Health Professionals for Phasing Out Fracking
As health professionals, you hold a pivotal role in safeguarding the wellbeing of Colorado’s population. The extraction of oil and gas significantly contributes to climate change, presenting a considerable threat to the world our patients and future generations will inherit.
Despite the oil and gas industry representing a minor part of Colorado’s economy, it creates an outsized environmental and public health impact. Children near oil and gas wells are 5-7 times more likely to develop lymphoma. People with breathing difficulties living nearby are more likely to have severe asthma reactions. Fracking is also linked to low birth weight and a host of other health issues.
As health professionals, you are in an influential position to advocate for policies that ensure a healthier, more sustainable future for our patients. This is why your backing of a ballot initiative to phase out fracking after 2030 in Colorado is so crucial.
Quotes from health professionals supporting the ballot initiative
Barbara Donachy
Physicians for Social Responsibility Colorado
“Study after study has shown the association between fracking operations and negative health outcomes. Many of those outcomes impact our children such as worsening asthma symptoms, increased risk of congenital heart and neural tube defects, higher risk pregnancies, and acute lymphocytic leukemia. For the rest of us additionally neurological, urological, and skin-related problems, high blood pressure, and depression. The Clean Air Task Force estimates some 32,000 summertime asthma attack inn children under 18 due to ozone smog resulting from oil and gas production. As I write this, Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Florida. The climate crisis is around us. We need to do everything we can to reduce GHG emissions. That’s why I support this initiative.”
Heidi Warner
“Phasing out fracking is important for the future health our our planet and those who inhabit it. Moving towards more environmentally friendly sources of energy will be beneficial for us and for generations to come.”
Sharon Montes MD
Physicians for Social Responsibility Colorado
“As a family physician who has served in community health for over 30 years and spent 16 years teaching in medical schools, I write to support the Safe and Healthy Colorado Ballot Initiative to phase out fracking in Colorado.
While as a health care provider, I can speak to the adverse health effects of contamination of air, water, and soil to our citizens, the foundation of this request is economic. Although the oil and gas industry does a GREAT job marketing the short-term economic contributions to the state economy, they deliberately don’t speak to the unseen economic cost – loss of work days, decreased mental, emotional, and physical health and productivity, increased health care costs, cost to tourism for poor air quality. (This month we had the dubious honor of being rated the 4th worst air quality in the world.)
Let us use our capacity for leadership to leave an environment that will support the health of current and future generations.”
John Hedberg, MD
“This initiative is necessary to move Colorado toward a healthier future for all of us, while not leaving behind those who work in the industry.”