones Law Firm. Biggest lie = LNG is green (it’s not, it wastes masses of energy and water and can’t be decarbonized). In Canada, LNG is polluting, health farm & family harming, methane-leaking (at every stage), noisy, diesel-fuming, permanent water-losing, frac’d gas. *LNG = LFG (Liquid Frac’d Gas), it’s not natural!*

2023: No surprise: New study by UChicago links frac’ing to heart and respiratory disease among older adults living near unconventional (un)natural gas development.

2023: New study: Frac compressor pollution harms health. Dear Encana/Ovintiv/Lynx/AER/UCP & TBA et al: Shut up frac compressors and stop poisoning us, our loved ones, homes, livestock, wildlife; stop harming our health!

2023: Sharon Wilson (aka TXSharon) and Miguel Excoto launch Oilfield Witness revealing the invisible pollution that oil and gas denies

2023: Testosterone, going going … gone? Phthalates (endocrine and metabolic disruptors), used in oil and gas wells, are some of the most hazardous chemical additives in plastics for health. People can be exposed via ingestion, inhalation, skin.Testing by Alberta’s water regulator found phthalates in my water after Encana illegally frac’d the aquifers that supply my well. These are not found naturally in groundwater, still the regulator blamed nature.

2023: Chevon subsidiary Union Oil’s “blatant example of environmental pollution and corporate malfeasance” gets hit with $63Million jury verdict for covering up chemical pit with carcinogen (benzene) on private land. Don’t fret Chevron, I’m sure you can buy pollution-friendly judges to overturn the ruling.

2023: Toxic big oil pulls sneaky dirty trick on Californians trying to kill the state’s health-protecting ban on new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, clinics, hospitals, and other sensitive sites.

2023: Queen’s University (receives $millions in corporate “donations”) via CBC spews crap to deflect dioxin and phosgene pollution/health risks in Ontario and Quebec from Norfolk Southern’s toxic train derailment, burning of vinyl chloride, etc.

2023: USA Supreme Court, In 6-3 ruling asserts “only corporations have the right to abortion, if done properly through child health and development issues arising from air pollution”

2023: Videos for 2023 Shale & Public Health Conference (11th Annual) with hair-raising presentation by Justin Nobel, and analysis by David Hess. The oil, gas and frac industry is toxic, no matter how we look at it.

2023: Frac’ing harms seniors. UC Berkeley epidemiologist David González: best way to protect health is by eliminating the hazard — ban new wells and phase out existing fossil fuel development. Frac’d resident Ray Kemble: “This industry is basically killing us”

2023: New study: Frac compressor pollution harms health. Dear Encana/Ovintiv/Lynx/AER/UCP & TBA et al: Shut up frac compressors and stop poisoning us, our loved ones, homes, livestock, wildlife; stop harming our health!

2023: Frac Harm Compendium 9 released by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Concerned Health Professionals of NY, Science and Environmental Health Network: “The risks and harms of fracking for public health, the climate, and environmental justice are real and growing. Many early warnings in our previous editions have been borne out. … The rapidly expanding body of evidence compiled here is massive, troubling, and cries out for decisive action.”

2023: American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica: Kids mental health threatened by climate change impacts, “starting before birth and potentially derailing the normal development of physiological systems, cognitive abilities and emotional skills in ways that are sometimes irreversible.” Sharon Wilson: “Hey MAGA, climate change is mass abortion. Care now?”No, MAGAs and Cons in Canada do not give a shit about health of kids; they only care about money and power, and work to criminalize abortion to feed their hatred and control women and girls.

2023: Frac noise hurts; frac noise harms health

2023: Frac’ing harms health. Ron Gulla: “The truth has to come out and the law firms are the ones that really need to be held accountable because the law firms are making a lot of money representing the industry and covering all the lies up. … This is organized crime, that’s what this is.”

2023: PA Frac Lawsuit Hearing: Bryan & Ryan Latkanich v Chevron & EQT Corporation health harm, and well water and home contamination

2023: Pennsylvania, Three years on: Frac’ing health study into Ewing sarcoma and other rare forms of cancer results in cover-up rug. Secrets are a toxic industry’s (and enabling court’s) best friend.

2022: New study by Yale School of Public Health researchers: Kids born within two km (1.24 mi) of frac sites were two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia between ages 2 and 7. A known cause is benzene, released by oil and gas activities into air and water. Dr. Cassandra Clark: “The magnitude of the elevated risk that we observed was fairly striking.”

2022: Pennsylvania oil & gas facilities spewed over 26 billion pounds toxic air pollution (likely under reported). Imagine Alberta’s oil, gas ‘n frac patch pollution, law violations, $billions in gifts/freebies from toxic politicians like Danielle Smith and her boss (Take Back Alberta into the Cave’s David Parker), and NEBC’s, Ontario’s, Saskatchewan’s, Manitoba’s … Hold your breath! All day and night long.

2022: Pennsylvania Senate Hearing: Large, growing, consistent, compelling body of evidence shows frac’ing negatively impacts public health; PA must act. Ten years later, Health Canada still won’t publicly release their frac hazard study. In Canada, frac panel members lie, ignore evidence; authorities refuse to study cumulative harms; “regulators” like AER refuse to enforce the law while engaging in fraud to serve law-violating polluters (most foreign owned) and further abuse the harmed.

2022: Victims of Repeated Abuse and Lingering Pollution in Pennsylvania. Brought to you by The Fracker, every day & night, not just on Halloween.

2022: Little Orphan Wells on the Prairies *and* in BC *and* in Quebec *and* in the Maritimes *and* souring and blowing up towns in Ontario … And intentional and accidental fracs, spills and leaks (including fake pollution solution Carbon Capture & Storage) leaking gases and toxic chemicals into groundwater …

2022: A first: Harvard study links frac’ing air pollution to early deaths among nearby residents, both up and downwind of wells. The Guardian: “This would mean thousands of premature deaths linked to the oil and gas boom….”

