Fracking Boom Accompanied by Rise of Silent, Deadly Carcinogen in Homes: Study

[Judi Lynn]

Published on Thursday, April 09, 2015

by Common Dreams

Fracking Boom Accompanied by Rise of Silent, Deadly Carcinogen in Homes: Study

New study contradicts finding released earlier this year by Pennsylvania's DEP which said radon levels were nothing to worry about

by Jon Queally, staff writer

Researchers in Pennsylvania have discovered that the prevalence of radon, a radioactive and carcinogenic gas, in people's homes and commercial buildings that are nearer to fracking sites has increased dramatically in the state since the unconventional and controversial gas drilling practice began in the state just over a decade ago.

Both odorless and tasteless, radon is a naturally-occurring gas released from bedrock minerals beneath the ground and is found in millions of homes across the country. However, in a study published Thursday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, scientists compared the results of state-wide radon testing in Pennsylvania to find a significant correlation between unusually high levels of the deadly gas in some buildings (mostly residential homes) and the proliferation of fracking in certain areas of the state.

As State Impact Pennsylvania, the state's NPR affiliate, reports:

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University analyzed radon readings taken in some 860,000 buildings, mostly homes, from 1989 to 2013 and found that those in rural and suburban areas where most shale gas wells are located had a concentration of the cancer-causing radioactive gas that was 39 percent higher overall than those in urban areas.

It also found that buildings using well water had a 21 percent higher concentration of radon than those served by municipal water systems.

And it showed radon levels in active gas-drilling counties rose significantly starting in 2004 when the state’s fracking boom began.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/09/fracking-boom-accompanied-rise-silent-deadly-carcinogen-homes-study

[immoderate]

1. Hard to believe the 39% increase they cite makes the difference between lethal and benign dosage...

--imm

[FBaggins]

2. I also don't see a compelling theory connecting the two

Fracking wouldn't increase the production of radon (a decay product of uranium and thorium deposits)... and radon already works its way up through the ground. Fracking hundreds/thousands of feet down wouldn't seem to provide new access to homes across the region. The expected increase would be right around the wellheads (or in the natural gas production itself). Testing those would be far more useful than trying to correlate radon levels in homes and businesses in areas where more fracking occurs. Why not do that?

One correction though - Radon is by far the largest contributor to the natural (background) dose of radiation that most people receive. While that risk individually it pretty small, it is still thought to cause a couple thousand deaths a year. A 39% increase wouldn't be the difference between "lethal and benign" for an individual, but it is significant.

Having said that, radon remediation is relatively simple in most cases and while the cost (a couple thousand per home - give or take) would be a burden on many homeowners, this might encourage more testing (and thus more people who know to remediate)... and would be easy for the frackers to pay if we determined that there was a link.