The research question:
Where have oil & gas exposures occurred across California over time?
Background: The process of extracting oil and gas with underground wells can release chemicals that may cause cancer, interfere with the body’s hormones, interfere with the body’s reproductive system, and affect human development. Within the United States, oil fields are often situated near where people live, work, and play; 18 million people live within a mile of an oil or gas well.1 Although there is research on the how specific chemicals released from oil and gas production harm health, there is still a need for state-wide investigation into how living near an oil or gas wells affects a person’s health.
Meet the researchers: Jill Johnston, PhD is an Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC). Her research focuses on exposures and health outcomes among marginalized populations impacted by industrial pollution and burdened by multiple social and economic stressors.
Rima Habre, ScD is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC), where she specializes in how environmental exposures, particularly air pollution, climate change, and social stressors impact the health of vulnerable populations across the life course.
The research team also included Dr. Yan Xu, Dr. Roxana Khalili, Dr. Arbor Quist, and Dr. Elizabeth Kamai at the USC Division of Environmental Health.
What makes this project unique: This project is unique in that it will identify how close participants lived to oil and gas wells in active production throughout their lifetime and estimate participants’ exposure to pollutants released from those wells over time. Researchers estimated participants’ exposure by considering how close they lived to all of the oil and gas wells that were actively producing during that time in the state of California and in neighboring states, and accounting for how many tons of oil and gas they produced, for every month starting from 1977. Having cumulative (total) exposures over this whole time means that researchers can then examine whether some people had more exposure to oil & gas wells than others and when exposure increased or decreased. This type of geospatial data will enable researchers to compare the health outcomes of participants who were exposed to oil & gas wells with participants who were not in different life stages and identify whether there is a link between oil & gas production and health.
The questionnaire answers used:
Questionnaire 1
Alcohol use
Body size
Environmental exposures
Health conditions
Medications
Smoking History
Questionnaire 5
Health conditions
Medications
1 Proville J, Roberts K, Peltz A, Watkins L, et al. The demographic characteristics of populations living near oil and gas wells in the USA. Population and Environment (2022). Available at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/2021616/200533749/20077988/250084170/Exhibit%2050%20-%20Proville%20_demographic%20characteristics%20of%20populations%20living%20near%20oil%20and%20gas%20wells.pdf
Kommentare