2022: Compendium 8 on Harms of Frac’ing & Associated Infrastructure: “The only method of mitigating its grave threats to public health and the climate is a complete and comprehensive ban on fracking.” No evidence was found showing “fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health directly or without imperiling climate stability upon which human health depends.”

2022: Frac Science Compendium 8 to be released soon. Sandra Steingraber & Carmi Orenstein: “The more we learn about fracking…the worse it looks. Fracking is a villain, not a hero….” (R. Kennedy Jr., Sierra Club, other NGOs pimped frac’ing for polluters)

2022: Italy’s Supreme Court: Rules neighbour’s noisy toilet is a human rights violation. Has Encana/Ovintiv (now Lynx) been violating my human rights and decimating my health for decades with their law violating noisy compressors? With AER fudging Encana’s data, enabling the law and human rights violations? Oh ya, I forgot: Canadians have no rights when harmed by oil & gas (except to pay $hundreds of thousands in legal/court costs, be strung along for years, lied to and betrayed by your lawyers, and defamed by the Supreme Court of Canada).

2021: Resource Guide and videos for all sessions now available: 9th Annual Shale & Public Health (Dec 10, 2021) Conference by Halt the Harm Network and Physicians for Social Responsibility: “Cradle to Grave: The Reverberating Health Hazards of Oil and Gas Industry.” Focus on workers’ exposure to PFAS chemicals, radioactivity, and effects on their families, communities and beyond.

2021: Pennsylvania: CNX pleads to criminal charges for misreporting air pollution, AG’s investigation turned on reports by severely impacted family. When will Canadian AGs criminally charge Encana/Ovintiv et al for the endless toxic frac pollution, quake damages and contaminated aquifers severely harming families and farms?

2021: Encana/Ovintiv spewing sour gas, yet again, says no one injured. H2S damages the brain even at very low concentrations, so how the hell does the company know no one was injured? Were all workers and area residents tested for neurological damages? OGC investigating. Whooptydoo! Will they let Ovintiv off with another community bribe? Or blame nature and the harmed?

2021: Another study: Preliminary Results Find Increased Cancer, Health Risks From Road Dumping Drilling Wastewater, Especially For Children; Arsenic, lead, manganese, nickel, hexavalent chromium in road dust contaminated by wastewater

2021: Visualize your brain in a frac field: Air pollution spikes may impair older men’s thinking, study finds, Even short, temporary increases in airborne particles can damage brain health, research suggests

2021: 14 year analysis on upstream oil and gas production and ambient air pollution in California found: “higher concentrations of ambient air pollutants at air quality monitors in proximity to preproduction wells within 4 km and producing wells within 2 km” likely harming health of nearby residents. Findings “likely applicable to other regions with oil and gas operations.”

2021: Satartia, Mississippi gassed by Denbury Inc., nearly killing dozens when CO2 P/L (contaminated with H2S) ruptured. Foreshadowing Canada’s Carbon Capture & Storage (that produces more pollution under guise of reducing it)? Deaths already reported in SK at Encana/Cenovus/Ovintiv’s CO2 injected oil recovery experiment.

2021: 500 international, US, Canadian groups open letter to leaders to “reject carbon capture and storage.” CCS is high risk like frac’ing, another scam used by gov’ts to give oil and gas companies $billions of public money to produce more pollution

2021: Super Polluter Canada: Where did our $1.7 Billion go? Into well clean-up or washed by Alberta’s UCP into pockets of CEOs and enabling lawfirms? “The public is likely paying for private companies’ pollution … a subsidy for oil and gas producers.”

2021: Gulf of Mexico: At least 66.3 million gallons frac waste dumped into the Gulf over a decade. U.S. EPA allows companies to discharge unlimited amounts of frac waste; Industry reports each frac releases about 21,480 gallons of waste, including biocides, polymers and solvents. “The failure to curb this major source of pollution is astounding and unacceptable.”

2021: More Oil & Gas Industry Pollution Health Harm Cover-up. Kert Davies: “We’ve seen the oil and gas industry’s disinformation campaign come full circle with the renewed attacks on research that tells us what we’ve known for decades – air pollution kills”

2021: Judge David Hittner imposes record $14.25 million pollution penalty against ExxonMobil, rejecting the company’s “act of God” defense. “We call on Exxon to finally stop its scorched-earth litigation tactics, pay its penalty and drop these endless appeals.”

2021: Expert panel on infectious lung disease and air pollution (especially important for those living/working in/near Alberta’s toxic tarsands, coal mining and or in frac zones)

2021: UK: Supreme Court rules Nigerians can bring claims against Shell in UK for severe pollution, incuding to their drinking water

2021: Air pollution and COVID-19: A dangerous combination.

2021: Swedbank to withhold credit from worst polluters and new oil and gas projects, will stop financing extraction from Arctic, *shale* and *tarsands.* No wonder, with decades of trickery used by Big Oil to prevent pollution reduction and having become “really good at stretching the truth,” while Exxon cuts $20Billlion in shale value.

2021: Frac’ing takes our eyesight too? New study: Air pollution linked to higher risk of irreversible sight loss

2021: Turn toxic radioactive frac waste into bathing water to burn your babies’ skin off? To ingest, breath and live with? “It’s economically prohibitive to clean the water.” What do oil & gas companies hate more than anything? Spending money to clean up their deadly pollution, on the environment or to protect public health and our drinking water. Terrifying: Water management market for oil and gas production in the U.S. was worth $33.6 **billion** in 2018 (for their use, not ours!)

2021: Pregnant women must avoid frac pollution to protect their health and that of their babies. How, when living surrounded by frac’ing?

2021: New study: Unconventional oil/gas development has larger impact on ambient particle radioactivity (PR) level compared to conventional; Widespread upwind unconventional/frac activities could significantly elevate PR level in downwind communities and induce adverse health effects to residents.

