This is a letter form concerned health workers to the Mayor of New York and is an important read for anyone still unsure about risks associated with unconventional gas ie: fracking, coal bed methane, coal seem gasification etc. It is online here:
http://concernedhealthny.org/letters-to-governor-cuomo/
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Dear Governor Cuomo and Acting Health Commissioner Zucker,
We, the undersigned physicians, nurses, researchers and public health professionals, write to update you on the alarming trends in the data regarding the health and community impacts of drilling and fracking for natural gas. The totality of the science—which now encompasses hundreds of peer–reviewed studies (Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE), 2014) and hundreds of additional reports and case examples—shows that permitting fracking in New York would pose significant threats to the air, water, health and safety of New Yorkers. At the same time, new assessments from expert panels also make clear that fundamental data gaps remain and that the best imaginable regulatory frameworks fall far short of protecting our health and our environment.
Concerned both by the rapidly expanding evidence of harm and by the uncertainties that remain, we urge you to adopt a concrete moratorium of at least three to five years while scientific and medical knowledge on the impacts of fracking continues to emerge.
Many of us have previously submitted official comments that highlight various studies and data that raise a range of concerns about impacts to public health. In light of such concerns, New York has wisely maintained a de facto moratorium. However, since the close of the last public comment period, the body of scientific studies has approximately doubled in size. Moreover, the pace at which studies are emerging has accelerated: the number of studies on the health effects of fracking published in the first few months of 2014 exceed the sum total of those published in 2011 and 2012 combined. (Mobbs, 2014).
All together, these new data reinforce the earlier evidence, reveal additional health problems associated with drilling and fracking operations, and expose intractable, irreversible problems. They also make clear that the relevant risks for harm have neither been fully identified nor adequately assessed. While the scope of concerns and new information is far greater than this letter can accommodate, trends in the data include the following:
Evidence linking water contamination to fracking–related activities is now indisputable.
An investigation by the Associated Press has confirmed cases of water contamination in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Texas (Begos, 2014). Fracking-related contaminants detected in water sources within the last twelve months include methane (Jackson et al., 2013), radium (Vengosh, Jackson, Warner, Darrah, & Kondash, 2014), arsenic (Fontenot et al., 2013), and hormone-disrupting substances (Kassotis, Tillitt, Davis, Hormann, & Nagel, 2014).
Reviewing the entirety of the evidence, the Council of Canadian Academies concluded, “A common claim. . . is that hydraulic fracturing has shown no verified impacts on groundwater. Recent peer-reviewed literature refutes this claim and also indicates that the main concerns are for longer term cumulative impacts that would generally not yet be evident and are difficult to predict reliably. . . . The most important questions concerning groundwater contamination from shale gas development are not whether groundwater impacts have or will occur, but where and when they will occur. . . ” (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014).
The structural integrity of wells can fail. These failures are common, unavoidable, and increase over time as wells age and cement and casings deteriorate.
According to industry data, five percent of wells leak immediately; more than half leak after 30 years (Brufatto et al., 2003). Data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection show a 6 to 7 percent failure rate for new wells drilled in each of the past three years. The consequences of gas leaks include risk of explosion, drinking water contamination, and seepage of raw methane into the atmosphere where it acts as a powerful greenhouse gas (Ingraffea, 2013).
Drilling and fracking contribute to loss of well integrity. Drilling creates microfractures in the surrounding rock that cement cannot fill and so opens pathways for the upward
migration of liquids and gases. Additionally, high pressure from repeated fracturing can deform cement, further raising the risk of leakage. Age-related shrinkage and deterioration cause cement to pull away from the surrounding rock, reduce the tightness of the seal, thus opening potential portals for contamination. According to one expert panel, “the greatest threat to groundwater is gas leakage from wells from which even existing best practices cannot assure long-term prevention” (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014).
The disposal of fracking wastewater is causally linked to earthquakes and radioactive contamination of surface water. It remains a problem with no solution.
