Our country’s leaders ‘must take a hard look at the data, acknowledge the harms of drilling and fracking, and stop it before other people become ill’

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have conclusively shown that living close to fracking operations significantly increases asthma sufferers’ risks of attacks, adding urgency to the battle against fracking within the Democratic Party as it prepares to convene in Philadelphia next week.

The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, looked at 35,000 medical records in Pennsylvania from 2005 to 2012. The state has long been host to a controversial fracking boom, and many have clamored for politicians to pay attention to the industry’s irreversible damage to the land and human health.

“This study’s findings confirm what we have known for years—that fracking is an inherently hazardous process that threatens human health and safety every day. More than 17 million Americans live within a mile of a fracking site, and they are all at risk,” said Wenonah Hauter, founder and executive director of Food and Water Watch.

Indeed, this latest research joins more than 480 peer-reviewed studies that have shown increased health risks and harm from the fracking industry, noted Larysa Dyrszka, a medical doctor and co-founder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, during a press call Tuesday.

These results were thus “alarming but not surprising,” Dyrszka said.

Locally and nationwide, leaders “must take a hard look at the data, acknowledge the harms of drilling and fracking, and stop it before other people become ill,” Dyrszka added.

And so a large coalition of groups—including environmentalists, labor organizers, peace activists, protesters against nuclear power and “free trade” agreements, public health advocates, and representatives from local communities—are preparing a massive “March for a Clean Energy Revolution” to converge on the eve of the Democratic National Convention on July 24. Organizers predict that thousands will participate.

“As the national spotlight shines on Pennsylvania, it’s important to recognize that this state is one of the most fracked in the U.S. and has faced some of the most devastating impacts,” said Hauter.

And fracking is “not just a threat to the millions who live within one mile of an active well—the majority of whom are people of color,” said Karuna Jaggar, executive director of public health advocacy group Breast Cancer Action, pointing out that dangerous chemicals used in fracking seep into soil, taint water supplies, and are dispersed by the wind.

“Fracking threatens the basic necessities of life: our food, our water, our air,” Jaggar said. “For women’s health advocates and environmental activists alike, the time to act is now.”