Dr. Susan Nagel's research indicates that natural gas drilling operations may result in elevated endocrine-disrupting chemical activity in surface and ground water. Her presentation included 1) EDC activity in surface and ground water, 2) EDC activity of chemicals, and 3) review of the scientific literature providing evidence that adult and early life exposure to chemicals associated with oil and gas operations can result in adverse reproductive health and developmental effects in humans. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [including benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene (BTEX) and formaldehyde] and heavy metals (including arsenic, cadmium and lead) are just a few of the known contributors to reduced water quality that pose a threat to human developmental and reproductive health.
Featured Speaker
Susan Nagel, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. She specializes in the role of natural estrogen hormones in development, reproduction, and disease, as well as effects of synthetic estrogenic chemicals, such as bisphenol A and diethylstilbestrol, on human and animal development. She has also published research on hormone receptor activities of hydraulic fracturing chemicals and surface and ground water in an area heavily impacted by natural gas development.
This half-hour teleconference call is one in a monthly series sponsored by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s EDC Strategies Group.The CHE EDC Strategies Group is chaired by Carol Kwiatkowski (TEDX), Sharyle Patton (Commonweal), and Genon Jensen (HEAL). To see a full list of past calls in the series and listen to the MP3 recordings please visit the CHE Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals webpage.