There have been multiple news stories and personal accounts of the harmful effects of fracking.
In case this term is new to you, fracking (short for hydraulic fracturing) is a process used by the oil and natural gas industries to find untapped sources of natural gas. They do this by drilling deep into the ground, then using a high-pressure water mixture to expand rock fissures and release the gas that is stored inside. (The BBC has a great video explaining it further if you are interested.)
Unfortunately for the oil and natural gas industries though, a group of researchers from Duke University, the University of Missouri, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the Columbia Environment Research Center, have found a new downside to getting your frack on.
According to these esteemed scientists, fracking can potentially lead to issues in males such as:
- decreased sperm count
- heavier testicles
- heavier overall subject weight
- increased levels of testosterone
To discover this “weighty” outcome, these researchers identified the chemicals that can appear in fracking waste-water and then exposed pregnant mice to them. The levels of exposure were based on what the EPA has deemed “acceptable” in the wastewater and drinking water around fracking sites. The researchers used this model because this is what potential communities may face when fracking comes to them.
The male progeny of these exposed pregnant mice suffered the effects listed above from substances the scientists labeled “endocrine-disrupting chemicals.” These ball-busting chemicals are considered especially harmful because they tend to interfere with hormones within the human body, which can lead to a wide variety of adverse problems.
So if geological disruption and land use violations weren’t enough to turn you off of fracking, these heavy reproductive impacts may finally have your attention.
Featured image a combination of Pixabay and WikiCommons, both available under Creative Common licensing.
