LAFAYETTE LIBRARY MEETING - Levels of Volatile Organic Compounds In Our Blood

fracking
#1

Please reply with comments inspired by the discussion at the Lafayette Library on Levels of Volatile Organic Compounds in Our Blood. We will preserve this thread for the public to review in a permanent archive so please be thoughtful with your comments and provide facts, documents, and links whenever possible.

Individuals with ongoing health concerns are encouraged to contact OGHIR by phone (303) 389-1687 or online www.colorado.gov/oghealth, and post them here so that the public can get a sense of the enormity of this problem.

This is a companion discussion topic for the live-streamed meeting at the library. We preserve this discussion for thoughtful comments to be discussed after the meeting is done.
INDEX: Archived videos and agendas for Lafayette Town Meetings
#2

East Boulder County United hosts Dr. John Hughes in a presentation on the levels of VOCs in human subjects living adjacent to oil and gas drilling.

In 2013, Dr. John Hughes of Aspen Integrative Health tested the blood of 10 Carbondale residents for a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with gas drilling, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. He originally planned to re-test some of the individuals later, and see what happened if drilling took place in the Thompson Divide.

Hughes compared Carbondale residents’ results with blood samples from 10 residents of Erie. He found high levels of the carcinogen ethylbenzene in the blood of nine of the 11 Erie subjects; none of the Carbondale subjects showed high levels of ethylbenzene. In an article in the Aspen Times, Dr. Hughes stated: “The EPA has a standard for benzene of 5 parts per billion (ppb), and the highest levels that I found in the Erie patients’ blood was 118.5 ppb.”