2021: New study: Fossil fuels caused 8.7 million deaths globally in 2018, one in five of all people who died that year, exceeds combined total who die globally each year from smoking tobacco plus those who die of malaria. “Without fossil fuel emissions…global economic and health costs would fall by about $2.9tn.”

2021: PSE: Literature review examines last ten years research on methane and health-damaging air pollutant emissions from oil and gas industry

2021: New study on frac’ing in NEBC, Peace River area: “Troubling” link between frac’ing and chemical contamination in homes; Living frac’d may harm your health. Massive new gas plant being built near those already impacted, expected to increase the number of frac’d wells from 10,000 to over 100,000.

2021: New Study: Dumping oil & gas drilling wastewater on roads provides little dust suppression, contains toxic chemicals harmful to public health, agriculture, aquatic life. (PS It’s just about giving industry more corporate welfare via free waste dumping)

2021: Thank you doctors and nurses for your “Un-natural-gas.org” billboards (and for fighting Covid-19 and our cowardly politicians). “Natural gas has significant health impacts for those living close by the wells and for our global environment,” said Dr. Kevin Liang

2021: Best letter to the Editor: “Fracking must be stopped. It poisons our drinking water and pollutes our air. … Health hazards cannot be prevented. … Laws do not protect people. No regulations protect people. The process is not safe. Fracking must be banned.”

2021: 700 groups ask Ireland to introduce resolution to UN General Assembly to ban frac’ing globally, highlights urgency with which human rights, climate, environmental and public-health impacts of frac’ing must be confronted. Dr. Edward Ketyer: “A global ban on fracking will improve public health and safety everywhere, not just in communities that have been damaged and scarred by unconventional oil and gas operations”

2021: May 10, 2021 Frac Ordinance Hearing; Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania: Murrysville Watch Committee v. Municipality of Murrysville ZHB, et al. Dr. Jerome Paulson: “There is also no scientifically definitive setback distance that would prevent health and safety impacts from oil and gas infrastructure.”

2021: New study: Frequent use of exemptions may undermine public health protections of oil and gas setback policies. Exemptions, variances & consent waivers: A frac’er’s best friends.

2021: USA must rapidly phase out harmful frac’ing, threat to maternal and public health (and bank accounts of investors everywhere). “The industry’s ability to avoid federal environmental regulation and harm the health of the communities…is alarming.”

2021: New Study, Fracking Kills: Cumulative exposure to frac’ing increases heart attacks among middle-aged and older residents in Pennsylvania. “Bans on hydraulic fracturing can be protective for public health.”

2021: More Oil & Gas Industry Pollution Health Harm Cover-up. Kert Davies: “We’ve seen the oil and gas industry’s disinformation campaign come full circle with the renewed attacks on research that tells us what we’ve known for decades – air pollution kills”

2021: Yet another dirty judge? Farley Toothman, who let serial oilfield wastewater dumper Robert Allan Shipman walk (98 criminal counts charged against Shipman and 77 charges against his company across six counties from 2003 to 2009), claims health issues could impede him from testifying at his misconduct trial.

2021: Is Noise Pollution the Next Big Public-Health Crisis? Research shows that loud noise can have significant impact on human health and devastate ecosystems.

2021: New Investigation: Fractured: The body burden of living near fracking: Families in western Pennsylvania exposed to harmful chemicals; regulations failing to protect mental, physical, social health. In Alberta, doctors will not investigate if we are poisoned by oil/gas/frac’ing; will not take a blood test without politician permission

2021: New study: Frac’ing is a Big Fat Fail; Appalachia’s frac boom failed to deliver on promises of local jobs and benefits. Of course it did, frac’ers and their enablers knew it would; frac’ing survives on conning investors, massive debt and gagging the harmed. Locals get: health harms; toxic homes, schools, water, air and land; frac’d authorities and courts; massive stress and sleepless noisy stadium light-filled nights; damaged roads and other infrastructure; more women and children raped; more STDs; lies and useless commitments from companies and lobby groups; fraud from experts and regulators; mega $Billions in clean-up.

2020: Another new study: Living near oil & gas wells tied to low birth weights in infants, adds to growing body of evidence linking proximity to oil & gas to adverse health outcomes, including heart defects, cancer …

2020: Sprocket Energy Corp: Bigger sour gas release – 480,000 litres – by “mechanical failure” (code for frac hit?) at Fox Creek Alberta. People live there, H2S is deadly, damages the brain even at low levels, yet again, media reports nothing. Jason Kenney/Steve Harper have friends on the board?

2020: Covid-19 outbreak risk in Italy: Role of chronic air pollution levels

2020: Air Pollution in the time of Covid-19: In the Shadows of America’s Smokestacks, Virus Is One More Deadly Risk

2020: Novel coronavirus hitching rides on particles of air pollution?

2020: New research on Covid-19: Are you and your loved ones frac’d? Air pollution linked to 15 percent higher coronavirus death rates

2020: New study: Frac’ing in Pennsylvania linked to 20 human deaths caused by particulate pollution emitted by shale gas wells from 2010 to 2017

2020: Gas stoves are a major source of indoor air pollution, exposing millions of people to “pollution in their homes that would be illegal outdoors.” No wonder industry fights to prevent regulation of stoves fueled with their foul products!

2020: Message to CAPP & AER: It’s not “odours” killing us, it’s pollution, including nitrogen dioxide.

2020: AER enables Vesta’s rape of Red Deer River for frac’ing, allows withdrawal of “half a cubic metre of water per second” assaulting residents with 80 decibels “deafening noise” day & night, diesel & light pollution, forcing pilot to sleep in hotel instead of his own home. Appears Vesta is boiling the river for access; thanks to AER, when you catch fish in Alberta now, it’s pre-cooked.

