From the Better Path Coalition (https://www.betterpathcoalition.org/):
On May 14th, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a bombshell report on 46 cases of children with rare cancers in four counties at the epicenter of the shale gas boom in southwestern Pennsylvania since 2008. Among them are 27 cases of Ewing Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer that only affects between 200 and 250 people across the entire country each year.
Thirteen children and young adults didn’t survive.
The reporters limited their investigation to four counties and excluded adult cases. The founder of a Greene-county based organization that helps children and their families dealing with cancer told the Post-Gazette she has received numerous calls from adults who have been diagnosed.
It’s past time for Governor Wolf to direct the Department of Health to conduct a statewide investigation into cancers diagnosed across age groups in all counties where shale gas drilling, fracking and infrastructure buildout have occurred. We are also calling on Governor Wolf to direct the Department of Environmental Protection to cease issuing permits for shale gas projects until it has been demonstrated that shale gas activity was not the cause.
Representatives of Food & Water Watch, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Environmental Health Project, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, Frack Action, and my organization, Berks Gas Truth, collaborated on a sign-on letter we will submit to the Governor. We are asking individuals and organizations to sign the letter. Here’s a link to a Google form where you can read the letter and sign it on your behalf or on behalf of your organization if you are authorized to do so. Please share the letter with your networks. Here’s the direct link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6QwVIDt94BZc4q9h3razhXAjdn329cX86g-fvpD2LPA8mJA/viewform
The deadline for signatures is the end of the day Friday, June 7th.
Please help us send a strong message to Governor Wolf. This unfolding public health crisis demands immediate action.
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