Fracking chemicals suppress sperm count

From Fortune magazine:

"Researchers found that fracking chemicals damage the reproductive health of male mice.

A new study shows that chemicals associated with hydraulic fracturing, an oil and natural gas drilling technique more commonly known as fracking, have been linked with a decreased sperm count in male adulthood, according to a press release by the Endocrine Society. ...

They exposed pregnant mice to these chemicals in levels that reflect what humans likely face from wastewater and from drinking water that has been exposed to fracking fluids. When they observed the male offspring in adulthood they found that, compared to the control group, they had lower sperm counts..."

http://fortune.com/2015/10/16/new-study-connects-fracking-with-lowe...

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Permalink Reply by Dan on October 23, 2015 at 5:01am
Squinting looking for the non-existent lowers sperm count........hopefully.
Permalink Reply by David Mohn on October 23, 2015 at 8:55am

I myself am going to make the decision not to even open up and read any post started by Paul Heckbert.  That is my right.  If no one reads his post or even opens them up then the view counter will be "0".  

Like the old saying goes "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make any noise?  If no one reads Paul posts, does he make any noise???????????

Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on October 23, 2015 at 1:26pm
Good idea.

I'm doing the same from this point forward.

Good luck to all.
Permalink Reply by Barry D on October 23, 2015 at 9:06am

HEALTH ALERT!

SQUINTING MAY CAUSE LOW SPERM COUNT!

Permalink Reply by Ron D. Jockefeller on October 23, 2015 at 11:46am

The Endocrine Society is an environmental push group that is designed to kill off hydrocarbon and petrochemical use.  Their work is either wrong or irrelevant.

"What humans likely face"... why not measure actual sperm count in humans from what they have actually faced?  Could it be because there is almost no drinking water in the entire country that has been exposed to fracking fluids?

Get them to test reproductive health of birds which live around wind farms or solar panels next time.

Honestly, the state of "science" in this country is so sad.

Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on October 25, 2015 at 1:23am

"The Endocrine Society is an environmental push group that is designed to kill off hydrocarbon and petrochemical use" - huh? Is this accusation made up, like your name?

Permalink Reply by Brian Oram, PG on October 23, 2015 at 12:27pm

At least post the original link and pdf - http://press.endocrine.org/doi/pdf/10.1210/en.2015-1375

These are not drinking water exposures - but concentrated waste streams - Drinking hydraulic fracturing fluid, brine water is not good - but it is not good to drink gasoline and antifreeze.  

We set drinking water standards to limit health concerns.  We set wastewater discharge limits to decrease exposure, manage risk, etc.  

What is their next study?

Crude Oil consumption by rats may cause health concerns?

Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on October 25, 2015 at 10:03pm

Thanks for sharing the link, Brian.

The study concluded

"We report, for the first time, adverse male reproductive
health outcomes in mice (decreased epididymal sperm
counts, increased testis weights, increased serum T) after
prenatal exposure to a laboratory-created mixture of oil
and gas operation chemicals provided via drinking water
at concentrations equal to and below those detected in
industry WW [wastewater] samples"

and

"it is likely that environmentally realistic human

exposure would be in the range of 3–30 g/kg d, experimental

doses assessed in this study, suggesting that we
have appropriately captured environmentally relevant
oral exposure levels for wildlife and/or humans living in
dense-drilling regions."

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on October 25, 2015 at 11:06pm

So they approximated waste stream concentrations and then fed it to lab mice and found it may have caused problems.  Stop the presses! No one should drink direct waste water from wells!

Unbelievable that garbage like this even gets published.  Try feeding mice what comes out of your kitchen sink drain.  Or the bathroom sink.  Or what you squeeze out of your floor mop. Or the chain lubricants you use on your tricycle.  Or the chemicals in make up, hairspray, finger nail polish, paint, cleaners, your car exhaust, lawn spray, garden chemicals, tattoo ink, or hundreds of other commonly used chemicals in homes and industry.

Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on October 26, 2015 at 6:44pm

No, Jim, the researchers didn't approximate waste stream concentrations, they approximated drinking water concentrations. They said "environmentally realistic human exposure would be in the range of 3-30 ug/kg*d, suggesting that we have appropriately captured environmentally relevant oral exposure levels for wildlife and/or humans".

You suggest a comparison to kitchen chemicals, but I don't know of thousands of possibly leaky impoundment ponds in Pennsylvania each containing a million gallons of Drano, do you?

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on October 26, 2015 at 7:49pm

"Possibly" is quite the weasel word. I know there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sewer treatment plants that will 'possibly' leak toxic chemicals into the water systems of the state. And these sewers handle a lot more toxic chemicals in both variety and quantity, just about every industrial chemical possible.

"Environmentally realistic" is also quite a weasel word as it allows the researcher to determine what they believe is realistic. To date there have been only a handful of water issues and these have been re mediated. Too small a number to determine what is 'realistic.' 

Naturally occurring contaminates in water like arsenic, radon, lead, E Coli, and methane are a much bigger issue. 40-45% of water wells in Pa do not meet federal recommendations.

Permalink Reply by Jack Muth on October 23, 2015 at 3:28pm

Thats OK Paul ,  

We have too many mice anyhow..LOL

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