2020: New Study: Air pollution from oil and gas production sites visible from space; US and European satellites help scientists measure nitrogen dioxide, a lung-irritating air pollutant, from drilling, production and flaring.

2020: The insanely polluting leaking oil & gas industry! New paper on methane leak detection & repair: More than 1,600 leaks & vents at only 36 sites in NW Alberta. Think of the cumulative pollution, community poisoning and public health harms, notably as more and more companies, enabled by politicians (industry’s maids), regulators and courts, use bankruptcy to avoid clean up.

2020: Oil & gas lobbyists feel the heat on the industry’s pollution-caused global warming, but remain committed to misleading the public. Wow, just wow.

2020: New 8-Year Study: “Significantly increased odds of hospitalization among heart failure subjects in relation to increasing” frac’ing activity near them; 12,000 patients analyzed. Lead author, Tara McAlexander: “These activities — unconventional natural gas development and fracking specifically — are having negative impacts on the health of populations living nearby,” thinks frac’ing needs to be banned. “We know enough to know that we shouldn’t be doing this”

2020: New Study: Airborne radioactivity increases downwind of frac’ing; Particles released could damage health of residents nearby. Marco Kaltofen: “This investigation backs up its big conclusions with big data.” Petros Koutrakis, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston, led the study: “If you asked me to go and live downwind [of fracking sites], I would not go.”

2020: Frac’er WPX made it rain toxic water upon New Mexico, sickens family, kills livestock, birds fell dead from the poisoned sky. As everywhere, the “regulator” did nothing but protect the company, issued no penalty. WPX does not have to disclose details on the toxic chemicals that rained on the family for proprietary reasons. Penny Aucoin: “This has ruined our lives in so many different ways. Our health, family relations, financial problems, literally all aspects of our lives. It has become a living nightmare.”

2020: The biggest con ever? Millions of abandoned wells enabled by politicians, regulators & courts. Oil, gas ‘n frac industry rapes, profits ‘n runs, hangs the public with clean up, a climate menace & endless health harms & cruelty

2020: Another new study: Living near oil & gas wells tied to low birth weights in infants, adds to growing body of evidence linking proximity to oil & gas to adverse health outcomes, including heart defects, cancer …

2020: New study: Frac chemicals in farm water linked to rare birth defect in horses; The implications for human health are “worrisome” say researchers.

2020: Diana Daunheimer: “It’s clear, the UCP doesn’t give two cents about public health, environmental protection, liability management, property rights, industrial compliance, sustainable water management or emissions mitigation. The UCP are petrol molls, simple as that.”

2020: Fracking is dangerous to our health, has ruined the lives of many. Workers “developed cancer, sores and skin lesions, chronic headaches and nausea, numbness in fingertips and face, and ‘joint pain like fire.’”

2020: AER laid five environmental and conservation-related charges against Tourmaline Oil and spinoff Topaz Energy Corp., and three charges against CWC Energy Services for knowingly leaking sour gas (H2S) “that impacted human health” in 2018 near Spirit River, Alberta. Court hearing Feb 19, 2020 in Grand Prairie. Why no charges against Encana, now Ovintiv, for its illegal sour gas venting near Rosebud and illegally operating a sour gas facility and wells as sweet?

2020: The insanely polluting leaking oil & gas industry! New paper on methane leak detection & repair: More than 1,600 leaks & vents at only 36 sites in NW Alberta. Think of the cumulative pollution, community poisoning and public health harms, notably as more and more companies, enabled by politicians (industry’s maids), regulators and courts, use bankruptcy to avoid clean up.

2019: Sending your child to school to get cancer? Colorado State air monitoring finds elevated benzene, exceeding federal short-term health guideline, at Greeley School, near Extraction Oil & Gas frac site

2019: Imagine if law-violating, polluting, community, family, health and home harming oil and gas companies were persecuted the same way women are! The “Rule of Law” is a misogynistic caveman’s ass.

2019: U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board first to confirm 5,239 pounds of **toxic hydrofluoric acid** was released in Philadelphia Energy Solutions June 21 explosion, when *health* authorities proclaimed the blast air safe to breath

2019: Colorado regulators confirm oil & gas health impacts

2019: New study says shale gas not worth it, not even for the jobs: “Air pollution from shale gas development activities in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia from 2004 to 2016 resulted in 1,200 to 4,600 premature deaths in the region” costing $23 billion. “Climate impacts produced mid-range costs of an additional $34 billion” while cumulative impacts on water and air quality, ecosystem, climate, labor markets and public health “are still largely unexplored and unaccounted for.”

2019: Colorado study shows toxic chemicals up to 2,000 feet from frac sites; Benzene (carcinogen), toluene (neurotoxin, notably damages the brain in children) and ethyltoluenes found at up to **10 times** recommended levels 500 feet from frac operations. “Secret exposure to chemicals that our own EPA reports as a potential hazard to human health is unconscionable.”

2019: Devon Energy Blowout Day 13: Air monitors 30 miles away continue to show spikes in harmful pollution, residents worry about their safety and harm to livestock

2019: Pollution could be damaging your brain, even leading to dementia but Health Canada still not making public their 2012 damning report admitting significant health hazards and risks to groundwater and air caused by frac’ing!

2019: Stanford study casts doubt on carbon capture. Carbon capture technologies can cause more harm than good and increase air pollution!

2019: The Human Toll, Part 2: Industry says otherwise (of course they do!), but studies identify specific harms that shale-gas pollution can cause for fetuses, newborns, children and teenagers

2019: Washington County PA: Family members tell state to ‘fix’ cancer study. How many cancers/deaths in Alberta caused by frac/oil industry chemicals & pollution? How would we know? Authorities not looking, too busy blowing taxpayer money up their Hanky Panky asses, denying, lying, and changing names on propaganda machines to enable more carcinogenic oil industry pollution!

