It’s Simple – Fracking Wastewater Causes Cancer
Fracking wastewater causes cancer, according to new research from Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. It is the first study of its kind to confirm the many suspicions that fracking wastewater could be carcinogenic.
What is fracking?Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is technology that is used to help enhance the flow of energy from wells after drilling. Water, sand, and additives are sent through deep rock formations at high pressure. After the rock is fractured, water returns to the surface as wastewater. This water needs to be treated, recycled, or disposed of. The new study was conducted in collaboration with US and Chinese scientists, and they found that fracking wastewater causes cancer, by inducing malignant changes in the cancerous phenotype. The fracking wastewater was injected into mice, with 5 out of the 6 developing tumors after just 3 months from time of injection. The study concluded:
Our work has provided the first line of evidence that Marcellus
Shale flow back water induces malignant cell transformation in
vitro. The BEAS-2B cells exposed to flow back water up to six weeks
appeared to be transformed and exhibiting altered morphology as
compared to parental cells.
The present work also provided Ba and Sr as hydraulic
fracturing-related target pollutants in addition to the more
classically studied fracking contaminants (i.e., radioisotopes and
methane) for further investigation. Research to determine whether
fracking-associated pollutants can migrate to private or public
drinking wells, to identify early warning indicators of exposure and
effect, and to identify suitable remediation approaches are urgently
needed. Descriptive and analytical epidemiological studies along
with animal model studies will help to better understand the health
impact associated with unconventional shale gas production.
The study
showing that fracking wastewater causes cancer was published in the
journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. Source(s): stepin2mygreenworld.com
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