The fracking debate has grown significantly in recent months as gas producers tout the benefits of domestic energy and improved economics. Environmental and health advocates argue that the financial benefits are dwarfed by serious short- and long-term health and environmental effects. Now, doctors in attendance at a conference on fracking are speaking out.

The doctors are calling for fracking moratorium in populated locations while the health effects of the process are better understood, said Bloomberg News. Pediatrician, Jerome Paulson, from George Washington University School of Medicine, has called for gas producers to create a foundation to fund fracking research, noting that independent research is needed, as well, wrote Bloomberg News. “We’ve got to push the pause button, and maybe we’ve got to push the stop button” on fracking, said Adam Law, an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medical College, who was speaking in an interview at the conference, Bloomberg News said.

While last year saw an increase in production, which brought with it an increase in supplies and a drop in prices of 32 percent, industry has been a bit closed mouth about the chemicals it uses in fracking, said Paulson, who expressed concerns over contaminated drinking water supplies and asked for peer-reviewed research on the effects of fracking, wrote Bloomberg News.

“We need to understand fully all of the chemicals that are shot into the ground, that could impact the water that children drink,” said Representative Ed Markey (Massachusetts), a senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, in a telephone interview with Bloomberg News. Industry is attempting “to block that information from being public,” he added, wrote Bloomberg News.

The hazards linked to fracking chemicals are not fully known. “We don’t know the chemicals that are involved, really; we sort of generally know,” said Vikas Kapil, chief medical officer at National Center for Environmental Health, an arm of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the conference. “We don’t have a great handle on the toxicology of fracking chemicals,” he added, said Bloomberg News.

Kapil noted that the government discovered anecdotal proof that fracking can cause contamination of water supplies and, noted that, in December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported some of Pavillion, Wyoming’s underground aquifers and drinking wells contained compounds that likely came from fracking, such as glycols, alcohols, benzene and methane. Kapil also said that the CDC detected “explosive levels of methane” in two wells near Medina, Ohio drilling locations, wrote Bloomberg News.

Meanwhile, NewsInferno recently wrote that U.S. Geological Survey experts and other seismologists directly linked recent earthquake activity in Ohio and Oklahoma to nearby fracking activities. The epicenters of the Ohio quakes are not located in seismic areas and Geological Survey said that fracking activities there were bound to result in earthquakes.

The dumps, discovered by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), have contaminated groundwater and soil. At the same time, some members of Congress are seeking more leniency on federal oversight of toxic coal ash pollution cleanup and are asking that authority be eliminated that currently ensures compliance with significant standards. The 20 new sites identified in the report are:

• Illinois (7): Dallman Power Station, Joliet Station, Joppa Plant, Meredosia Power Station, Pearl Station, Powerton Station, and Waukegan Station.
• South Carolina (3): Cross Station, McMeekin Station, and Winyah Station.
• Iowa (2): Fair Station and Prairie Creek Generating Station.
• Texas (2): Coleto Creek Station and W.A. Parish Station.
• Florida (1): Plant Crist.
• Georgia (1): Plant Yates.
• Indiana (1): Soil at an urban rail trail in Bloomington.
• Kentucky (1): Paradise Fossil Plant.
• Nevada (1): North Valmy Station.
• Tennessee: (1) Allen Fossil Plant.

Of these, 19 have groundwater contaminated with arsenic or other toxic metals that exceed at least one Safe Drinking Water Act Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) and other standards. Arsenic was measured above the MCL of 10 parts per billion (PPB) at 14 sites, with concentrations exceeding 10 times the standard at the Winyah, Meredosia, Parish, and North Valmy. Lead, chromium, or selenium exceeded standards by multiple times in groundwater at several sites including at McMeekin, Plant Yates, Fair Station, Coleto, and Parish Stations. All 19 sites with water contamination had measured concentrations of toxic pollutants other than arsenic and other primary drinking water metals, including boron, molybdenum, manganese, and nickel; all above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended limits. Some pollutants were many times over permissible levels: Manganese was 203 times the lifetime health advisory at Paradise Station, molybdenum was 21 times the lifetime health advisory at Parish Station, and boron was more than 12 times the child health advisory at Prairie Creek Station and 10 times more at Meredosia Station.

