Public invited to meeting on health studies
A public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 5, in Canonsburg to update residents of Southwestern Pennsylvania on a pair of studies that were green-lighted in 2019 by Gov. Tom Wolf to explore potential health impacts, including childhood cancer, of the natural gas industry.
Wolf took the action following months of pleas by the families of children affected by rare cancers in heavily drilled Southwestern Pennsylvania.
In recent years, dozens of cases of Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer with only 250 diagnoses nationwide each year, and other childhood and adult cancers have been documented in Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties.
Wolf allocated $3 million to the Pennsylvania Department of Health for the studies, which the University of Pittsburgh has been conducting for the past two years.
The Center for Coalfield Justice, an environmental nonprofit organization, is hosting the panel discussion, and researchers from Pitt, along with representatives from the DOH, have been invited to attend to update the community on the status of the studies.
Results of the University of Pittsburgh study will not be available at the meeting, but the public will have the opportunity to ask questions and to learn about the process of the study.
Researchers from the Environmental Health Project will also attend.
As part of its study, Pitt is exploring how exposure to environmental risk factors, such as unconventional natural gas development activities, is possibly linked to childhood cancers.
Dr. Evelyn Talbott, professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health and director of the Environmental Epidemiology section and a native of Washington County, is leading that study.
This week, as part of the study, Pitt is mailing a letter to thousands of residents in Southwestern Pennsylvania who qualify, asking them to participate as members of a “control group” – parents of healthy children – in a 15-minute online survey.
The control group will be compared to a case group of children with cancer.
Participants will receive a $15 gift card for completing the survey, while at the same time helping the community find out if fracking is posing a cancer risk to Southwestern Pennsylvania children, or if the cases were random coincidence.
The Oct. 5 meeting will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Yoney Pavilion in Town Park. Those who can’t attend will be able to attend virtually.
People are asked to register in advance. To register, and for additional information and to submit questions ahead of time, visit the link, https://secure.everyaction.com/qLXO2p_7C0uyKwJJ_e3Iag2?ms=fb.