WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health conducted a study that established a connection between fracking and cancer-causing chemicals, which includes some that are known to cause childhood leukemia and lymphoma.
"[Wolf] has not made one statement on any of the studies that I’m aware of," PAF founding member Karen Feridun told Sputnik on Wednesday. "The governor has blinders on."
The advocacy group noted in a release that 685 studies conducted in Pennsylvania have linked asthma attacks, migraines, fatigue and chronic nasal and sinus problems to fracking.
"Governor Wolf has ignored them all. But the clear next steps laid out in the Yale study demand his attention," the release stated.
More than 8,500 Pennsylvania children go to school within half a mile of drilling activities, according to the release. Moreover, about 58,000 children attend school a mile away from drilling activities and nearly 132,000 children attend school two miles away from drilling activities, the release added.
The PAF is consequently calling for Wolf to halt fracking in Pennsylvania amid the hundreds of research studies that link health concerns to fracking, and especially as they relate to children.
Pennsylvania ranks second in gas production in the United States and about 9,700 unconventional wells have been built in the state since 2004.