2018: Queensland Australia: Another new study shows unconventional gas industry pollution: Air Pollution and human health hazards: a compilation of air toxins acknowledged by gas industry in Queensland’s Darling Downs. As expected and as usual, industry name calls the scientist, Geralyn McCarron, “activist” to try to discredit her and her alarming paper

2018: New study in natural gas fields of northern New Mexico: First in any animal to link oil & gas industry noise pollution to stress and show the connection can disrupt reproduction

2017: Are oil and gas companies such pathetic cowards they need to silence medical doctors reporting health harms from industry’s toxic pollution? “He was about to [release] his results…and then they fire him.”

2017: Fracking is bad health policy. Published In the Vancouver Sun no less!

2017: Are lawyers at fault or Canada’s inaccessible legal system (that inhumanely pushes settle & gag – even regarding threats to public health & safety like Encana illegally fracking a community’s drinking water supply – to keep ordinary people out of the “justice club” for the rich & corrupt)?

2017: Texas: New Study by TAMEST, State’s Top Scientists (mostly industry supporters, so findings especially damning): Drilling in Shale causes pollution, earthquakes, billions in road damages annually, billions in trucking industry damages annually, 75% increase in rural crashes involving commercial vehicles. Health & Climate Change Impacts Not Assessed. Why Not? Too terrible?

2017: New study on diesel pollution: “There is strong evidence that particulate matter (PM) emitted mainly from diesel road vehicles is associated with increased risk of heart attack, heart failure, and death.” Ever wonder why so many get sick when the oil & gas industry invades your home & community? Air pollution cost Canadians $36 Billion in 2015 alone!

2017: Industry under-reporting VOC pollution by factor of 2 to 4.5. Is industry also under-reporting toxic frac pollution & drinking water contamination?

2017: New Study Says Fracking Negatively Impacts Infant Health. New Low for Marcellus Shale Coalition: “….it’s dangerously misleading and inflammatory to suggest that natural gas development has done anything but improve public health.”

2017: England: Mayor Sadiq Khan to ban fracking in London, Warns extracting shale gas represents toxic health risk: There is “absolutely no place for fracking in London.”

2017: Three years after inquiry held after many years of AER enabling industry’s poisoning of families, Alberta regulator many years too late releases rules on heavy oil’s toxic air pollution (AER calls it “odors”). Will industry give a damn? Will AER enable “rule” violations as usual?

2017: The Journal of the American Medical Association Publishes Concerns about Fracking Contaminating Air and Drinking Water, and Harming Human Health!

2017: “The public has a right to know”: Fracking companies don’t have to disclose chemicals linked to health concerns

2017: Documents show EPA health concerns on frac chemicals kept secret, approved for use by companies near families & communities anyways: Intentional Environmental Racism by Regulators? Against everyone living frac’d?

2017: To Honour the Fallen on Remembrance Day: Make public AER’s secret “D79 Abandoned Well Methane Toxicity Preliminary Assessment” & Appendix 2 by Alberta Health, Admitting “Acute-Life threatening” risks & “Neurological effects”

Note Alberta Health’s red dotted line in graph above showing “Acute Threshold” in ppm.

2017: New Report: World governments make citizens pay billions to destroy their own health

2017: New peer-reviewed, published study by Lisa McKenzie et al, U Colorado School of Public Health: Childhood cancer linked to nearby oil and gas activity; People ages 5-24 diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia more likely to live in areas with a high concentration of oil and gas activity

2016: Elevated Cancer risks surround oil & gas drilling. Fracking is bad for your health says Israel Health Ministry official; Frac flowback stage causes greatest air pollution; WORLD-WIDE STUDY: One in three strokes caused by air pollution

2016: Another New Peer-Reviewed, Published Frac Health Harm Review: Harmful chemicals used in, produced by unconventional oil & gas pose serious threat to infants & children

2016: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers at it again, Downplaying industry’s toxic reality to let the pollution continue, unabated; Says bitumen steam frac’ing not contaminating surface water

2016: USA NATIONAL PARKS: Drilling at ‘doorstep’ drives visitors away — report; Imagine living surrounded by drilling, fracing and air, land and water pollution.

2016: Elevated Cancer risks surround oil & gas drilling. Fracking is bad for your health says Israel Health Ministry official; Frac flowback stage causes greatest air pollution; WORLD-WIDE STUDY: One in three strokes caused by air pollution

2016: Pinellas County Florida unanimously votes to ban fracking; Cites harm to environment, air pollution, damage to Floridan Aquifer, health problems as main reasons

2016: New Study: Alberta’s tar sands leading source of air pollution in North America, Tens of thousands of people living within reach breathing elevated levels of fine particles linked in previous studies to lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes

2016: Family of George Bender Submission to Senate Inquiry into Regulation of CSG (CBM) Industry: 1,000 pigs dead due to gas industry pollution

2016: Yale School of Public Health: Fracking Linked to Cancer-Causing Chemicals; Pennsylvanians Against Fracking Call on Governor Wolf to Implement Statewide Moratorium on Fracking

2016: Big Legal Victory in Pennsylvania: Supreme Court rules 2012 law unfairly gave frackers illegal “special” treatment; Declares Act 13 an unconstitutional “special law” benefiting specific groups or industries, including its “physician gag order” restricting health-care professionals from getting information about chemicals that could harm their patients

2016: Victoria state gov’t to permanently ban unconventional gas development; Fracking and CBM/CSG to be banned: “The health and environmental risks…outweigh any potential benefit.” Citizens hail decision after inquiry into onshore unconventional gas received 1,600 submissions

2016: 8-year frac health study shows fracking associated with increased asthma attacks: “Those who lived closer to a large number or bigger active natural gas wells were significantly more likely…to suffer asthma attacks” … “The highest risk for asthma attacks occurred in people living a median of about 12 miles from drilled wells. The lowest risk was for people living a median of about 40 miles away.”

