UCLA, USC Study: Natural Gas Flaring Increases Preterm Birth

LOS ANGELES, CA – Women who are exposed to a high level of oil and gas "flaring" events are at a 50 percent higher risk for preterm birth compared to women who are not exposed to such events, according to a new study from UCLA and USC.

Researchers defined a high level of exposure as 10 or more nightly flare events within a distance of about 3 miles of the woman's home. Flaring events are the burning off of excess natural gas at production sites.

According to the study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers examined 23,487 live single births in Texas' Eagle Ford Shale between 2012 and 2015. The Eagle Ford Shale is one of the nation's most productive oil and gas regions, according to the study.

Of the births examined, 10.6 percent were preterm, meaning they occurred before the end of the 37th week of pregnancy, according to the study. Preterm births can be associated with slow weight gain, poor feeding and immature lungs.

Women who lived within 3 miles of a larger number of oil and gas wells also had a higher risk for preterm birth than mothers who lived farther away, researchers said. The babies were born weighing 7 ounces lighter on average.

“The fact that much of the region is low income, and that approximately 50% of residents living within three miles of an oil or gas well are people of color, raises environmental justice concerns about the oil and gas boom in south Texas,” said Jill Johnston, an environmental health scientist at the USC Keck School of Medicine, who co-led the study, in a news release. “Measures to minimize flaring — such as more stringent regulation of flaring or investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures that reduce reliance on fossil fuels overall — would protect the health of infants.”