Lower birth weight associated with proximity of mother's home to gas wells

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-06/uops-lbw060115.php

Public Release: 3-Jun-2015
University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences

Pregnant women living close to a high density of natural gas wells drilled with hydraulic fracturing were more likely to have babies with lower birth weights than women living farther from such wells, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis of southwestern Pennsylvania birth records.

The finding does not prove that the proximity to the wells caused the lower birth weights, but it is a concerning association that warrants further investigation, the researchers concluded. The study was funded by The Heinz Endowments and published in the current issue of PLOS ONE.

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