Since just last year, the EIP also identified 90 coal ash ponds and landfills with groundwater contamination that have been ignored in EPA reports and another Indiana site has contaminated soil along a rail trail with arsenic 900 times the federal screening levels for site cleanups.

Jeff Stant, director, Coal Combustion Waste Initiative, Environmental Integrity Project, that “The 67 cases of coal ash water contamination identified by the EPA and the additional body 90 toxic sites found by EIP all point to one clear conclusion: Those in Congress who think this threat to groundwater and drinking water should go unmonitored, unpoliced, and unaddressed are dead wrong. We already have here a clear and present danger to America’s public health; it is no solution for Congress to hand authority for addressing the problem permanently to states that have refused to enforce common-sense standards for the past 30 years and hope that the whole problem then somehow goes away.”

The EIP released a letter to Congress signed by thousands of residents who live in 27 states and near coal ash dump sites in which the residents are, essentially, begging for appropriate federal oversight.

The Insurance Journal explained that researchers utilized MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) testing to review cardiovascular risk in Ground Zero first responders.

The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate cardiovascular risk of WTC first responders. The data obtained was just presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011, which took place in Orlando, Florida. Findings reveal increased impairment in cardiac relaxation and coronary calcification in the Ground Zero group versus the population at large, said the Insurance Journal. This impairment was seen specifically in responders exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero in the first two days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“Using noninvasive MRI imaging, we were able to see a significant impact of the events of 9/11 on the cardiovascular health of the brave men and women who responded that day,” said Zahi Fayad, director of Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s translational and molecular imaging institute, the Insurance Journal wrote. “Now that we have visualized the risk and early development of vascular lesions, in a subset of subjects, we look forward to studying the use of imaging in the greater patient population,” Fayad added.

The study was conducted by researchers at Mount Sinai who have been reviewing cardiovascular health in Ground Zero first responders since 2007. The team evaluated the blood vessels of 19 responders exposed to high levels of particulate matter from the World Trade Center dust cloud; 12 responders exposed to lower particulate matter levels were also studied, said the Insurance Journal.

A recent Bloomberg News report stated that the 31 participants were considered fairly young, healthy, of an average age of 46, and part of a 2,500-person sub-set being followed since the terrorist attacks. Mary Ann McLaughlin, associate professor of medicine, is the study’s lead investigator.

. Of those studied, 19 high-exposure workers suffered from significantly worse endothelial dysfunction, a condition in which the membrane that lines the inside of heart and blood vessels works improperly, versus later responders, according to the study and a Mount Sinai press release. MRI scans revealed that patients with the most intense exposure revealed cholesterol plaques in their blood, indicating signs of increased blood vessel growth.

“This study defines physiologic change associated with greater exposure to the dust cloud at the WTC site,” said McLaughlin. “We are currently evaluating other predictors of cardiovascular risk in this population to gain a better understanding of the impact of particulate matter exposure on cardiovascular health,” reported the Insurance Journal.

The revisions to the proposed rules are meant to direct natural gas activities in the watershed area, said Philly.com, and were presented in a very “technical” 100-page document that, in essence, will allow 300 wells to be drilled pending a reassessment 18 months later. The rules seek increased water monitoring, restrictions on water use, and remediation funding. All sides agreed on one thing: The rules, such as they are, are far too complex to immediately assess, said Philly.com.

A vote is scheduled at a November 21 special meeting. If passed, the rules become effective 60 days later, enabling drillers to initiate the application process that would start the first production of wells in the Delaware River Basin, Philly.com noted.

Environmentalists are very worried, saying the commission did not permit a public comment period on the revisions and never conducted an environmental impact study prior to regulation development. Industry representative, Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, was happy the commission was moving forward, but was concerned that it was not clear what would be mandated under those plans and that “it remains unclear how timely permits may be processed,” Philly.com reported.