2016: England: Medact’s updated Public Health Assessment on Shale Gas Production concludes: “Significant health hazards are unavoidably associated with SGP and present real risks to the health and wellbeing of surrounding, local communities.”

2016: Massachusetts Senate Passes 10-Year Moratorium on Fracking and Disposal of Frac Wastewater in the Commonwealth. Senate President: “Fracking releases harmful chemicals into our air while contaminating fresh groundwater, causing seismic events, flaring methane and severely harming public health.”

2016: SoGalGas massive well blowout at Porter Ranch: Barium, vanadium, manganese, lead, strontium and aluminum may be causing health symptoms suffered by residents even after leak plugged

2016: New peer-reviewed published paper on unconventional natural gas development (excluding CBM/CSG) impacts: “At least 685 papers have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals that are relevant to assessing the impacts of UNGD. 84% of public health studies contain findings that indicate public health hazards, elevated risks, or adverse health outcomes; 69% of water quality studies contain findings that indicate potential, positive association, or actual incidence of water contamination; and 87% of air quality studies contain findings that indicate elevated air pollutant emissions and/or atmospheric concentrations”

2015: Bravo! Prevent Cancer Now calls out AER’s Health Fraud! “The AER has no jurisdiction for human health, and Alberta is famed for a chill against the medical community linking ill health to petrochemicals.”

2015: Oil and gas industry pollution travels hundreds of kilometres, No wonder Harper is muzzling Canadian scientists

2015: AER’s EMERGENCY COMMAND CENTRE SET UP 2.5 HRS AWAY! DON’T AER COMMAND STAFF WANT TO DAMAGE THEIR BRAINS? Encana’s Fox Creek blow out spewing 20,000,000,000 litres/day sour gas & condensate: Where’s the regulator? Ex-Encana VP Gerard Protti = AER Chair; Ex-Encana Manager Mark Taylor = AER VP Industry Operations

2015: Secondhand Smoke: “Pollution from our fracking wells in Pennsylvania may be drifting down to Maryland, raising ethane levels in the state to unhealthy levels”

2015: More peer-reviewed studies indicating health harm from fracing and natural gas production, Dogs “found to be particularly sensitive, suggesting both health concerns for the animals and new ways to track pollution through animals’ exposures”

2015: The Ultimate Frac Fraud? In EPA Draft Frac Report: “700 pages (24,000 lines) presenting the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on water resources and human health but only 2 lines concluding that it is not a universal problem”

2015: Another new study showing frac harms to health: Hydraulic fracturing linked to increases in hospitalization rates in the Marcellus Shale

2015: Where were Alberta’s Chief Medical Officers of Health, including Dr. Nicolas Bayliss? Where was Dr. James Talbot’s “tremendous passion and knowledge” refusing to help Albertans poisoned by fracing, not warning others they’re next?

2015: Pennsylvania Study Links Fracking to Health Hazards in Fetuses, Infants, Young Children: 35.1% more cancer in children ages zero to four in heavily frac’d counties. Compare to AER’s belittling, dismissive health study in the Lochend

2015: “What is the acceptable risk for increased risk for childhood cancer? It’s zero.” & Open Letter by Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment to NB Premier Gallant: Termination of Dr. Eilish Cleary, Chief Medical Officer of Health, a concern

2015: Why so much frac fraud? Why is Health Canada hiding frac hazards to drinking water? Why publicly release pathogen harms, but not frac hazards and harms?

2015: Prevent Cancer Now calls out AER’s Health Fraud! “The AER has no jurisdiction for human health, and Alberta is famed for a chill against the medical community linking ill health to petrochemicals.”

2015: Tara Australia Residents Want Out: Brutal betrayals, Greed & Gag Orders, Losing Health & Home. Synergy Strikes, Again.

2015: Special Issue of Journal Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering: Facing the Challenges – Research on Shale Gas Extraction

2015: Queensland regulator: gases near Chinchilla might be from Linc Energy coal gasification plant, Preliminary tests on private properties showed carbon monoxide, hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide yet Queensland Health says “no health risks to landowners” (Reality check: the gases might kill you or ignite)

2015: Wales Assembly Votes 37 to 16 to Oppose Fracing; Scottish Government Imposes Frac Moratorium Over Health and Environmental Impacts

2015: British lawmakers demand freeze on fracing, Environmental Audit Committee releases frac report summarizing significant environmental risks to Public Health

2015: Elaine Hill interview on her research that was attacked by frac industry; One of the first scholarly explorations of health harm caused by fracing

2015: Why Did New York State Ban Fracking? Massive study finds health, safety and environmental uncertainties regarding fracking’s dangers have ‘grown worse over time’

2014: New York State to ban fracking because of red flags to public health. Health Commissioner Howard Zucker: “Would I let my child play in a school field nearby? After looking at the plethora of reports, my answer would be no.”

2014: Terry Greenwood, 66, died after 3 months fighting cancerous brain tumors, years of fighting fracing and for appropriate, accountable regulator response to frac contamination on his farm

2014: Quebec’s Premier Declares Province-wide Shale Gas Ban after Environmental Review Board (BAPE) says Fracking Not Worth The Risk, “Too many negative consequences to the environment and society…risks to air and water quality…noise and light pollution

2014: Fracking in wintry areas linked to high ozone pollution; The high levels were “clearly related” to oil and gas emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

2014: Compton California hit with lawsuit by Western States Petroleum Association; Claims that the city doesn’t have the right to try and avoid frac pollution

2014: British medical journal, The Lancet, writes story on plight of Peace River-area families dealing with bitumen pollution

2014: Chevron appears to be taking Free Speech to court: suing cartoonist, Mark Fiore, for must watch cartoon about Chevron losing the 9.5 Billion dollar Ecuador pollution lawsuit

2014: EPA Should Close Loophole Allowing Nearly 400 Oil and Gas Facilities in Six States to Avoid Public Reporting of Millions of Pounds of Toxic Pollution Annually

2014: Karla Labrecque’s doctor refused to do a blood test until he consults with a local politician; Mike Labrecque gets sick working for Baytex, Baytex lets him go: “You’re done.”

