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By Tom Saunders, B.A. / B.S. Bill of Attainder Project E.D.C.s stands for Endocrine Disruption Chemicals. They include poisons like dioxin, or Agent Orange, and recent studies show they are a concern in regard to Gas Fracking.
The University of Missouri just submitted to the Endocrine Society’s "Journal of Endocrinology" a study confirming that the process of Gas Fracking produced and releases dangerous Endocrine Disruption Chemicals. The study revealed both estrogen and androgen receptor activities caused by E.D.C.s. Contamination was measured at well sites, and the Colorado River. Contamination levels varied. (Nagel: Univ. of Mo.) This study, and another done by The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, Inc. (TEDX), has also recently documented health effects of chemicals used in 435 fracturing products. Many of them are carcinogens before they are mixed together with other chemicals in the fracking process. There are variations of the fracking process which is used to extract oil, gas, and thermal heat. "Over the last three years, researchers have assessed more than 700 chemicals that could be used in the fracking process and estimated that about 100 are known or suspected E.D.C.s." (Banergee, N.Y. Times) "Among the cancer-causing and environmental toxins mixed into fracking fluid are acrylamide, benzene, naphthalene, ethyl-benzene, toluene, and xylene. In addition, the deep-earth contaminants brought to the surface in wastewater include arsenic, lead, chromium, barium, and strontium (plus radium-226 and other radioactive materials). A 2011 scientific analysis of 632 chemicals used in natural gas operations found that 25 percent can cause cancer; 37 percent can disrupt the endocrine system; more than 40 percent can affect the brain (as well as nervous, immune, and cardiovascular systems); and more than 75 percent can impair the eyes, intestines, and respiratory system." An EPA study confirms that dioxin mixtures can be produced by mixing chlorinated benzenes. The heat and pressure in the fracking process could significantly contribute even more to the proper chemical environment to produce these poisons from separate and different compounds. This includes those substances already in the ground and those added to it during the fracking process. "Chemical Manufacturing/Processing Sources: Dioxin-like compounds can be formed as by-products from the manufacture of chlorine and such chlorinated compounds as chlorinated phenols, PCBs, ‘phenoxy’ herbicides, chlorinated benzenes, chlorinated aliphatic compounds, chlorinated catalysts, and halogenated di-phenyl ethers. Although the manufacture of many chlorinated phenolic intermediates and products, as well as PCBs, was terminated in the late 1970s in the United States, the continued limited use and disposal of these compounds can result in releases of CDDs, CDFs, and PCBs to the environment." One of the most dramatic effects of dioxin or E.D.C. poisoning is Mekong Syndrome which gets its name from the Mekong River in Viet Nam where Vietnamese were contaminated during the Viet Nam war. Agent Orange exposure destroyed the future gene pools of anyone exposed, and people are still being contaminated from the approximate six pounds per person dropped on them during the war. (Jeanne Mirer, and Margery Cohn) Birth defects are common and dramatic from E.D.C.s, and the defects increase in intensity per each consecutive generation. This same syndrome is experienced by Viet Nam Veterans, including myself. It can take years for any symptoms to show but this is how you tell if you have been exposed. People react differently to exposure. After a point more poison does not poison you any more than whatever you’re critical exposure rate happens to be. Unlike arsenic which has also been found at fracking sites, more poison does not increase and escalate symptoms. Contamination and absorption rates can vary from one person to the other. E.D.C.’s are known to cause breast and prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and diabetes. E.DC.’s causes chromosomal damage, infertility, birth defects, (Mekong Syndrome), asthma, obesity, strokes, heart disease, chloracne, peripheral neuropathy, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson's diseases. This list is essentially the same as to the known cause and effects of Agent Orange victims recorded over the years by the Agent Orange Registry. |
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