[rad-green] "Nationwide Fracking Ban Would Be Invaluable for Human Health": Physicians for Social Responsibility Applauds 1st Proposed Nationwide Ban on Fracking

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/02/03/nationwide-fracking-ban-would-be-invaluable-human-health-physicians-social

For Immediate Release
Monday, February 3, 2020
Organization Profile:
Physicians for Social Responsibility
<https://www.commondreams.org/organization/physicians-social-responsibility>
Contact:

Barbara Gottlieb, Environment and Health Program Director, Physicians for
Social Responsibility, (202) 587-5225





"A Nationwide Fracking Ban Would Be Invaluable for Human Health":
Physicians for Social Responsibility Applauds First Proposed Nationwide Ban
on Fracking

WASHINGTON - Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) applauded the first
legislative proposal for a nationwide ban on fracking for natural gas and
related operations, including extraction, processing, transport and export.
The proposed bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Bernie Sanders
(D-VT), would greatly benefit health and the climate, the national
physician-led organization stated.

In light of the bill’s announcement, PSR released the following comment:

“Physicians for Social Responsibility applauds the introduction of
legislation for a comprehensive fracking ban. A nationwide fracking ban
would be invaluable for human health,” said Barbara Gottlieb, Environment
and Health Program Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility.

“Fracking harms human health, contaminates huge amounts of water, and
pollutes the air. It exposes local communities to chemicals known to be
toxic to humans and animals.

“Scientific studies
<https://www.psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/compendium-6.pdf> have
documented high levels of serious health impacts among people who live near
active fracking sites.  Studies have found that living near active fracking
wells is associated with increased rates of hospitalization for cardiac,
neurological, urological and cancer-related issues.  Studies have also
linked proximity to active fracking to premature birth, low birth weight
and congenital heart defects.

“Recent investigations have even documented that fracking wastewater can be
 radioactive
<https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/oil-gas-fracking-radioactive-investigation-937389/>,
especially in the Marcellus Shale. Yet we have seen fracking wastewater
trucked through communities, used as irrigation water, and even spread as a
de-icer on roads.

“It’s not only local communities who are at risk. All of us are endangered,
because when fracked gas leaks into the atmosphere, it accelerates climate
change.  And gas leaks into the atmosphere at every step of the way, from
the well sites to the processing equipment to the pipelines to the
distribution lines that carry gas to our homes.  Fracking is speeding up
the climate change juggernaut even as we hurtle towards the cliff.

“PSR and our colleagues in Concerned Health Professionals of New York have
highlighted the scientific evidence of fracking’s harm to health in the
encyclopedic fracking science Compendium
<https://www.psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/compendium-6.pdf>. Based on
the evidence, PSR has supported a total ban on fracking for years and would
welcome making that ban nationwide.”
###
Physicians for Social Responsibility is a non-profit advocacy organization
that is the medical and public health voice for policies to prevent nuclear
war and proliferation and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and
toxic degradation of the environment.

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