Is fracking responsible for killing off an alarming number of livestock around the nation?
By louisehartmann
Authors of a new report looked into 24 different case studies in six different states where hydraulic fracking is taking place, to find out why livestock is getting sick and dying. Their conclusion: it’s the fracking chemicals! For example in Louisiana, the study found 17 cows that died after being exposed to spilled fracking chemicals for only one hour. In central Pennsylvania, after 140 cattle were exposed to fracking chemicals, half died. And in western Pennsylvania, after a nearby pond used by pregnant cows was contaminated with fracking chemicals, half the calves born were dead. And if this is what fracking is doing to animals, what might it be doing to people?
As the study’s author says, “[Exposed livestock] are making their way into the food system, and it’s very worrisome…They live in areas that have tested positive for air, water and soil contamination. Some of these chemicals could appear in milk and meat products made from these animals.” Several nations in Europe have already banned fracking, including France and Bulgaria, while the UK has suspended the practice. It’s time for lawmakers to come to their senses in the U.S. and put an end to toxic fracking.
Comments
#2
we're so "fracked"!
#3
I guess all this means that we're assured of plenty of natural gas for the cars in the funeral processions.
Meanwhile the Department of Energy is in the process of destroying one of our best (alternative) escape routes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p49Sq7mbpE
#4
"Fracking" itself is not the problem. Dropping an explosive down a new water-well to loosen the water-seams at the bottom is an old technique with negligible or no environmental contamination.
Rather than ritually dismiss some named well-development technique out-of-hand, those interested in this problem should focus on setting and enforcing drilling, development, leakage, inspection and enforcement standards.
Rules should be written; performance criteria set; and then manditory enforcement required (and budgeted). THAT is where the problem lies. We waste way too much effort playing slipery word-games; rather than manditory compliance.
Many industries have the expertise to meet requirements; however, it is government's responsibility to set the requirements and then require (through inspection and effective penalties) compliance. And it's the people's responsibility to demand that their needs be met rather than government serving the biggest bribe-contributor. We people must focus on effective process and results, rather than just playing one side of the talk-game.
#5
I'm against any technique, well-development or otherwise, that destroys mountains and pollutes the waterways. If ya can't fix it, don't break it.
#6
Halfonts: Fracking is not new but the way it's done today is NEW. Over 200 harmful/deadly/protected chemicals, diesel fuel is one, are used in the slurry. Add to that the 3 to 6 MILLION gallons of water per WELL that is rendered unuseable or left in the ground. The waste water is stored in shallow OPEN "holding ponds" that overflow when there is heavy rainfall--that water runs into streams and rivers and lakes. A PA case I read about and the resulting livestock deaths occurred after heavy rain had overflowed a holding pond. Well water does become unuseable and has been documented.
Fracking is very bad for the environment, does NOT move us forward in sustainable, clean energy, and renders useless our most valuable resource: WATER. Humans CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT WATER. Natural gas is a limited resource. Industry claims 100 years. Others, far more expert than me, say there are many less and that industry estimates are bloated in order to lure investors. Utica and Marcellus shale gas is being sold to Norway, Saudi Arabia, and Africa. The highest bidder will win. I say that stores will be used up in 50 years at the most.
Gas carpetbaggers are here in rural Ohio planning to lay pipeline all over, using contracts that are a joke (we refused the pipeline easement), to give "cheap" gas to rural homeowners and farmers for grain dryers. I say it's a ruse and the latest boondoggle to lure in the farmer. All those people jumped over the cliff for 70 cent gas (which in a co-op is only as low as the number of members are high and is NOT a promise), and in three to five years when the price is higher because sources are dwindling or demand is high and they all bought gas furnaces and gas water heaters and gas clothes dryers and gas stoves, they will be sorry, just like when they all bought wood burners for "free" heat and had to spend money on chain saws, trucks and trailers to haul the wood, wood spliters to split the wood, a building to store the wood, and spend ALL spring, summer, and fall pimping for wood. And when the farmers jump ship because of the high price--all those local homeowners will suffer even higher prices.
I have been following and researching fracking for 5 years--everything I've seen looks really bad for the planet and we who live here.
#7
Ok, look: we have to separate two issues here:
1. Fracking is a filthy process that poisons countless square miles of land and countless water supplies wherever it is done.
2. BUT- and this is a hugely important butt- the end product, which is natural gas, is so clean that if you burn it in your car instead of gasoline, there are almost no pollutants coming out of your car's tailpipe.