As confirmed by the U.S. Geological Survey, deep-well injection of fracking waste has triggered significant earthquakes in Oklahoma (Sumy, Cochran, Keranen, Wei, & Abers, 2014). A team from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory reports similar findings in Ohio and demonstrates how injection of fracking waste can stress geological faults and make them vulnerable to slippage (Davies et al., 2014).
In the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and Ohio, geologists have also linked fracking itself to earthquakes (Godoy, 2014; The Canadian Press, 2012; Vukmanovic, 2011). Members of the Seismological Society of America warn that geologists do not yet know how to predict the timing or location of such earthquakes: “We don’t know how to evaluate the likelihood that a [fracking or wastewater] operation will be a seismic source in advance.” (Kiger, 2014). Researchers further warn that earthquakes can occur tens of miles away from the wells themselves. (Walsh, 2014)
Both the certainties and the uncertainties about the risk of earthquakes from fracking operations raise serious, unique concerns about the possible consequences to New York City’s drinking water infrastructure from fracking-related activities. No other major U.S. city provides drinking water through aging, 100-mile-long aqueducts that lie directly atop the Marcellus Shale. Seismic damage to these aqueducts that results in a disruption of supply of potable water to the New York City area would create a catastrophic public health crisis.
At the same time, hauling fracking wastewater to treatment plants has resulted in contamination of rivers and streams with unfilterable radioactive radium (Nelson et al., 2014; Warner, Christie, Jackson, & Vengosh, 2013).
Air quality impacts from fracking–related activities are clearer than ever.
Air pollution arises from the gas extraction process itself, as well as the intensive transportation demands of extraction, processing and delivery. And yet, monitoring technologies currently in use underestimate the ongoing risk to exposed people, especially children (Brown, Weinberger, Lewis, & Bonaparte, 2014; Rawlins, 2014; University of Texas, 2014).
Fracking-related air pollutants include carcinogenic silica dust (Moore, Zielinska, Pétron, & Jackson, 2014), carcinogenic benzene (McKenzie, Witter, Newman, & Adgate, 2012), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that create ozone (Gilman, Lerner, Kuster, & de Gouw, 2013). Exposure to ozone—smog—contributes to costly, disabling health problems, including premature death, asthma, stroke, heart attack, and low birth weight (Jerrett et al., 2009).
Unplanned toxic air releases from fracking sites in Texas increased by 100 percent since 2009, according to an extensive investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, InsideClimate News and the Weather Channel (Morris, Song, & Hasemyer, 2014).
We are alarmed that Utah’s formerly pristine Uintah Basin now appears on the list of the nation’s 25 most ozone-polluted counties (American Lung Association, 2014). Indeed, total annual VOC emissions from Uintah Basin fracking sites are roughly equivalent to those from 100 million cars (Lockwood, 2014). Questions about possibly elevated rates of stillbirth and infant deaths in the area have prompted an ongoing investigation (Stewart & Maffly, 2014).
Community and social impacts of fracking can be widespread, expensive, and deadly.
Community and social impacts of drilling and fracking include spikes in crime, sexually transmitted diseases, vehicle accidents, and worker deaths and injuries (Ghahremani, 2014; Gibbons, 2013; Healy, 2013; Hennessy-Fiske, 2014; O’Hare, 2014; Olsen, 2014). A new investigation by the Associated Press found that traffic fatalities more than quadrupled in intensely drilled areas even as they fell throughout the rest of the nation (Associated Press, 2014).
The Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative’s new report, “Assessing the Impacts of Shale Drilling: Four Community Case Studies,” documented economic, community government and human services impact of fracking on four rural communities. Among the findings: the advent of fracking brings a rapid influx of out-of-state workers and attendant costs for police, emergency services, road damage, medical and social services. At the same time, increased rent costs bring shortages of affordable housing (Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative, 2014). As medical professionals, we know that these kinds of social impacts bring health consequences, especially for low-income single mothers and their children.