2014: Broken trust: Alberta family without answers about oil sands’ health impact, When an Alberta mom met with an ear-throat-and-nose specialist in Grande Prairie about oil-sands emissions pollution, his advice stunned her

2014: Federal judge excuses Shell’s pollution of Illinois town’s groundwater with carcinogen benzene 26,000 times greater than allowed by state law So many piss ‘n shit on the law fuckers in the judicial-legal industry helping polluters harm us and our loved ones, and destroy earth’s livability.

2014: Two studies commissioned by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) back family’s concerns with Baytex Energy bitumen (tarsands) tank venting pollution

2014: Hydraulic fracturing letter by Robert Griebel, Alberta MD: Reckless pollution of our environment

2014 to bring aboriginal legal onslaught to fight massive attacks by Harper and Redford governments on First Nations’ rights and environmental protections, and unmitigated escalating impacts of cumulative tarsands developments and pollution

2014: State of Science on Harms by Fracking to Public Health and Water: Health Professionals, Scientists Release Analysis of 400 Peer-Reviewed Studies on Fracking along with Major Scientific Compendium Update

2014: Fracking might be as damaging as thalidomide, tobacco and asbestos, UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser warns in new report: “In all these and many other cases, delayed recognition of adverse effects incurred not only serious environmental or health impacts, but massive expense”

2014: UK Public Health Report Admits Harm for Residents Living Near Fracing: “lack of public trust and confidence, stress and anxiety from the uncertainty which could lead to poor mental wellbeing, noise related health effects, issues related to capacity for flowback waste water treatment and disposal”

2014: Baytex Finally Successful, Gags & Settles Poisoned Alberta Families: Does a lawyer-touted “positive outcome” of displacing and gagging poisoned families, stop the poisoning? “Our house is contaminated…there’s a smell now…Part of the torture of all this is not only abandoning our farm, but the health experts…told us we shouldn’t bring anything (with us).”

2014: Frac’ing could threaten air quality, workers’ and public health, University of Maryland report says

2014: Why was a 2012 Health Canada Report, admitting significant health hazards and risks to groundwater and air from hydraulic fracturing, kept from the public?

2014: Salon interviews researchers Bamberger and Oswald: Fracking’s untold health threat: How toxic contamination is destroying lives, America’s natural gas boom has real consequences for children, animals, food and water

2014: Only a frac ban will protect health, livability in Denton Texas; Frac regulations poison us, “There is no escaping the harmful chemicals. … We feel like prisoners in our own home.”

2014: Sounds like Alberta! Pennsylvania health officials ordered to ignore fracking-related health complaints, Former Department of Health employees say they were forbidden to talk about drilling

2014: Air Pollutants From Fracking, Acidizing Threaten Public Health, Report Says; Oil Companies Used More than 45 Million Pounds of Toxic Chemicals in Los Angeles Area Over Past Year

2014: Sulfolane (used to sweeten sour gas) leak at Bonavita Energy’s South Rosevear Gas Plant, Edson Alberta, contaminated drinking water, severe health harm experienced by Mersadese Royale, her husband and children; Family evicted after raising concerns publicly

2014: Health report: some Alberta doctors refused to treat families exposed to toxic emissions by Baytex in Peace Country, one lab refused to process a test

2014: Alberta Health Services tells residents within 5 km of South Rosevear Gas Plant not to use water from their wells because of “possible” solvent contamination; Says nothing to residents living in danger from known explosive levels of methane contaminating well water and homes!

2014: Anadarko Petroleum settles U.S.-wide clean-up and health harm lawsuit for $5.15 billion, US Bankruptcy judge ruled the company should pay 19.35 billion and legal fees; Settlement ensures that: “Anadarko was not found to have done anything wrong.”

2014: New Study: Emissions may be two to three times higher, some pose cancer risk; Environmental health risks of Alberta tarsands probably underestimated

2014: Australia: Local doctor talks of ‘catastrophic’ CSG (CBM) health impact

2013: UK taxpayers to pay for fracking pollution if companies go bust, Minister rejects proposal to amend regulations to make companies sign a bond to pay for potential pollution incidents but creates legislation for tax breaks for industry

2013: Harper government not ready to reduce pollution from oil companies but willing to waste $40 Million of Canadian tax money in one year to lie for billion dollar profit-making multinational polluters

2013: BAKKEN SHALE: As oil production sets in, pollution starts to migrate — scientists

2013: This Is Your Brain on Toxins. How many from drilling and hydraulic fracturing?

2013: Air Pollution and Cancer Spikes linked in Alberta; Alberta’s Oil Legacy: Bad Air and Rare Cancers, Sickening carcinogens now saturate Industrial Heartland, study finds

2013: Marcellus gas compressor stations and processing plants, near to one another or even linked, are evaluated individually for pollution to ensure that oil and gas industry doesn’t have to implement emissions controls; this is the same in Alberta

2013: Study shows high pollution at Lac-Mégantic: one carcinogen 394,444 times above limit; Fracking chemicals in spotlight regulators investigate rail car corrosion & flammability North Dakota crude

2013: Science panel to scrutinize shale gas drilling, Workshop in D.C. to concentrate on pollution issues, Stephen Harper’s government withholds details of $16-million PR campaign for oil industry

2013:

2013: Ontario Court of Appeal says innocent parties must pay for pollution clean-up

2013: Study finds that more than half of ozone-forming pollutants in Erie come from drilling activity, Oil and gas wells contribute fuel for ozone pollution, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) researchers find

