Thursday, March 22

Tiny Doses of Gas Drilling Chemicals May Have Big Health Effects

Authors of new study encourage more low-dose testing of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, with implications for the debate on natural gas drilling.


Natural gas drilling on the Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming. Credit: Richard Waite, World Resources Institute

The higher the dose, the more dangerous the toxin—that principle is the basis for most regulatory chemical testing in the United States. But a new report shows that even low doses of some toxins can be harmful, and that finding could have implications for the long-standing debate over the chemicals used in natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

The toxins surveyed in the report affect the endocrine system, which produces hormones, the small signaling molecules that control reproduction, brain development, the immune system and overall health.


Inside Climate News


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