So here is my suggestion: let's just bypass or entirely ignore the first issue above, because after all, no one is fracking in my backyard, and why would I care if they do fracking in millions of other peoples' backyards? I mean, it's not like I like any of those people. I don't even know them! So why would I care what Halliburton and other fracking companies do to those people?
Besides, I chose to use natural gas to heat my house because the gas company told me that natural gas is much cleaner than oil heat. And there is no way the gas company would ever lie to me, because companies do not lie to people. I mean, if you say that companies lie to people, it just opens a whole can of worms because what if at some point in the future I decide to start a company and in order to make myself wealthy I need to lie to people about what my company is doing? This is America, for crying into my beer: It is the absolute right of every company to lie to the public.
Ok, sure, yes, Halliburton got billions of dollars worth of illegal no-bid contracts to "service" our military in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they cheated and defrauded the government out of uncounted millions- or billions, who's counting?- and gave our military sub-standard or even faulty equipment and other goods that endangered our troops. But that doesn't mean that Halliburton is doing anything bad by using fracking chemicals to kill animals and harm people. I mean, let's have a little ipso facto here if you don't mind.
And yes, Dick Cheney was the most dangerously lawbreaking vice president we have ever had, and not exactly the smartest one either, because he actually wrote a book to brag about all the crimes he committed while in office. But good lord, let's put that into perspective, shall we? I mean, it's not like Cheney shot me or anyone I know in the face. And it's not like he insulted the pig kingdom by having his long-abused human heart replaced with a pig's heart. Ok, so he tried but the pigs refused, but let's take that with a little squid pro quack, shall we?
And that proves that fracking is good for America and good for Americans. (If any republicans are reading this, would you please put in a word for me, because I would like a job writing articles to protect the interests of republicans at the expense of humanity.)
#8
When they dropped a stick of dynamite down a new water well, did they also pour in thousands of gallons of chemicals as well? If they had to comply with regulations concerning polluting the ground, water and air they probably would give up fracking for oil all together because the regulations to protect us would be too costly! As far as the people go we have seen their priority is to fill that SUV as cheaply as possible. Americans have an attention span of about 30 seconds when it concerns the planet, unless it involves their next outing or ski trip. You give the people too much credit for giving a damn about this planet we call home...As we have seen, Mr. Obama isn't much different than Mr. Romney because it might impede the accumulation of political donations from the major oil companies.
#9
Time to drink only bottled water and become a vegetarian that buys from the local organic market.
#10
So why did President Obama say no to the Keystone Pipeline? The oil in northern Alberta, Canada doesn't require any fracking. It is in sand on the surface or slightly below suface. All the land is reclaimed and put back in the same condition it was. Moving it in a pipeline is the safest why to transport it. It would replace the 900 million barrels that comes Venezuela in tankers through your Gulf to Texas. Canadian oil is safe and depenable, just ask the people in the mid west who have received ethical, safe, cheap oil from Canada for decades.
I don't know who is doing the fracking down there, we have been doing up it here for 50 years with no problems. Don't get me wrong as a Canadian the less energy you explore the more money we make. So you go Thom. Its not like Americans are going to give up there cars, plastic, paved roads, etc etc any time soon.
dowdotica, well done.
#11
Do I sense a bit of sarcasm from you about fracking? Ha! Go for it!
#12
Cheney got a pig's heart?....oh...how appropriate! Talk about big spending on pork programs.....he probably had all expenses paid by the US taxpayers.
#13
Kend - Perhaps the idea of a broken oil line that would pollute the aquifers in America’s grain belt bothered him. Or perhaps the fact that it was America taking all the risks for pumping Canadian oil to Texas that would be EXPORTED out of the country via a Texas port and the only people that would profit would be a handful of oil men and a Canadian oil company. Perhaps for once he put the interests of the American People above that of oil billionaires and Canadians. Sure it would produce some jobs for a short period of time and them what? We have seen how British Petroleum was such a good Stuart of the land and waters in the Gulf and profit wasn't there main issue. You in the land of frozen lakes would win with more jobs and we could wind up with your mess. Why not just make a pipeline through Canada to the west coast of your nation and you take the risks of polluting your environment, after all it is your oil. Canada is a foreign nation, even though you are on our border, you are not America and President Obama has started to think of what is best for us not foreigners.
