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 Bonnie Carol Hornbaker on October 30, 2015 at 10:41am

I think I said we need to each be concerned.  I did not say we should be contaminating our rivers.  I think if you read through what I said, it was opposite.  

I do know from a legal standpoint the many plagues of our water concerns.  Fracking is far from the top.  Wastewater treatment is the problem.  Adding and subtracting all the chemicals may make the water not stink but look at the chemistry.  All ones needs to do is look at the Great Lakes or any river leading from them to see the disaster.  Our water supply is not better than it was years ago.  Take a test on your own water supply, or of the Ohio River.  Not relying on tests that are available to you.  These are very misleading.  Our water supply is actually worse than it was 50-100 years ago. Do a drug test on the water supply that most cities around the Great Lakes use.

I live in Delaware, Ohio and any day of the week one can go to the Water Treatment Plant and smell raw sewage.  Ours rates well considering many other towns and cities.

I agree cataminating our rivers is not the way we should poison our future.

Permalink Reply by Bonnie Carol Hornbaker on November 1, 2015 at 10:15am

M.A.B. & Paul,

The following is a small portion of copied legal information.

Pharmaceutical contaminants can cause ecological impacts. USGS scientists found that antidepressants discharged to streams by WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS,  are taken up into the bodies of fish living downstream of sewage plants . Researchers  found that shrimp exposed to the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) radically alter their behavior, endangering their own survival. Exposure to pharmaceutical compounds containing hormones has been linked to sex mutations. For instance, in one study, female fish developed male genital organs, sex ratios were skewed in some aquatic populations, and bass produced cells for both sperm and eggs. Other documented effects of pharmaceutical exposure include kidney failure in vultures, impaired reproduction in mussels, and inhibited growth in algae.

I could list hundreds of hazards that are well documented in legal files.  These are only a few.

These are documented from legal cases against Water Treatment Plants.  40% of adults take at least 4 prescriptions per day.  This ultimately ends up in our drinking water.  Dental offices, labs, hospitals, even pour these down the drain in huge volume. Even exposure bathing and showering, swimming, causes us to receive them.  

If you have ever listened to drug ads on TV you know all the risks, "things will be said such as, "if you have ever had or have a history of...........do not take this drug."

We are all exposed to these drugs, many of them in ones of us that have these risks that are mentioned yet we get them in our water.  Water Treatment plants have the capacity to remove more of them but do not because of cost.

Fracking is near the bottom of the list of hazards to our water.

Permalink Reply by M.A.B. on November 9, 2015 at 5:01am

Yes Bonnie, poop stinks, thanks for clearing the air on that. Blaming wastewater plants for drugs in waterways is like blaming your sneakers for sidewalk pollution because you stepped in some else's dog do do. Invest more money in treatment plants, add more chemicals to get out the chemicals, raise rates every year so someone can be upset about that. I'm sure DEP will impose more unfunded mandates someday to curb the problems you bring up, like the millions our small town has payed out for several years for combined sewer overflows (which is not a bad thing) but someone has to pay for it. Trashing WWTP's is not fair to those of us who take our jobs very seriously and professionally. You make it sound like we are doing more harm than good when that is the furthest from the truth. Our WWTP doesn't add any chemicals other than chlorine for lowering pathogenic bacterial counts before discharging.

Permalink Reply by craig on November 8, 2015 at 12:24pm

"The evidence that drinking water gets contaminated sometimes by gas drilling and fracking is growing."

And yet there is no link and most likely won't be, unless there was a surface spill.

You are jumping the gun once again with your sensationalist posts.

Permalink Reply by Mark Duncan on October 29, 2015 at 11:31am
If a person moves away from all this drilling could they grow bigger testicles?
Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on October 29, 2015 at 11:53am
Caution.

That too may be problematic.
Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on October 29, 2015 at 6:04pm

We need strong regulation of the gas industry.

As a demonstration of the value of regulation, we can look back at what difference the Clean Air Act has made, for example. It is estimated that residents of Weirton WV live about 4 years longer because of the Clean Air Act:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/upshot/the-connection-between-cle...

Permalink Reply by rmc on October 29, 2015 at 11:37pm
Problem Paul is I believe any sensible person would agree it is that the desire is to regulate these companies out of business or at least make it expensive enougth that renewables are competitive.
Permalink Reply by paleface on October 30, 2015 at 12:16am

 People stopped smoking cigarette's that's why there living longer.

Permalink Reply by MJ on October 30, 2015 at 2:05am

Well said rmc.  Renewables have a very long way to go to become economically viable.  Not many antis understand this.  Govt grants are endless as long as we keep paying out taxes...

Permalink Reply by rmc on October 30, 2015 at 6:21am
More like as long as we can afford to borrow more money!!!!!
Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on October 30, 2015 at 8:44am

The truth is that renewable power is becoming more competitive every day, around the world. Iceland is about 85% renewable and Germany is about 20%. Travel to Japan and you'll be surprised at how many solar panels you see.

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