Some see long-term legal problems. For instance, Jeffrey Featherstone, professor of community and regional planning at Temple University who is also a former deputy executive director at the commission, said, “It’s a complicated document. I’d be shocked if there weren’t lawsuits as soon as the commission takes action,” noting that the financial remediation rules for water consumption are “pretty big numbers…. There’s some money at stake here,” according to Philly.com.

Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum disagrees with the plan. “Once you open up our basin to drilling, you have opened it up to drilling, whether you talk about 300 wells in an 18 month period or more, you’ve put us on the slippery slope,” she said, wrote MidHudsonNews. “You can’t drink money and you can’t eat money. You need water. You need healthy food. You need clean air to breathe.” Wes Gillingham, program director for Catskill Mountainkeeper agreed. “The Upper Delaware River is a nationally recognized ecological treasure and because of its pristine nature is able to provide clean drinking water for millions of people. Now we have the DRBC proposing how to trash it,” MidHudsonNews reported.

The DRBC “should not vote on fracking regulations that threaten this irreplaceable water supply in the absence of the environmental review it was required to conduct and without allowing citizens to weigh in on its last minute revisions to those regulations,” Kate Hudson, Riverkeeper Watershed program director, pointed out, according to the MidHudsonNews.

Natural gas extraction involves the process of hydraulic fracturing—fracking—in which fracking fluids are injected into the ground at high pressure to shake gas and oil deposits loose. Among many other issues, a loophole in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act has enabled energy companies to keep confidential the chemicals used in the fluids; however, studies have shown the fluids often contain some hazardous chemicals, including the carcinogen, benzene, and diesel.

Fracking opponents have long been concerned that fracking could lead to pollution of vital drinking water sources and, while industry promotes the notion of domestic resource reliance and increased employment and economic healing, environmentalists point to a growing list of devastation including serious human, animal, aquatic, and atmospheric health issues; destruction of natural and residential habitats; decimation of critical infrastructures; and myriad issues with water supplies that run the gamut from contamination to flammable drinking water. Recently, reports have been on the rise linking fracking to earthquakes and increased seismic activity in locations worldwide.

The rules will likely be presented in “a couple of months” and might become final the following year, according to David Hayes, the Interior Department’s deputy secretary, wrote Businessweek. The Department is seeking “full disclosure of the chemicals used in the hydraulic-fracturing process, with necessary provisions related to” trade secrets, said Hayes at a meeting of the Department of Energy’s shale-gas advisory panel, added Businessweek. For instance, to protect against leaks, a key change would be, said Hayes, “Extending existing well-bore integrity standards to the hydraulic-fracturing phase of development” as well as, “extending existing water-management requirements” to discharges when fracturing is completed.

Fracking—also known as hydraulic fracturing—involves shooting a chemical concoction that also contains water and sand, at high speeds into shale rock to fracture those formations and release the gas within. According to Businessweek, fracking is used for most—90%–of the wells drilled on public lands, said Robert Abbey, director of the Department’s Land Management department.

“Oil and natural-gas exploration and development in the U.S. onshore are essential for our nation’s economy and energy security,” Andadarko Petroleum Corporations’ John Christiansen said, wrote Businessweek. “We continue to work openly with the Department of the Interior as it evaluates rules for public lands.” Anadarko has agreed to minimize air pollution in Utah from its gas production activities there and also publicizes the ingredients it uses in its fracking fluids via an online registry, said Christiansen. That website is run by the multi-state-run association, Ground Water Protection Council, and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a multi-state government panel.

The Department is also looking into if frackers should provide details on fracking fluids prior to or post fracking, said Hayes. “We also want to ensure that any chemicals used comply with all relevant local, state and federal laws,” he added. “So we are considering a certification requirement in that regard,” Businessweek reported.

This summer, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified cell phone radiation as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

The Biggest Health Check, an online Australian survey of over 30,000 women, also revealed that an additional 21% of those answering the survey were seeking to cut their future cell phone use, said The Daily Telegraph.

