CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICIANS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

RESPONSES TO THE ARGUMENTS OF THE HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

INDUSTRY

January 14, 2019

We recently toured the Gaspé Peninsula to inform the population and elected officials of the
significant health and environmental risks posed by the hydraulic fracturing industry. The
industry has responded. And some written comments sent to journalists are either completely
false or very imprecise

The representative of the Association Pétrolière et Gazière du Québec (APGQ) mentioned that
134 studies do not report significant health risks. However, these studies are generally not listed
when we use serious medical search engines. These are small publications, often produced in
the first decades of industrial activity, when there was very little hindsight on its health impacts.
They are often the work of groups of non-physicians. These are often'expert opinions', and often
work financed by the gas industry itself. There are multiple and very serious biases here. The
medical community does not consider them, because their methodology is in many cases very
poor. Most recently, in 2018, an extremely comprehensive review of the subject was conducted.
This review clearly demonstrates that hydraulic fracturing poses significant risks both to human
health and to air and water quality (1).

All public health specialists now estimate that there are only a dozen large and well-done
epidemiological studies on the subject (what the APGQ calls "secondary" studies, a rather
disparaging term). Unfortunately, this reflects a manifest ignorance of the many health
problems caused by industry. These major studies are all less than 10 years old. Ten of the
twelve studies carried out since 2013 confirm the worrying associations between the gas
industry and several health problems: Increase in embryonic, developmental, pulmonary,
cardiac, neurological, oncological, endocrine, dermatological, etc. And the closer people live to
wells, the more important these problems are.

The Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ) studied this question in 2013. At the
time, she felt that she simply did not have enough data to make a decision on the risks
associated with fracturing. That is why we believe that it is urgent that the INSPQ look again at
this issue.

With regard to the list of chemical elements used, it is absolutely false to say that they are fully
disclosed. The current regulatory framework does not require industry to disclose all chemicals
used in fracture fluids. In the'Fracfocus' portal in British Columbia, there is only a very partial list
of products that may be used. The industry mentions that the fluids have been analyzed by the
Government of Quebec's Strategic Environmental Study. Indeed, this study revealed several
worrying elements. Let us simply mention here the brine, which was too radioactive to be
spread on the roads.

With regard to toxicity, it should also be noted that according to a systematic review in 2016, we
have no data on 75% of the compounds in terms of reproductive risk and fetal development.
Similarly, while it has been shown that several dozen products are carcinogenic, we have no
data on the carcinogenicity of 75% of the products used by the industry. As for BTEX, they are
basic compounds of natural gas, it is almost impossible not to find them. The only study
conducted in this field in Canada on this issue is a pilot study that demonstrates the presence of
a benzene metabolite in the urine and various trace metals in the hair of pregnant women living
near wells. Benzene metabolite levels were 3.5 to 6 times higher than in unexposed women,
which is very significant. I would therefore invite industry representatives to read carefully the
work of Dr. Élyse Caron Beaudoin of the Université de Montréal.

On the social impact side, the main argument of companies to illustrate their positive side in a
community is to say that companies will give from $500,000.00 to $1M to cities that have
accepted drilling. What a reductive vision of a social impact! Unfortunately, a whole series of
negative impacts are ignored and have been the subject of numerous publications (air and
water pollution, land destruction, community tensions, stress, economic inequalities, increased
accidents, various forms of violence).

On the environmental side, groundwater contamination is a problem that has been reported
time and again and that no one can deny. As for earthquakes, their frequency is sometimes such
that it forced companies to stop drilling in the United States a few years ago. When the rock is
fractured, no one can predict its precise impacts. Canadian and American geologists have clearly
established the clear causal link between fracturing and earthquakes.

The argument of zero emission natural gas is rather misleading: natural gas would have an
ecological footprint equal to that of solar or wind energy? Such an argument is simply not
serious. A major study by MIT and the Department of Energy in the US estimated that the
industry's fugitive emissions alone are sufficient to offset all the benefits falsely claimed by the
industry. In fact, it is generally accepted by scientists who do not work for industry that
hydraulic fracturing releases 30% more methane than conventional gas exploitation. There is an
urgent need to consider the contribution of industry to GHG emissions, as global warming is the
most important public health issue we face today.

In conclusion, we believe that a generic BAPE for the entire hydraulic fracturing industry must
absolutely take place in early 2019, before companies decide to resume drilling. A BAPE is
indeed the ideal place to hear comments from individuals, organizations, and industry
interested in the issue.

We remain available to answer any questions that organizations or individuals interested in the
hydraulic fracturing industry and health risks may have.

Dr. Éric Notebaert MD MSc

Vice President, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)

Coordinator, Quebec Chapter, ACME

REFERENCE : 1. Compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings demonstrating risks and
harms of fracking (unconvemtional gas and oil extraction). 5th Edition. March 2018. Concerned
Health Professionals of New York – Physicians for Social Responsibility.