#14
He did not get a pig heart. Although that would be appropriate for a pig to get a pig heart. No this war criminal received a heart transplant that should have gone to someone much younger than a dying man in his 80's. And your right the American tax payer footed the bill for this guy. There was a big stink and investigation about him getting this donor heart, but from what I read he was on a waiting list and so they had to give it to him. A new heart for a Heartless war criminal who was responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians for oil. There is not just in this World we live in.
#15
I heard that Steven Colbert got his job telling jokes as a toll booth operator...finally snagged someone with his wit and may be our next President...who knows? But I think I'll vote for Alfred E. Neuman the next time around..although Obama isn't doing so bad now. He appears to be holding out from the hot air and threats from the Rethuglicans. We'll see.
#16
I cannot begin to imagine why this country is almost always the first to try something new... and the last to admit that it's proved to be harmful to every living creature!
Oh, certainly - we can build bridges, interstate highways, tunnels, etc. and thankfully, most of them last a long time before something goes wrong, because no one wants to appropriate the funds needed to put people back to work to maintain them, so we're just wasting away from the inside-out. We can build earthquake-resistent structures that keep us safer.
But what we cannot build is a natural creature or human.
Yes... I've heard that artificial life has been created in the lab. Now I'm wondering how long it will be before we learn that this new life-form - when it escapes - will attempt to kill all the others who resemble it. Whups! There goes another bead in the food chain!
We already know that fracking is dangerous. It upsets the balance of nature all around where it's done. And in our tremendous lack of wisdom to frack better, faster, and longer, we seem to have total disregard for all that is sacred - not necessarily by church standards - but simply by the standards of decency and humanity.
Do all the people who want to make a good living and those who want to get rich, NOT care about what they're doing to all of us? Do the elite have some special elixer they ingest every morning that makes them believe that they and their loved ones will be the ones who inherit the earth after the rest of us and our children are all dead? If they think so, I feel sorry for their ignorance. No one gets out of this life alive and in tact. I don't know if these purveyors of poison will ever have to answer to any kind of judgement, but they are not the meek... and we all lose if we don't get smarter a whole lot quicker, and stop them for the sakes of all the rest of us.
#17
When I was a kid I used to wear a button that read, "Whatever it is I'm against it," not even sure why! Now in my mid fifties I think a similar button reading, "Whenever it is Big Oil I'm against it," would at least make some sense, and include fracking in sentiment.
#18
Maybe they should just build a refinery in Canada or Alaska port areas...the shipping routes to the end customers in the Far and Middle East would be much shorter. And how much more would it cost than a pipeline all the way across North America? From my understanding the aquifers in the central US are running very low levels to begin with...if there was an accidental pipeline burst it could be very damaging..or even calamitous.
Another problem that we are now seeing is an aging infrastructure in the US like gas pipelines bursting and causing horrendous, massive fires that wipes out a whole neighborhood like the one in San Bruno, Ca. Our whole infrastructure...gas, water, sewage, roads, bridges are all deteriorating and we may expect to see lots of occurrences like the I-35w bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007 during rush hour that killed 13 and injured 145. I even drove across that bridge, myself, just before that happened. I climbed Mt. Etna in Sicily just a month before it blew it's top (can't blame PG&E for that one though) in March of 1968 (there were scientists camped out at the top taking measurements). I rode on the Singapore Cable Car connecting Singapore to the island of Sentosa in December of 1982..just before the January 1983 accident of a drilling rig vessel snagging the cables killing 7 people. The name is Blond....James Blond! ;-} Now I just stay at home and travel the world with Google Earth...so much safer that way....unless my gas line ruptures. But now I'm told not to drink the water and an earthquake could happen any moment.
#19
How about a link to the report? I'd like to see the details. I'm sure we are all aware of how hear-say details take on a life of their own. Even so, looks like there'll be some positive advertising with Matt Damon's new movie.
- Mike
#20
The entire new energy independence meme due to the fracking method is just another tool being used by the Banking Cartel to gain total control of our ground water. Find a problem, make it worse then offer a solution that would be rejected before the new problem of polluted water. We will see the price of drinking water approach that of oil in the future. When will Americans reject having their country destroyed by the bankers, and send them where they belong? Which is unmentionable! To kill a snake, cut off its head!
#21
"Deadly Superbugs Invade U.S. Healthcare Facilities"
"Deadly Bacteria That Defy Drugs Of Last Resort"
4 days ago
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/29/bacteria-deadly-hos...