Industry secrecy contributes to unsettled science
Even as evidence of harm continues to emerge, reviews of the science to date note that investigations necessary to understand long-term public health impacts do not exist. Medical and scientific organizations and groups of scholars in the United States, England, Canada, and Australia have, very recently, acknowledged the legitimacy of public health concerns and called for high-quality, comprehensive health studies (Adgate, Goldstein, & McKenzie, 2014; Coram, Moss, & Blashki, 2014; Council of Canadian Academies, 2014; Kovats et al., 2014).
These recommendations echo those made earlier by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In 2012, the GAO pointed out that drilling and fracking clearly pose “inherent environmental and public health risks.” And yet, “the extent of these risks…is unknown” due to lack of serious study of the long-term, cumulative impacts (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2012).
To explain why science is missing in action, we emphasize the obstacles faced by researchers seeking to carry out the needed research. Specifically, as independent observers have noted, “the gas industry has sought to limit the disclosure of information about its operations to researchers” (Sadasivam, 2014), and prolifically uses non-disclosure agreements as a strategy to keep data from health researchers, among others (Efstathiou Jr. & Drajem, 2013).
Nevertheless, important studies continue to fill research gaps and build a clearer picture of the longer-term and cumulative impacts of fracking. Many such studies currently underway will be published in the upcoming three–to–five year horizon. These include further investigations of hormone-disrupting chemicals in fracking fluid; further studies of birth outcomes among pregnant women living near drilling and fracking operations; further studies of air quality impacts; and further studies of drinking water contamination.
Just as medical professionals assert a sacred oath to ‘first do no harm,’ this is the proper course for New York State to follow in its decision about fracking. Indeed, Governor Cuomo, we hold you to your promise that fracking will not be allowed if the health of all New Yorkers and the quality of all watersheds cannot be protected. Amidst all the uncertainty, this much is very clear: based on the knowledge available to us now, the NYS Department of Health can come to no other determination except to say that this admirable and appropriate standard cannot be met.
Accordingly, and while critical ongoing studies are conducted, we urge that New York State take a leadership role in the nation by announcing a formal moratorium. Given the lack of any evidence indicating that fracking can be done safely – and a wealth of evidence to the contrary –we consider a three–to–five year moratorium to be an appropriate minimum time frame.
Finally, we believe that public health is best served by transparency and inclusiveness – particularly among those who stand to be affected. With a moratorium in place–and as more data on the impacts of fracking emerge–the state should open a comprehensive New York-specific health assessment process that engages and seeks input from the public and the independent medical and scientific community (Concerned Health Professionals of New York, 2013).
Sincerely,
HEALTH & MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
American Academy of Pediatrics, District II New York State
American Lung Association in New York
Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition
Breast Cancer Action, a national grassroots education and advocacy organization with over 2600 members in New York StateBreast Cancer Coalition of Rochester
Breast Cancer Fund
Breast Cancer Options, Kingston
Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer
Center for Environmental Health, New York
Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition
Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, Inc.
New York State Breast Cancer Network, a statewide network of 23 member organizations reaching over 135,000 New Yorkers affected by breast cancer each yearOtsego County Medical Society
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Arizona
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Philadelphia
Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco Bay Area
Physicians for Social Responsibility, NYC Chapter
Physicians for Social Responsibility/Hudson-Mohawk Chapter
Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy
Science and Environmental Health Network
Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project
Tompkins County Medical Society
Western NY Professional Nurses Association Legislative Committee
Directors and Board Members
Holly McGregor Anderson RN BS, Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester
Beverly Canin, Board Member, Breast Cancer Options, Kingston NY, New York State Breast Cancer Network, Breast Cancer Action
Donna Flayhan PhD, Director, The Lower Manhattan Public Health Project
Andi Gladstone, Executive Director, New York State Breast Cancer Network
Tess Helfman, President, Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition, Copiague, NY
Roy Korn Jr. MD MPH FACP, President, Schoharie County Medical Society
Karen Joy Miller, President, Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, Inc.
