By S. Tom Bond, Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV
First one must identify the set of symptoms that keep showing up. For example: breathing problems, asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD); headaches and confusion; rashes; nose bleeds; stress by light, noise and forced change in lifestyle. You must recognize susceptibility varies among individuals as described above, especially for a fetus. And one must think about whether it may be a chronic low dose or an acute dose.
Symptoms indicate a target organ (or organs). Liver is a common one, since it is the body's detoxifying organ. Another is the kidney, because it has a high blood flow. Skin, sensory, breathing and energy processes (phosphorylation) are other common systems attacked by toxins.
At this point The investigator can begin to look at how the toxin/s are delivered: water for drinking, cooking, bathing, or from evaporation; from air to surface or by breathing. This is significantly affected by activity, heavy work, sleeping, indoor or outdoor. Since no one would consider exposing people to these diseases, most information derives from industrial experience, thus there is no child studies on the effect of silica on children, although there is a great deal of work on silicosis in mature individuals.
Case studies are needed for comparison and they are slow and expensive. There is a 1-10% chance of interaction when two toxins are present. One example is the blood-brain barrier. Some compounds won't pass unless there is also a solvent present. When you have 30 or more, it is almost sure some interaction will occur, but it is almost impossible to study because of complexity of so many possible interactions.
With airborne contaminants, particle size also makes a difference, fine particles get into the lungs, and coarse particles may be carried into the house on clothes or shoes, to be inhaled or ingested there by persons not directly exposed. Workers should leave shoes outside as a precautionary tactic.
The problem may not be caused by what goes down with fracking water, but what comes back up with it. Inorganic arsenic ions attack metabolism. Dissolved barium ions effect the cardiovascular system. Fluoride ions from shale rock may be concentrated enough to effect the body at the cellular level. Radium is also soluble, and it decomposes into radon.
Some toxins can interfere with the body’s use of medicines.
The attending physician must look for repetition, must follow a list of possible effects and must ask if the individual lives near drilling or other potential sources of contamination, such as compressor stations.
The prospect is bleak for the unfortunate individual who is affected, for the physician and for the researcher. None can expect much help from either the state government or the national government. Each is left to thrash around in the darkness on his own.
To which I add, "And must bear the insult of being called a malingerer or a profiteer" by the industry and, frequently by government, as well.
At this point The investigator can begin to look at how the toxin/s are delivered: water for drinking, cooking, bathing, or from evaporation; from air to surface or by breathing. This is significantly affected by activity, heavy work, sleeping, indoor or outdoor. Since no one would consider exposing people to these diseases, most information derives from industrial experience, thus there is no child studies on the effect of silica on children, although there is a great deal of work on silicosis in mature individuals.
Case studies are needed for comparison and they are slow and expensive. There is a 1-10% chance of interaction when two toxins are present. One example is the blood-brain barrier. Some compounds won't pass unless there is also a solvent present. When you have 30 or more, it is almost sure some interaction will occur, but it is almost impossible to study because of complexity of so many possible interactions.
With airborne contaminants, particle size also makes a difference, fine particles get into the lungs, and coarse particles may be carried into the house on clothes or shoes, to be inhaled or ingested there by persons not directly exposed. Workers should leave shoes outside as a precautionary tactic.
The problem may not be caused by what goes down with fracking water, but what comes back up with it. Inorganic arsenic ions attack metabolism. Dissolved barium ions effect the cardiovascular system. Fluoride ions from shale rock may be concentrated enough to effect the body at the cellular level. Radium is also soluble, and it decomposes into radon.
Some toxins can interfere with the body’s use of medicines.
The attending physician must look for repetition, must follow a list of possible effects and must ask if the individual lives near drilling or other potential sources of contamination, such as compressor stations.
The prospect is bleak for the unfortunate individual who is affected, for the physician and for the researcher. None can expect much help from either the state government or the national government. Each is left to thrash around in the darkness on his own.
To which I add, "And must bear the insult of being called a malingerer or a profiteer" by the industry and, frequently by government, as well.