University of Sydney oncologist Bruce Armstrong also believes that the devices are linked to brain tumors and has urged women to limit device use to texting or to rely on landlines. “The fact that women are either cutting down on their mobile phone use or planning to cut down on their mobile phone use is quite consistent with that advice,” Professor Armstrong said. “It just indicates that people are seeing this as a risk,” he added, reported The Daily Telegraph.

The survey, which was conducted by Women’s Health and Prevention in collaboration with the television show, Sunrise, and with Priceline stores, was released exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, said The Daily Telegraph. Survey responses revealed that women seeking to improve their health and lifestyles sought to decrease, among other things, their cell phone use, especially after learning of the recent research.

An increasing number of studies are pointing to a possible link between cell phones and cancer. For example, recently esearch out of Finland revealed that the electromagnetic field emitted by Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) cell phones suppresses glucose metabolism in the human brain. GSM is the world’s most popular cell phone technology and is used by about 80 percent of the world; glucose metabolism is a marker of brain activity, explained NewsInferno.

Earlier this year, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a study that revealed that about 50 minutes of cell phone use was linked to increased brain glucose metabolism in the brain region nearest the phone antenna. That study was one of the first, and, certainly, the most prominent, to offer science linking cell phones to brain metabolism reactions.

According to a report from The Buffalo News, the new laws should crush U.S. Energy Development Corp. of Getzville’s plans to sink five test wells at the park, a plan announced two years ago. The driller claims it had subsurface mineral rights underneath a 2,800-acre area of the park known as the Red House section.

Allegany State Park differs from other parks in New York because the private ownership of subsurface oil and gas rights were kept nearly 100 years ago when the state acquired the park. But, because the first of the two new bills states that oil and gas claims not actively used in the past two decades are rendered “extinguished,” the rights revert back to the state, reported The Buffalo News.

The second bill signed by the governor gives New York state parks departments expanded authority over efforts to explore or drill in the Allegany State Park and, if these activities are undertaken, they must “be undertaken with the strictest possible oversight,” according to The Buffalo News.

The new legislation comes just as New Yok is preparing to open most of its Marcellus shale region to fracking. The Marcellus shale is a formation rich in natural gas. To access this gas from the shale, drillers hydraulically fracture, or frack. Fracking is a drilling technique in which water, sand, and a cocktail of chemicals is injected deep underground to break up the gas-bearing rock, explained NewsInferno.

Some environmental experts argue that the process of hydraulic fracturing enables methane to move into water wells, contaminating drinking water and the environment.

The state’s moratorium on natural gas drilling by high-volume, horizontal fracking expired on July 1. Also on July 1, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued a report that recommended the process be permitted on most of New York State’s private lands.. The only exception is the environmentally sensitive watersheds that supply New York City and Syracuse with drinking water.

Most recently, the DEC issued a revised draft of proposed fracking regulations that says that, if adopted, 85% of New York’s Marcellus Shale will become accessible to natural gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing, said NewsInferno.

The DEC and Governor Cuomo have faced much disapproval over proposals to bring the environmentally controversial process to New York State.

PET measurements were taken on 13 young, healthy males who were exposed to the GSM signal for 33 minutes each, explained Science Daily. The study confirmed that glucose metabolism in the temporoparietal and anterior temporal areas of the brain hemisphere closest to the device’s antenna becomes suppressed by GSM mobile telephone electromagenetic fields, said Science Daily.

The study, initiated by Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN) at University of Turku, was described as methodologically unique in that it used both proficiency in brain imaging via the National PET-Center and CCN; measurements and modeling of radiation via the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Finland, STUK; and measurements of skin temperature taken by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, TTL, noted Science Daily.

And, while definitive health risk conclusions could not be made, the study does indicate another way in which cell phones affect the brain. Study results appear in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.

Recently, writing that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified cell phone radiation as potentially carcinogenic to humans based on its review of hundreds of human and animal studies, including the the well-known 2010 INTERPHONE study. That study revealed that the heaviest cell phone users—those using a device for at least 30 minutes daily—experienced a 40 percent increased risk for gliomas, the most commonly diagnosed type of brain tumor. About 13,000 people from around the world were involved in the Interphone Study.