2013: More than 50 Woodland families with toxic water after nearby frac’ing, Headleys, McIntyres and other families file nuisance lawsuits after suffering health harm, toxic fumes, visual, noise and other impacts from drilling, frac’ing and facilities

2013: Yet Another Peer Reviewed Study Warning about the Health Hazards of Natural Gas: Home gas ranges produce toxic gases says Lawrence Berkeley Lab Study

2013: Where are the regulators in Alberta? Fed up with toxic fumes: families suffering ill health ask Peace River court for 8 month injunction to shut down 46 wells and 86 venting tanks owned by Baytex Energy

2013: Chemical Company Elementis Chromium Inc. Failed to Disclose Public Health Risks from exposure to hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, Judge Rules in Favor of EPA

2013: Three Creeks/Reno area residents are breathing air heavily affected by tar sands open lid tanks; More than 600 complaints over two years lead to little if any change in pollution control

2013: University of Michigan researchers on noise: Turn down the volume for health’s sake

2013: Alberta family, the Daunheimers near Didsbury, suing Angle Energy for $13 million for causing harm to health, property, financial status, personal safety and water

2013: Elaine Hill: The Impact of Oil and Gas Extraction on Infant Health in Colorado

2013: Alberta government to spend $9.2 million on mental health support for flood victims, but no support for victims of water, land and air pollution caused by hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas

2013: What Lies Beneath: CCTV America Investigation into Hydraulic Fracturing Interviews Alberta landowners, including former oil engineer, fracing fumes damaging health

2013: Extreme Levels of Benzene Floating Around Gas Wells and Compressor Stations; Fracking effects: A long-term study of drilling’s impact shows harmful health effects

2013: Alberta Health Services to pay executive bonuses, says work ‘already done’ but refused to address concerns about serious negative health impacts caused by oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing

2012: ERCB and AESRD [“Alberta Health Couldn’t make it”] answers questions about fracking

2012: Canadian taxpayers could be on hook for Quebec fracking decision because of NAFTA Chapter 11 that protects corporations even if they risk health, the public interest and environment to take profitThe human species is stupid.

2012: Fracking not worth the health, safety risks

2012: Two hour speech in the Yukon Legislature on the precautionary principal and some of the science showing significant risks to society, health, environment, wildlife, water and the public interest from hydraulic fracturing

2012: Health Ramifications of Fracking from a Nurse’s View

2012: Testimony by DEP lab chief reveals possibility of intentionally undisclosed public health risks from Marcellus Shale gas drilling

2012: New research links health problems with oil and natural gas development

2012: Potential health risks cited in New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health report on shale gas industry

2012: New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Cleary speaks out on shale gas report after government says it will be kept confidential

2012: Shale gas report by health officer may remain secret, Dr. Eilish Cleary looked at potential health impacts of the shale gas industry

2012: Fracking causes serious health and environmental problems – report

2012: AEA: Support to the identification of potential risks for the environment and human health arising from hydrocarbons operations involving hydraulic fracturing in Europe

2012: Shale gas drilling poses risk to public: French health group / L’exploitation des gaz de schiste, dangereux pour la santé?

2012: Canadian Medial Association calls for shale gas health checks: Doctors want access to govt and industry data on potential health effectsI doubt the doctors were heeded.

2012: Doctors demand access to all health data on oilsands and other natural resource extraction projects, including shale gas

2012: The hidden health risks of fracking, Nurses demand disclosure of chemicals used in natural gas drilling

2012: In North Dakota and Nationwide, A Boom in Health Problems Accompanies Fracking

2012: In Effort to Protect Public Health, Groups Seek Fracking Chemical Information

2012: TINY DOSES OF GAS DRILLING CHEMICALS MAY HAVE BIG HEALTH EFFECTS, Authors of new study encourage more low-dose testing of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, with implications for the debate on natural gas drilling

2012: Air emissions near natural gas drilling sites may contribute to health problems

2012: Researchers: Gas industry secrecy obstructs public health

2012: Kimberly Mildenstein, Alberta mum, protesting frac’ing at County of Mountain View council meeting where councillor Paddy Munro presented on the harms of frac’ing, calling it crimes against humanity.

2012: Colorado study links fracking to air pollution

2012: Human Health Risk Assessment of Air Emissions from Development of Unconventional Natural Gas Resources

2012: Fracking’s Health and Environmental Impacts Greater Than Claimed

2012: Health Canda’s frac study, kept secret (as of 2024, still not released publicly by the feds)

2011: Wrong to Make Public Pay for EnCana’s Pollution Fix, Say Critics

2011: Science Lags As Health Problems Emerge Near Gas Fields

2011: DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIE POLICY DEPARTMENT A: ECONOMIC AND SCIENTIFIC POLICY Impacts of shale gas and shale oil extraction on the environment and on human health

2010: Natural Gas Operations from a Public Health Perspective

For many years, drillers have insisted that they do not use toxic chemicals to drill for gas, only guar gum, mud, and sand. While much attention is being given to chemicals used during fracking, our findings indicate that drilling chemicals can be equally, if not more dangerous.

2001: The Health Hazards of Natural Gas

2000: Natural Gas: Avoidable Health Hazard

1998: WARNING “Natural” gas may be harmful to your health

1982 Alberta: Sour gas and sickness; Smelly smelly run-around. Regulators/Health authorities, then and now, lie to the harmed, coddle the polluters. Alberta’s Pollution Solution: Discredit the poisoned; call them crazy.

1988: Nakoda Nation: Engineer reported hundreds of drinking water wells contaminated with sour gas on Stoney Reserve west of Calgary. H2S is deadly, damages the brain even at low levels. AER blamed nature and if not nature, then bacteria. Same blame game polka after frac’ing contaminated drinking water wells with gas at Ponoka, Wetaskiwin, Spirit River, Rockyford, Rosebud, Redland, etc.

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