Dead babies near oil drilling sites raise questions for researchers

[n2doc]

VERNAL, Utah — The smartphone-sized grave marker is nearly hidden in the grass at Rock Point Cemetery. The name printed on plastic-coated paper — Beau Murphy — has been worn away. Only the span of his life remains.

"June 18, 2013 - June 18, 2013"

For some reason, one that is not known and may never be, Beau and a dozen other infants died in this oil-booming basin last year. Was this spike a fluke? Bad luck? Or were these babies victims of air pollution fed by the nearly 12,000 oil and gas wells in one of the most energy-rich areas in the country?

Some scientists whose research focuses on the effect of certain drilling-related chemicals on fetal development believe there could be a link.

But just raising that possibility raises the ire of many who live in and around Vernal. Drilling has been an economic driver and part of the fabric of life here since the 1940s. And if all that energy development means the Uintah Basin has a particularly nasty problem with pollution, so be it, many residents say. Don't blame drilling for baby deaths that obituaries indicate were six times higher than the national average last year.

more

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26800380/dead-babies-near-oil-drilling-sites-raise-questions

Her numbers show an upward four-year trend in infant deaths: One in every 95.5 burials in Uintah County in 2010 was a baby, according to Young. In 2011 it was one in every 53. In 2012, one in every 39.7. And in 2013 the number jumped to one in every 15.

[snooper2]

1. I think she should do better research than just reading obituaries

"Dr. Karl Breitenbach, a physician who has done deliveries and prenatal and newborn care in Vernal for 27 years, was the only Vernal physician who responded to requests for comment. He said he has reviewed data through 2012 and hasn't seen any increase in baby deaths.

"I am unwilling to speculate until I see some proof that there actually is an increased rate of infant morbidity or mortality," he said in an e-mail."


"For now, infant deaths have dropped back to average. Residents are reluctant to talk about the infant-death issue. Many are focusing on a future that is filled with expanded fossil-fuel prospects. Nearly 85 percent of Vernal residents indicated in a recent survey that they welcome oil shale development."

[packman]

4. His comments on fossil-fuel

and oil shale development sounds like he is incapable of making an objective analysis of the situation. He sounds prejudicial in favor of the fossil folk .

[MineralMan]

2. Based on the death of that infant, it appears to be either a

stillbirth or a problem that was not survivable. The baby died the same day it was born.

I can't see that as evidence of anything. It happens.

[antiquie]

3. They are concerned with fetal development.

I question the use of obits and percentages of deaths when Utah posts vital records online. If there is a provable correlation, I think actual statistics would have been cited.

[MineralMan]

5. As usual there's a focus on trying to demonstrate causation

but there doesn't appear to be any information regarding that. Mere death statistics are pretty useless for this. They need to start digging into actual causes of death.