Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals Found in Water at Fracking Sites

[unhappycamper]

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/20696-hormone-disrupting-chemicals-found-in-water-at-fracking-sites



Bob Bellis, who works for A&W Water, opens a fire hydrant to fill up his tanker truck with water to be used in new drilling techniques that use powerful streams of water, sand and chemicals to crack the ground and release stores of oil and gas, in an industrial area of Greeley, Colorado, August 30, 2012. As a new race for water ripples through the drought-scorched heartland, many farmers and environmental activists worry that deep-pocketed energy companies will have purchase on the increasingly scarce water supplies as they drill more and deeper wells.

Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals Found in Water at Fracking Sites
Tuesday, 17 December 2013 13:00
By Neela Banerjee, Los Angeles Times | Report

Water samples collected at Colorado sites where hydraulic fracturing was used to extract natural gas show the presence of chemicals that have been linked to infertility, birth defects and cancer, scientists reported Monday.

The study, published in the journal Endocrinology, also found elevated levels of the hormone-disrupting chemicals in the Colorado River, where wastewater released during accidental spills at nearby wells could wind up.

Tests of water from sites with no fracking activity also revealed the activity of so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs. But the levels from these control sites were lower than in places with direct links to fracking, the study found.

"With fracking on the rise, populations may face greater health risks from increased endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure," said senior author Susan Nagel, who investigates the health effects of estrogen at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.