I’ve Heard that Hydraulic Fracturing is Linked to Cancer. Is that True?

The best available science shows that hydraulic fracturing does not have an impact on cancer rates. A 2013 peer-reviewed study - Childhood Cancer Incidence in Pennsylvania Counties – found that childhood cancer rates were not elevated in areas with hydraulic fracturing.

A 2012 Associate Press article reported, “David Risser, an epidemiologist with the Texas Cancer Registry, said in an email that researchers checked state health data and found no evidence of an increase in the counties where [a cancer] spike supposedly occurred. And Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a major cancer advocacy group based in Dallas, said it sees no evidence of a spike, either.”

A 2012 Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment case study found that emissions of benzene were well below levels that could threaten public health.