Babies Born Near Oil and Gas Wells 70% More Likely to Have Congenital Heart Defects, New Study Shows

[Rhiannon12866]

Babies Born Near Oil and Gas Wells Are Up to 70% More Likely to Have Congenital Heart Defects, New Study Shows

Researchers at the University of Colorado studied pregnant women who are among the 17 million Americans living within a mile from an active oil or gas well

Proximity to oil and gas sites makes pregnant mothers up to 70 percent more likely to give birth to a baby with congenital heart defects, according to a new study.

Led by Dr. Lisa McKenzie at the University of Colorado, researchers found that the chemicals released from oil and gas wells can have serious and potentially fatal effects on babies born to mothers who live within a mile of an active well site—as about 17 million Americans do.

The researchers studied more than 3,000 newborns who were born in Colorado between 2005 and 2011. The state is home to about 60,000 fracking sites, according to the grassroots group Colorado Rising. In areas with the highest intensity of oil and gas extraction activity, mothers were 40 to 70 percent more likely to give birth to babies with congenital heart defects (CHDs).

"We observed more children were being born with a congenital heart defect in areas with the highest intensity of oil and gas well activity," said McKenzie in a statement.

The study was more precise than previous reports about the link between oil and gas extraction and CHDs. The researchers studied families in which the pregnant mother lived near an active oil or gas well up to the second month of pregnancy, when fetal cardiac development takes place.

They also estimated the level of intensity of the oil and gas activity, determined exactly how close the pregnant mothers lived to the well sites, and ensured there were no other significant air pollution sources which could skew their results.


Read more: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/19/babies-born-near-oil-and-gas-wells-are-70-more-likely-have-congenital-heart-defects



"Looking at where mothers lived immediately before pregnancy and during the first critical weeks after conception and what was going on at nearby fracking wells, researchers found startling patterns," said public health advocate Dr. Sandra Steingraber. (Photo: J. Pat Carter/Getty Images)

[mr_lebowski]

1. Which logically leads one to a question for the self-designated "Protectors of the Holy Fetus" ...

Just HOW MUCH extra per gallon of gasoline are you prepared to accept in exchange for the Safety of The Almighty Fetus? $.05/gallon? $.10/gallon? Surely your answer MUST BE ... HOWEVER MUCH IT TAKES ... RIGHT? RIGHT?!?

And 'whatever regulations are required, let's get them going', RIGHT?!?

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Excellent point!

And we know that protecting fetuses is what it's all about. After they're born, they're on their own...

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Paging Lois Gibbs...

This is very love Canal-esque.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. And it's only going to get worse the longer we're stuck with Trump

He has no compunctions about rolling back as many safety regulations as possible - especially if they came from President Obama.