Fracking Out to Pasture

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Fracking Out to Pasture

If you think the United States government protects the food supply raised and harvested near sites of hydraulic fracking, think again.
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If you think the United States government protects the food supply raised and harvested near sites of hydraulic fracking—the fracturing process through which oil and natural gas is extracted from deep within shale rock deposits—think again. In 2009, Michelle Bamberger, a veterinarian, and Professor Robert Oswald, of Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, became worried about this lack of oversight, and their 2012 report confirmed that their concern was warranted.

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The International Energy Agency has said that, thanks to the domestic energy boom, the United States is projected to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer by 2020.

Bamberger and Oswald interviewed farmers in several states whose livestock had fallen victim to unusual gastrointestinal, reproductive, and neurological problems. Their report is the only peer-reviewed study on fracking and illness in farm animals.

Millions of acres of American land have been leased to gas companies for hydraulic fracking, and landowners are getting rich on the royalties.

"The USDA and the FDA should be monitoring for chemical contamination, but neither is doing so," Bamberger said.

In a March 2015 follow-up study, Bamberger and Oswald confirmed their initial findings. The respiratory and growth problems of animals raised near fracking sites they'd first studied were worse.

Federal action is still necessary, Bamberger said. "The most important action to lessen the impact of fracking is to leave most of the remaining fossil fuels in the ground and place a carbon tax on the use of fossil fuels."

This article appears in the March issue of VICE Magazine.