Hope Nemiroff, Executive Director, Breast Cancer Options, Kingston NY
Raina Rippel, Director, Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project
Jeanne Rizzo RN, President & CEO, Breast Cancer Fund
Laura Weinberg, President, Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, Great Neck, NY
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS & SCIENTISTS
(affiliations provided for identification only)
Allan J. Ahearne DVM, Cooperstown, NY
John Alves MD
Kimberley Baker MSN, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer
MaryAnn Baker RN, United Health Services
Michelle Bamberger MS DVM
Frederick M. Barken MD
Steven Barnett MD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health Science, University of Rochester
Emily Barrett PhD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Camille Barrow RN
Monica J. Bauman MD, Attending Anesthesiologist, Bassett Medical Center; Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology, Columbia University
Jennifer D. Becker MPH, University of Rochester
Carol Beechy MD, Internal Medicine, Pain and Palliative Care Consult Service, Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown, NY
R.A. Bennett MD PhD, Child/Adolescent Psychiatrist, Bassett Medical Center
Paul C. Bermanzohn MD, Rosendale, NY
Carlos Bermejo MD
Edward Bischof MD FACP, Program Director, Internal Medicine, Bassett Medical Center
Ronald E. Bishop PhD CHO, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, SUNY College at Oneonta
Nathan Boddie MD MS, Brooklyn, NY
Betsy Bonsignore RN LMT
James Bordley IV MD, Attending Surgeon, Bassett Medical Center
Rebekah L. Bowser RN BSN
Monica Brane MD, Pediatrician, Bassett Healthcare
Kelly K. Branigan RN
Michael P. Branigan CRNA MS
Arlene Bregman DrPH
David Brown ScD, Public Health Toxicologist and Director of Public Health Toxicology for Environment and Human Health, Inc.; past Chief of Environmental Epidemiology and Occupational Health in Connecticut; former Deputy Director of the Public Health Practice Group of Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) at the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Glenda Brown RN, Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley
Richard J. Brown MD, Bassett Healthcare
Liz Bucar LPN
Sarah Buckley RN
Deborah Buechner PA, Arnot Health, Corning, NY
Cynthia S. Burger CAE, Executive Director, Medical Societies of Broome, Delaware, Otsego and Tompkins Counties, Sixth District Branch of MSSNY, Southern Tier Foundation for Medical Care
Anna Burton MD, New York, NY
Sheila Bushkin-Bedient MD MPH, Concerned Health Professionals of New York; Member, Institute for Health and the Environment; Vice-chair, Medical Society of the State of New York Preventive Medicine and Family Health Committee
Lynn Cahill-Hoy ANP MSN, Family Care Medical Group
Douglas H. Cannon MD, Bassett Healthcare
Gabriela Rodriguez Caprio MD, Assistant Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
Marybeth Carlberg MD, Family Practice, Skaneateles, NY; Associate Professor SUNY Upstate Medical University; Onondaga County Health Department Physician Advisory Board
David O. Carpenter MD, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany
Jennifer K. Carroll MD MPH, Associate Professor, Director of Community Health Promotion Research, University of Rochester Medical Center
Lisa M. Clauson FNP
Andrew D. Coates MD FACP, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Hudson-Mohawk Chapter
Nicholas Cohen PhD, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology & Immunology and of Psychiatry University of Rochester Medical Center
Richard Collens MD, Twin County Cardiology, Columbia Memorial Hospital, Hudson, NY
Shelby Cooper MD, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Associate Chief of Surgery; Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery, Columbia University Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown
Juliette Ramírez Corazón MPH
Monica Daniel LM LAc MS, Midwife, Nurse
John S. Davis MD, Cooperstown, NY
Douglas M. DeLong MD FACP
Antonia Demas PhD, President, Food Studies Institute; Visiting Scholar, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford
Jennifer Dengler PA-S
Lauren Derrick, NP
Patrick Dietz MD
