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July 20th, 2016 
Awake Goy
Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Group
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have published a study tying hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to an onset of asthma after a near decade study of people in Pennsylvania.
According to the findings, asthmatic treatments were 4 times more common among patients who lived in the vicinity of active wells. And with 25 million US adults and children suffering from this disease, the natural gas boom could have long-term health implications that have so far been unrecognized.
This study comes on the heels of a 2015 paper published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health which showed that “levels of radon in Pennsylvania homes – where 42 percent of readings surpass what the US government considers safe – have been on the rise since 2004, around the time that the fracking industry began drilling natural gas wells in the state.”
This is concerning because an estimated 40% of homes in Pennsylvania are suspected to have radon levels above recommended limits.
Interestingly, as radon levels rose, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) suddenly began increasing the number of permits issued for fracking.
Water wells were shown to be the most dangerous because 21% higher concentrations of radon were found when compared to municipal water supplies and water routed to buildings in cities. Small towns and townships were effected more than cities because they were more likely to be within a closer proximity to fracking wells.
The researchers showed that “no similar increases in indoor radon concentrations prior to 2004.”
And back in 2014, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a study involving the Yale University School of Medicine (YSM) and the University of Washington (UW) that states residents who live within a short proximity to natural gas wells report more health problems.
A survey was given to 492 random residents in Pennsylvania and found that “people with ground-fed water wells living near hydraulic fracturing sites are twice as likely to report skin and respiratory problems.”
Complaints of residents included:
• Unexplained hair loss
• Persistent rashes
• Sore throats
• Nose bleeds
Those chosen for the study reported “dermal, respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and neurological symptoms” from ground fed water supplies.
Along with health issues attributed to hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Pennsylvania residents near the Marcellus shale area have been subjected to sudden mild earthquakes (SMEs) connected to fracking.
Researchers at Cornell University (CU) have discovered that “newer and unconventional wells leak far more often than older and traditional ones” which could mean all across the nation methane is leaking into the environment due to fracking.
After analyzing 41,000 injection wells and 75,000 state inspection sites, this study show that “older wells — those drilled before 2009 — had a leak rate of about 1%. While most were traditional wells, drilling straight down, unconventional wells — those drilled horizontally and commonly referred to as fracking — have replaced traditional well since 2006.”
Since 2009, the leak rate was measured at 2% and unconventional wells leak at 6% with the height of leaking being 10% coming from horizontally drilled wells in the northeastern area of Pennsylvania.
The researchers wrote : “In aquifers overlying the Marcellus and Utica shale formations of northeastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York, we document systematic evidence for methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction. In active gas-extraction areas (one or more gas wells within 1 km), average and maximum methane concentrations in drinking-water wells increased with proximity to the nearest gas well and were 19.2 and 64 mg, a potential explosion hazard; in contrast, dissolved methane samples in neighboring nonextraction sites (no gas wells within 1 km) within similar geologic formations and hydrogeologic regimes averaged only 1.1 mg. Average values of dissolved methane in shallow groundwater were significantly less negative for active than for nonactive sites.”
The study concluded “that greater stewardship, data, and—possibly—regulation are needed to ensure the sustainable future of shale-gas extraction and to improve public confidence in its use.”
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