If giant hurricanes don't get us...if nuclear wars don't annihilate us..if a giant asteroid doesn't smash into the earth..the little bacteria and viruses and errant proteins like what causes Mad Cow Disease will get us in the end.
Can you imagine the scenario....millions of people who can't afford health care insurance or the exorbitant medical costs who will all stay home (or go shopping--well... hanging out at the malls anyway) and avoid going for a doctor's visit? What a fantastic setup for a world-wide disaster that could wipe out mankind. All because some selfish rich people insist on rigging the game so that they win and everyone else loses. But even they will lose in the end.
#22
First of all they already agreed to go around the aquifers. We already have a pipeline to the west coast and are going to build a second one to ship oil to India and China since you guys don't want it. The fact is most of the oil companies up here are American owned. I live in a city of a million people and there is $80,000 Americans here working for oil companies. The fact is oil companies are public companies, teachers unions, fire and police etc own them. I don't understand why you hate them they bring you many things in life you enjoy.
#23
Warning! The following remark is graphic in nature and if you are squeamish and/or easily offended then I suggest you don't read any further.
I partially cut of the head of a rattle snake just a couple of months ago. I then picked it up and carried it some distance all the while feeling the snake's body wiggling all around in my hand. It was a pretty big one about 3" in diameter. Ordinarily, I would not have wanted to kill it but as I was visiting a relative who had children that played in that area...I had to get rid of it.
I suspect that if we cut the head off of our most meddlesome and dangerous snake...that it would writhe around for some time but at least we will be safe from being bitten by it.
But, until they find something better than the drug resistant super bugs it is all just a matter of time. The world has gone through periods of disasters caused by the super bugs of their time...the plague, polio, etc. We were lucky to have found cures...but millions died before that....and all the literature I've read ..even from the CDC.. isn't very reassuring that we will find a cure this time.
#24
"A new heart for a Heartless war criminal who was responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians for oil. There is no just(ice) in this World we live in."
So true!
#25
To rich for my wallet...
I can barely afford Non-Organic food; Hot House Tomatos cost 2.99/ lb. That is for about 2-3 tomatos, Bell Peppers $1.99 each. Organic food cost 3 times that of non organic. Same issue with organic meat (beef, pork, chicken...about $2.00-$3.00 more per pound than the stuff pumped full of crap.
As for buying local...It is always best. However we need to strive to kill the trendiness, which in effect keeps prices high. Here where I live (SW FL.) they have several Farmers Markets that are open early on Saturday mornings and a couple of times a week for a few hours. Unfortunatly instead of it being a means for affordable locally grown organic produce it's awash in a sea of smelly Prius drivin' Hippies with their $10.00 hemp grocery bags.
Occassionally I come across a small road side stand selling fresh inexpensive fruit and vegitables...But they are few and far between.
As for those plastic bottles of water...They don't help in reducing our smelly foot print.
...something tells me though that you are being facetious.
As for modern fracking techneques and the adverse side affects...Just another enviromental issue that no one is truely wanting to accept accountability for. Sounds simmilar to the BIG OIL BARRONS.
#26
Here's the study:
http://baywood.metapress.com/media/4h8ac83jtjdjwp4crvv3/contributions/6/...
Scary...read it before they pull it.
#27
One of the things I noticed in that study says that some other testing results has been buried and inaccessible through non-disclosure agreements that the Fracking companies get land owners to sign (probably either before the land owners realize the health hazards upon initially agreeing to the drilling...or later when the companies buy them off with promises of buying their land or other carrots). Another way of hiding the testing results has been experienced through a complicit (with the fracking companies) government putting up barriers to a full FOIA disclosure.
Ever notice how often you are given an agreement to sign (eg: before seeing a doctor..or just about any other business deal) that says, effectively, that you agree to give up your right to sue in a court of law, and that you must agree to an alternative dispute resolution/mediation? And the mediator is selected by the other guy..the business? How fair do you think that mediator will be when the business does the selecting? The cards are stacked against us from the beginning in just about everything. So what are we going to do when we need a doctor (or whatever)? Refuse to sign? They'll refuse service. And they all require you to agree to it so we have no other recourse but to sign or do without...at their mercy.
