Health professionals call: ban fracking for five years
Medact, the organization of health professionals for a safer, fairer and better world, has called for a five year moratorium on fracking due to its serious hazards to public health, writes Paul Mobbs. Their new report is a powerful challenge to government policy that cannot be ignored.
The arguments against fracking on public health and ecological grounds are overwhelming. There are clear grounds for adopting the precautionary principle and prohibiting fracking.
Medact, the UK-based public health group concerned with the social and ecological determinants of health, have published their long-awaited report on the impacts of fracking upon public health.
First announced last year, following Public Health England’squestionable reportinto the impacts of shale gas, Medact’s review considers a number of existing reviews of the evidence of ‘fracking’ on public health.
Given the likely public health consequences of climate change, it also examines claim that shale gas might aid the transition towards a low carbon energy system.
The conclusion of the report, which is likely tobeget further vitriol from the UK’s pro-fracking lobby, is clear:
“On the basis of our existing knowledge, it would be both prudent and responsible to call for, at the very least, a five year moratorium on all activities related to shale gas development … “
Unlike ‘official’ bodies, Medact actually reviewed the evidence
The report reviews a number of existing studies from public health agencies, as well as a wide range of journal papers. For example:
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