Episode Details

Three new studies suggest links between natural gas wells and cases of cancer, asthma and birth problems.

三项新研究表明天然气井与癌症、哮喘和出生问题之间存在联系。

Children who lived closer to natural gas wells in heavily-drilled western Pennsylvania were more likely to develop lymphoma, a rare cancer, researchers found. Nearby residents of all ages had an increased chance of severe asthma, a lung disease, and low birth weight.

研究人员发现，居住在宾夕法尼亚州西部天然气井附近的儿童更有可能患淋巴瘤，这是一种罕见的癌症。 附近所有年龄段的居民患严重哮喘、肺部疾病和低出生体重的风险都有所增加。

The University of Pittsburgh did the studies.

匹兹堡大学进行了这项研究。

The researchers found what they called strong connections between the gas industry activity called fracking and two health problems: asthma, and lymphoma in children. Lymphoma is a type of cancer less common among children.

研究人员发现，所谓的水力压裂天然气工业活动与哮喘和儿童淋巴瘤这两种健康问题之间存在着密切的联系。 淋巴瘤是一种在儿童中不太常见的癌症。

The researchers were unable to say whether the drilling caused the health problems. The studies were not designed to do that. Instead, the researchers looked at health records to try to find out possible connections based on how close people lived to natural gas wells.

研究人员无法确定钻探是否导致了健康问题。 这些研究的目的并不是为了做到这一点。 相反，研究人员查看了健康记录，试图根据人们居住地与天然气井的距离来找出可能的联系。

Gas industry groups say the studies had weaknesses, and had limited data.

天然气行业团体表示，这些研究存在缺陷，且数据有限。

In the cancer study, researchers found that children who lived within 1.6 kilometers of a gas well had five to seven times the chance of developing lymphoma com