Study: CO Chldren Diagnosed W. Acute Lymphocitic Lymphoma 2X Likelier To Live Near Oil & Gas Wells

[hatrack]

EDIT

The new study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, looked at medical records for more than 3,000 children born in Colorado between 1992 and 2019. The researchers found that children who were diagnosed with leukemia between the ages of two and nine were more than twice as likely to live within five kilometers — about three miles — of dense oil and gas development compared to healthy children. The study also found that Children who’d been diagnosed with leukemia during this time period were between 1.4 and 2.64 times more likely to live within 13 kilometers (about eight miles) of dense oil and gas development.

“Considering the density of oil and gas development is really important,” Lisa McKenzie, lead author of the study and associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health, told EHN. “If you were in the unusual situation of having just one oil and gas well within a kilometer of your home, that might not have increased your child’s risk for leukemia. However, we found that if you had lots and lots of wells within 13 kilometers [about eight miles] of your home, that did increase the risk for childhood leukemia.”

The study included 451 children with leukemia and 2,706 healthy children, and considered the density of oil and gas development near their homes starting at the time their mothers conceived them through the time of their diagnosis (or a similar time frame for healthy children). The researchers assessed the density of oil and gas production by looking at the number of wells present, how close they were to a child’s home, the number of new wells being drilled, and how much oil and gas was being produced at various times within three, five, and 13 kilometers of their homes.

“Children living near the densest areas of oil and gas development had the highest risk increase,” McKenzie said, “but we also found that children with leukemia were much more likely to be living within three or five kilometers of any oil and gas wells than children without leukemia.”

EDIT

https://www.dailyclimate.org/fracking-leukemia-children-2672341598.html

[intheflow]

1. I'd be really interested to see a map with the clusters.

Are they also located near the former Rocky Flats, the former Rocky Mountain Arsenal, or any of the myriad current and former military bases and training centers that have used plutonium or heavy metals over the last 80 years? For instance, I know there's a dog park on the Rocky Flats property that has resulted in a higher occurrence of canine cancer, and I also know there's been an increase of fracking around some of those sites. It could be a contributing factor in these high leukemia rates.