#28
Yes there are many bi-products of oil and they do make life easier. But that does not mean we should trust the Corporations with our wellbeing and believe they actually care about the environment and mankind in general. Their bottom line is profit, period. And they have shown they cannot be trusted with the environment and the wellbeing of mankind. Americans have had to give up property rights to the oil companies through eminent domain laws and that sucks. It does not make me feel any better that they are American oil companies involved in Canada, they cannot be trusted either. We have seem how multi-national companies like Shell and Chevron have shown very little concern with the environment where they could bribe the government officials. Africa is a good example of the ruthlessness of these big oil firms. Here in California we have continually turned down the oil companies request to drill off the coast because they have proven in the past not to be good Stuarts of the environment. The oil line from Canada through the U.S. does nothing to enhance the standard of living in America, especially since the oil is not for U.S. consumption. The difference in our views is simple, you’re a conservative and I am a liberal socialist and historically we just see things differently on almost every subject.
#29
Thanks for pointing out my spelling error! I need to use the spell checker more often.
#30
I pay the difference not because I can afford it, but because I do not trust the supermarkets and their growers! I only eat chicken so it is less costly to buy organically fed...I should go straight vegetarian, but I cannot break from BBQ chicken! The weather lets us BBQ 95% of the time…love California weather!
#31
I was aghast after watching the HBO documentary "Gasland"...where they showed people actually setting their tap water on fire with matches.
Thanks for the heads up on the new Matt Damon movie "Promised Land". It is supposed to open in theaters on Dec. 28, 2012 but other sources say the release date will be Jan 4, 2013. But it looks like the gas industries are already trying to stop the movie from opening...or at least trying to do a big PR job against the movie even before it starts. They may be handing out Pro-Fracking pamphlets or leaflets to theater goers on opening day. They also have a so-called "truth-squad" (propaganda campaign) on social media...Twitter and Facebook to convince people that they shouldn't watch the movie or, at least, get you to believe that the movie is an untruth. If you meet these people handing out leaflets...just tell them to shove their fracking leaflets up their nose. But remember, usually these people are just lowly paid temporary employees paid at minimum compensation. Maybe..just pity them and move on to the movie.
#32
I guess it depends on to whom you talk. Ask the Kochs or the lawyer who setup the 401C3 called ALEC if ALEC is an education charity. Only if you use poetic license instead of sound reason, in my opinion. Personally, if the 99% had a charity fund I think it could set up a New Years Party where some of that fracking food could be served. The Guests? Mr.(s) Rove, Norquist, Koch, and Koch. I wonder if they'd eat it as a steady diet? But, the EPA doesn't allow such testing on "people"; maybe invite ALEC; then again, the Supremes have said that word "people"!
#33
All of these federal agencies that used to protect the America we love. in the last 20 yrs dont do anything but protect foreign corporations? (EPA--FDA--FBI--and on and on)
we pay over a trillion dollars on their salaries and all the ridiculous programs they want.
#34
start growing your own! buy a big freezer and buy beef//chicken//pork from a local farmer--i have started to do it. A little more elbow grease but when you feed your family or gr/kids you know its safe. Government entities wont protect you (EPA--FDA) BECAUSE THEY ARE CONTROLLED BY POLITICIANS THAT ARE BOUGHT AND PAYED FOR BY FOREIGN CORPORATIONS!
#35
There is little we can do about it but write our reps. and the Pres. Not that it'll get anything done. They are owned by the Banks and Energy Co,s.
#36
got C-dif?
#37
FIrst HalFonts - let's define our terms. Fracking as understood by the general public is everything from the time a drill pad is built through the process of the gas spewing through the pipes. Unfortunately, the drilling industry prefers a narrower definition. The industry defines fracking as the moment of explosion - that's the "frack". Nothing before or after that is fracking.
Secondly - age old technique with negligible or no environmental contamination? Vertical-low volume-low pressure fracking has been done for a number of years, and yes there have have been cases of environmental contamination from it. However, what is being practiced now it HIGH-VOLUME SLICK-WATER HORIZONTAL FRACKING. This is a process developed in the past 10 years - not ages ago. A typical "frack" in Pennsylvania requires 5-7 MILLION gallons of water, and approx 0.9% chemicals - using the lower figure of 5 million gallons of water this works out to about 48,000 gallons of chemicals. Most of the chemicals are not being disclosed due to "trade secret" - so we don't know all that we are being exposed to through our water/air.
There were "rules" which would have provided some oversight of the process, however BUSH-CHENEY's Energy committee exempted the natural gas industry from most of them. The only one which still applies is banning the use of diesel fuel in fracking - but it's still being used in many places.
