Health security

Hydraulic Fracturing & The Nocebo Effect

Recently, residents of Denton, Texas voted to ban hydraulic fracturing within the city limits.  One way to read the results from the referendum is to conclude that the verdict is in: unconventional drilling for oil and gas poses enough health risks to nearby communities that it had to be stopped in the Dallas-suburb home to drilling innovation.

But is fracking really to blame for recently high incidents of asthma, nose bleed and nausea reported by Denton residents?  As a pioneering city for hydraulic fracturing, the practice has been in place for decades in and around Denton.  What’s novel to the city is the anti-fracking activism and its coverage in both the local and national media.