Research highlighting the potential impacts of fracking on livestock and farmers’ health need to be taken seriously, says Andrew Wasley
The announcement this week by the gas company Cuadrilla that it wants to drill and frack up to eight new wells in Lancashire has alarmed local people and green campaigners alike; they are worried about the impact of hydraulic fracturing – the controversial technique which involves injecting, at high pressure, a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the earth to release shale gas – on the area’s countryside and wider environment.
Despite this, few concerns have so far been raised about the potential implications for farming and food production, whether in Lancashire or beyond. But farmers, and indeed all of us, should be very worried indeed; alarming research has linked fracking to illnesses in livestock and raised concerns about food safety.
As I reported for The Ecologist and The…
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