This text is taken from the Courrier de la Planète of August 23, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
Children living within 2 km of a hydraulic fracturing site are twice as likely to develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to a study carried out in Pennsylvania and published last week.
It was suspected that the risk of contracting this type of leukaemia, which accounts for about a quarter of childhood cancer cases, was increased by contaminants released by “unconventional” oil and natural gas operations, i.e. those that use hydraulic fracturing.
However, studies on this subject have so far been “extremely few”, according to Cassandra Clark, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University’s School of Public Health in the United States, who is one of the authors of the study. new release.
“Our results indicate that exposure to unconventional oil and gas operations may be an important risk factor for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, particularly for children exposed in utero,” said Ms.me Clark, quoted in a press release.
The researchers analyzed the medical records of 2,500 children, 400 of whom were diagnosed with ALL between 2009 and 2017. They modulated the data to compensate for other factors influencing cancer risk within the sample.
While children exposed in infancy are at risk, those exposed in the womb are even more likely to develop ALL, according to the new study. Their risks are almost three times greater than those of fetuses developing more than 2 km from a well.
Hydraulic fracturing consists of injecting millions of liters of water into the ground at high pressure in order to bring out the hydrocarbons. The liquid that comes out contains dozens, if not hundreds, of chemicals, many of which have been linked to cancer.
These compounds include heavy metals, radioactive material, volatile organic compounds, including benzene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These contaminants can end up in surface water, and therefore be drunk by nearby residents, but also in the air, and therefore be breathed in.
Hydraulic fracturing has been banned in Quebec for years. However, most of the natural gas consumed in the province comes from operations in western North America using this method.