Contamination, corruption and cancer without consent by Dina Elmuti

Thank you to Dina Elmuti for writing this Op-Ed. Please click this link to download it: POLICY – OP-ED

“You have cancer.” It’s probably one of the most devastating, mind-numbing things one could ever hear. I wouldn’t wish the pain, uncertainty, or feelings of frustration and fear on anyone, not even the corrupt forces that inadvertently bring it to communities through endeavors like hydraulic fracturing engineered by corporate greed and vested interests at the expense of people’s lives and health. Such a practice is aggressive and opportunistic as the cancers and diseases it produces. High volume hydraulic fracturing evokes inflammatory discourse and uncompromising stances by both its advocates and opponents alike and science and politics are formidable forces shaping the every move of its progress.

A few months ago, I had only heard of the phrase hydraulic fracturing and quite ignorantly never gave it much thought.  Growing up in central Illinois, I never realized how close to home it hit. Colloquially known as “fracking,” the process is as abrasive and innately destructive as it sounds. A clandestine operation, fracking is as murky, toxic, and transparent as the fluid pumped into the wells it uses and the water it contaminates in the process. After reading about the cumulative adverse and chronic health issues concerning this process, I can’t help but feel infuriated. As a cancer survivor, how could I not? As a social work student, how could I remain neutral when it comes to this toxic load of corruption and virulent, insatiable exploitation of others for profit?

Over the past semester, my graduate level policy class formed a Task Force on Hydraulic Fracturing to address the public health, environmental, political, and social justice implications of hydraulic fracturing.  What we learned was shocking, upsetting, and enough to make us take action. The carcinogenic and environmental toxins, in addition to contaminants brought to the surface in wastewater through this process, can potentially lead to irreversible damage, disease, and even death.

Perhaps as you read this you’re thinking, “Why should I care? It doesn’t affect me.”  At one point in time, I would have thought the same but the very thought of ignoring something this toxic is enough to make me shudder now. While fracking may not affect you directly now because you don’t happen to see it taking place in your own backyard or your faucet hasn’t caught on fire, perhaps it’s only a matter of time.

Profiteering drillers have latched onto opportunities to drill for shale gas, and in the process disease clusters are beginning to pop up quicker than pipelines and wellheads. While the rich and powerful oil and gas companies rush to drill for their benefit, the lives of people from tight-knit industrialized communities are fractured as they pay the ultimate price with their health. And while the head honchos of profit-seeking corporations call the shots and conveniently slip through loopholes designed to absolve them of responsibility, it’s oftentimes those of lower socioeconomic status and vulnerable populations who bear a disproportionate burden of negative environmental consequences and end up with the greatest burden of illness.

It’s these hard-working people who have become victims of predatory mineral leases and essentially have no say in what goes on in their own backyards and ultimately their own health. People are rarely if ever informed of the very serious health implications of hydraulic fracturing because of secrecy and bureaucratic games played. Hydraulic fracturing not only turns the earth inside out; it does the same thing to the lives of people who are impacted by its toxic effects.

Fracking is a malignant force that destroys, damages, discards, and disparages the human rights of people who are exposed to its toxic effects.  It pollutes and poisons their basic human right to clean drinking water, replacing it instead with incendiary faucets of flame and contamination, destroying communities, homes, and ecosystems in the process all in the name of extracting a profit for the benefit of a tiny minority and offsetting the disastrous costs onto the rest of society.

When one learns about the deleterious effects of fracking, reads the shocking testimonials and research concerning the violation of medical ethics and human rights, and meets those who are suffering from excruciating pain from the effects of this process, one cannot simply unlearn it and pretend as though the injustice does not exist.  Remaining quiet is no longer an option. In fact, remaining quiet becomes a complacent political act making us accountable. One need not be the victim of injustice to recognize it and do something to bring about change. One doesn’t not to be an activist, a social worker,  student, professor, alarmist, Democrat, Liberal, environmentalist or hold any other title to care about something as precious as health. It’s something we oftentimes take for granted until it’s gone, but when it comes to fracking we can take a stand now. It’s clear that the only ethical choice is the one that supports social justice and the fundamental human right to health. So long as people of conscience remain neutral or stay quiet, practices like hydraulic fracturing will continue metastasizing calamitous consequences, greed and illness – one well at a time with complete impunity.

Sometimes in life we’re tested by adversity, whether that’s illness or social injustice. And sometimes we’re given the opportunity to do something to cause a chain of positive action creating a catalyst that sparks amazing results. As people of conscience, I think we can do that by taking a first step against the insidious practice of fracking. If you’re interested in learning more about fracking, please join us at our panel discussion at the Daley Library on November 29th from 11-12:30.