Setting and enforcing the regulations/standards? Michael Krancer, Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) thinks his job is to keep the EPA out of Pennsylvania. At his appointment ceremony, he said "at the end of the day, my job is get the gas done". In Pennsylvania we refer to the DEP as the Department of Energy Protection.
Do your research - don't give me industry soundbites. I have, extensively for the past 3 years.
#38
Bloomberg news ran this article today: Frack Secrets by Thousands Keep U.S. Clueless on Wells | By Ben Elgin, Benjamin Haas & Phil Kuntz – Nov 30, 2012
Briefly, the article states drilling companies are to disclose the chemicals used in fracking, yet drilling companies did not disclose 1/5th of the chemicals. Why? Drilling companies claim these “non-disclosed” chemicals are trade secrets, proprietary and therefore exempt from disclosure.
more---> http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2012/11/30/fracunfocused/
#39
It is odd that, in light of the fact that oil and gas companies are able to get away with poisoning us, that all other companies in the U.S. must post MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) at all company locations that use hazardous chemicals and other materials in order to inform the workers what they may be exposed to. Canada has it's WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Information System) that was passed unde the Hazardous Products Act and Controlled Products Regulations. "Both the MSDS and WHMIS requirements are also enforced by provicial Ministries or Departments of Labour"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_safety_data_sheet
So, how is it that these gas and oil companies can get away with avoiding these laws under the banner of "proprietary"?
I wonder if Zyklon B was "proprietary"? Of course it was. Nazis are Nazis whether decades ago in Germany or in the U.S. today. And now, instead of a genocide it is more of a classicide. And Zyklon B has been replaced with a variety of carcinogenic substances. They don't even need to erect gas chambers. And the maladies that result can only be adequately tended to by giving the lower classes a choice of expensive medical attention that they can't afford, or starvation...one of the other but not both. And many people cannot afford either. But you lose either way in many instances. Frogs in a boiling pot of water. Hey man can't you turn up the heat in that jacuzzi another notch? That is fine for those frogs that have the ability to jump out before boiling but most frogs are stuck in a broken and corrupt system. And there are no real choices for them. They will eventually find that they are boiling to death.
And it is starting to look like, were you unable to pay through the nose for healthcare insurance and you try to pay cash for a doctor, they will take your money but avoid effectively responding with necessary tests or prescriptions. They will just keep telling you to set up yet another appointment a month or so later...ad infinitum. They'll milk you for all the cash you have left...and not provide you the healthcare you paid for.
In fact, you may even have expensive healthcare and you may still be getting the run-around from these doctors. And there is even the big chance that the healthScare insurance company will try to say that your malady was caused by a pre-existing condition. You paid all those expensive monthy premiums and then when you finally strike it big and you need an expensive operation you think "Thank Zod I have healthcare insurance"! But then you get the whopping bill that the insurance company won't pay for because their bean counters dug back into your history and found some insignificant gotcha that they can use to refuse covering the costs of your present expensive operation. It's a racket! Both the medical and the insurance companies are rackets!
If these companies can get away with poisoning us then all the other companies that make everything from toothpaste to, well...everything else...can hide the fact that they are using carcinogens in their products and exposing people to risks of causing cancer or other illnesses?
Maybe it would come down to, as with Material Safety Data Sheets warning workers of the dangers of exposure to carcinogens that are known to cause cancer, you can always quit the job and find a job that doesn't use carcinogens. Yeah, right! We either work and risk getting cancer or we don't eat and starve.
And what pressure does our government put on these companies to actually protect people by forcing them to not expose people to dangerous chemicals and materials?
Aside from requiring companies to put up safety posters like the MSDS posters that tell you, the employee, that the chemicals are listed somewhere in an MSDS book that the supervisors have at their desks....what do they really do, anymore, to protect people from the greedy capitalist pigs who are more than willing to sacrifice the workers (or the consumers and public) so that they can maximize their profits?
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http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2012/12/03/mit-joint-frackademia/
MIT tested 4,000 new wells that were less than 10 days old...Alas, new wells are not what vents fugitive methane. http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2012/12/03/mit-frackademics/
The former pipeline executive who spoke on condition of anonymity laughed when asked about first responders finding leaks. “This unodorized gas can soak into the ground around the pipeline. You can’t see it, smell it, taste it. And then boom! http://www.fwweekly.com/2012/11/28/what-runs-beneath/