SovietCommie
12th January 2014, 07:25
In fact, there's no evidence that exposure to fracking chemicals will change your sex or disrupt your sexual function or cause infertility, cancer, or birth defects.
The new study these stories were based on was published Dec. 16 in the journal Endocrinology. While it did find higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in water collected near the sites of fracking accidents, understanding what that means and whether you should be concerned requires a more nuanced understanding of both EDCs and fracking.
Endocrine disruptors: the basics
EDCs are substances that have the potential to affect the behavior of hormones like estrogen and insulin, and research in animals and in the lab suggest they may have a role in infertility, cancers, even obesity and diabetes. Fetuses, babies, and young children may be especially vulnerable. Some scientists also suspect that EDCs may have an effect on sexual development, though evidence of these effects in human populations is scant.
Researchers run into a big problem though when they try to link the presence of EDCs to illness: Such chemicals are known to be widespread in the environment and come from many different sources.
They've been in drinking water for more than a decade and are also in the air, our food, cosmetics, pesticides, and countless man-made materials, most famously in the common chemical BPA, which is found in many plastics, on store receipts, and in the lining of cans of food and soda. Even naturally occurring substances like some found in soy can disrupt the endocrine system.
Article: www(dot)seattlepi(dot)com/technology/businessinsider/article/Is-Fracking-Causing-Infertility-Cancer-And-Birth-5120905(dot)php
Similar article from the Huffington Post:www(dot)huffingtonpost(dot)com/2013/12/20/fracking-chemicals-cancer-study_n_4468243(dot)html
No personal comments apart from the obvious being, fracking is bad and you only have corporate greed to blame. We could all be using solar-powered and other environment (not to mention fiscally) friendly renewable resources for technology. As Karl Marx once said, "Sell a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you loose a wonderful business opportunity". I'm not sure what he meant by that or what book he wrote it in, but he basically describes the mind of the capitalist.
The new study these stories were based on was published Dec. 16 in the journal Endocrinology. While it did find higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in water collected near the sites of fracking accidents, understanding what that means and whether you should be concerned requires a more nuanced understanding of both EDCs and fracking.
Endocrine disruptors: the basics
EDCs are substances that have the potential to affect the behavior of hormones like estrogen and insulin, and research in animals and in the lab suggest they may have a role in infertility, cancers, even obesity and diabetes. Fetuses, babies, and young children may be especially vulnerable. Some scientists also suspect that EDCs may have an effect on sexual development, though evidence of these effects in human populations is scant.
Researchers run into a big problem though when they try to link the presence of EDCs to illness: Such chemicals are known to be widespread in the environment and come from many different sources.
They've been in drinking water for more than a decade and are also in the air, our food, cosmetics, pesticides, and countless man-made materials, most famously in the common chemical BPA, which is found in many plastics, on store receipts, and in the lining of cans of food and soda. Even naturally occurring substances like some found in soy can disrupt the endocrine system.
Article: www(dot)seattlepi(dot)com/technology/businessinsider/article/Is-Fracking-Causing-Infertility-Cancer-And-Birth-5120905(dot)php
Similar article from the Huffington Post:www(dot)huffingtonpost(dot)com/2013/12/20/fracking-chemicals-cancer-study_n_4468243(dot)html
No personal comments apart from the obvious being, fracking is bad and you only have corporate greed to blame. We could all be using solar-powered and other environment (not to mention fiscally) friendly renewable resources for technology. As Karl Marx once said, "Sell a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you loose a wonderful business opportunity". I'm not sure what he meant by that or what book he wrote it in, but he basically describes the mind of the capitalist.