The Marcellus Shale Coalition questions the findings of a new study suggesting a possible link between fracking wells and asthma. In a report released Monday, researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said an analysis of medical records from Geisinger Health System, from 2005 to 2012, showed that asthma patients living near bigger or larger number of fracking wells, were 1.5 to 4 times likely to have asthma attacks.
In a statement, the Marcellus Shale Coalition said the study lacked basic comparative research and baselining. The coalition said the authors failed to provide data from 8 years or so, prior to shale development in the region. MSC said, given that lack of comparative research,”no on can say definitively if an uptick in respiratory related issues occurred during the period they reviewed or if issues remained flat or declined relative to previous years, prior to shale development.”