While much research on cell phone radiation effects has not been conclusive, experts generally agree that more research is needed. Especially given that newer research has found links between the devices and other adverse reactions, such as decreased sperm quality and motility and male fertility.

Environmental Health News points out that emerging research has revealed issues with the chemicals used in tattoo inks, such as some known endocrine or hormonal disrupters, some with dangerous toxic and heavy metals, and one that is a serious skin carcinogen. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has initiated a probe into tattoo ink safety.

With more than 45 million Americans, about 36 percent of people in their late 20s, donning at least one tattoo, concern is justified surrounding phthalates, heavy metals, carcinogenic hydrocarbons, and endocrine disrupters that are, essentially, injected, said Environmental Health News, citing data from the FDA and a Harris Interactive Poll.

Tattooing has long been known to lead to allergic reactions, rashes, chronic skin problems, infection, and inflammation when exposed to the sun, according to Elizabeth Tanzi, co-director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. The new study suggest the chemicals involved might be the actual culprits and also raises issues concerning longer-term risks, including cancer.

For instance, black tattoo ink contains benzo(a)pyrene, a strong carcinogen and dibutyl phthalate, a plasticizer. “The substances found in the inks might be partially responsible for adverse skin reactions to tattoos,” wrote the dermatologists from Germany’s University of Regensburg, said Environmental Health News. Inks also contain phthalates, known endocrine disrupters, that can mimic estrogen or interrupt testosterone, said Environmental Health News. Phthalates feminize the reproductive tract in boys and are linked to sperm defects and changed thyroid hormones.

Heavy metals—for instance, lead—can have negative impacts to reproductive and nervous systems and were found in tattoo inks along with lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and titanium. Some pigments, described as industrial grade, are “suitable for printers’ ink or automobile paint,” according to an FDA fact sheet said Environmental Health News. Black tattoo inks are typically made from soot, which contains combustion products called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), according to scientists. PAH is a considered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “among the most potent and well-documented skin carcinogens,” often used in testing to grow tumors.

For instance, in the Appalachians, appropriate dental care and education are basically nonexistent, said Wise Geek, leaving many there with bad dental hygiene that is aggravated with residents’ consumption of foods and drinks that contain high amounts of sugar. Dentists working in Appalachian areas are calling severe cases of tooth decay caused by sugared sodas “Mountain Dew Mouth,” said Wise Geek.

Mountain Dew soda contains the highest caffeine levels of any soft drink and, to cover up the bitter caffeine taste, the soda’s formula calls for increased sugar or high fructose corn syrup, said Wise Geek. It also seems that children and teens in Appalachia tend to buy large bottles of Mountain Dew, drinking the sugary beverage throughout the day, which is, essentially, creating a sugar bath in the mouth over the course of the day, said Wise Geek.

According to NewsInferno, one report revealed that a 12-ounce can of Mountain Dew contains about 11.5 teaspoons of sugar and that a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew is about the same as taking one-half of a tablet of NoDoz.

At least one dentist in the area is addressing the problem in the eastern Kentucky area of the Appalachians. ABC News said that PepsiCo is now looking to work with Dr. Edwin Smith after its news report on the matter.

Smith told ABC News about how dental neglect has impacted the communities he treats, discussing teens pulling their teeth with pliers to stop mouth pain, parents putting the soda in baby bottles, toddlers with about one dozen cavities in their baby teeth, and children in too much pain to brush their teeth. ABC News noted that the highly sugary, very acidic drink acts as a sort of anti-depressant.

NewsInferno points out that the high levels of caffeine render the soda addictive and note that Mountain Dew is readily available in Appalachian communities and Mountain Dew Mouth victims are drinking much more than just a 12-ounce can of the soda daily. Dentists, said NewsInferno, told ABC News that the children in Appalachia are addicted to Mountain Dew.