Wendy Dwyer RN, Canaan, NY
Larysa Dyrszka MD, Concerned Health Professionals of New York
Sandra J. Eleczko DDS
Dorothy S. Elizabeth PA student and NYS Certified EMT
David A. Fanion MD FACEP, Emergency Department Physician, Bassett Medical Center
Tawn R. Feeney MA CCC-SLP, Speech-Language Pathologist
Philip L. Ferro MD, Professor, OB/GYN, Director of Family Planning, Associate Director -Residency Program, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Daniel Fierer MD, Assistant Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
Madelon L. Finkel PhD, Professor of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College
Coveney Fitzsimmons MD
Paula Fitzsimmons PA, Schuyler Hospital
Heather L. Fiumera PhD, Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University
Colleen T. Fogarty MD MSc, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine University of Rochester Medical Center
Amy Freeth MD, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Bassett Healthcare
Shep Friedman MD
Gianfranco Frittelli MD FAS FAAP, Skaneateles, NY
Tova Fuller MD PhD, Columbia University Medical Center, Internal Medicine Residency Program
Anne Gadomski MD MPH, Research Scientist/Attending Pediatrician, Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown, NY
Jacquelyn H. Gailor BSN RN, Cortland County Health Department (retired)
Shannon Gearhart MD MPH, Steering Board Member of Physicians for Social Responsibility /NYC
Jeremiah M. Gelles MD FACP FACC
Mark Goldgeier MD, Rochester, NY
Sueane Hemmer Goodreau ND RN CFNP
Yuri Gorby PhD, Howard N. Blitman Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
David Gould MD MBA, New York, NY
Robert M. Gould MD, President, Physicians for Social Responsibility (National) and San Francisco Bay Area
Janet Gray PhD, Director, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Vassar College
Jonathan Greenberg MD
Judith Greenberg MD, Cooperstown, NY
Emily Greenspan MD, Brooklyn, NY
Alice Grow RN, Ithaca, NY
Mary Ann Haley BSN, Deputy Public Health Director, Cortland County Health Department
Chad B. Haller MD, Mount Sinai Hospital Queens
Frank Harte MD, Attending Anesthesiologist, Bassett Healthcare
Ellen Henry PhD, Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center
Mary Herbst RN MS ANA-NY
Elizabeth Hess FNP, Nurse Practitioner, Gannett Health Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Joyce Hexum RN, Arnot Health
Claire Robinson Howard, Nurse Practitioner in Adult Health and Psychiatry
Robert W. Howarth PhD, David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology, Cornell University; Founding Editor, Biogeochemistry
Nancy L. Huber RN BSN MS, Chief Steward, CWA Local 1122
Julie Huntsman DVM, Fly Creek, NY
Thomas Huntsman MD, Chief of the Division of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand surgery, Bassett Medical Center
Ofra Hyman DSW LCSW-R, Otsego County, NY
Susan L. Hyman MD FAAP
Anthony R. Ingraffea PhD PE, Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering and Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University
Patricia Jacob, FNP, Bassett Cancer Institute
Matthew Jackson DO, Internal Medicine
Connie Jones PhD Bassett Medical Center
Mark Josefski MD, Institute for Family Health
Lila Kalinich MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Marion Karl RN, American Red Cross (retired)
Maryanne Hidalgo Kehoe RN MS FNP
Sandra L. Keller RN
Karen Kilgore RN
Laura Kilty MD, Bassett Health Network
Chris Kjolhede MD, MPH, FAAP
Paul Klawitter MD PhD, Internist Associates of Central New York
William Klepack MD, Dryden Family Medicine
Reginald Q. Knight MD MHA, Director, Bassett Spine Care Institute, Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Bassett Healthcare Network, Cooperstown
Christie Koedel MSN CPNP, President Elect of WNY National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
Harold Kooden PhD
Katrina Smith Korfmacher PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester
Maureen Kussard RN BSN MSA
Antoinette Kuzminski MD
Michael P. Lachance PhD MD, Chief of Anesthesia, Bassett Healthcare
Karen LaFace MD PLLC Women’s Care, Ithaca
Kate Larrabee RN
Jonathan Latham PhD, Executive Director, The Bioscience Resource Project
Pamela J. Lea DVM, Richfield Springs, NY
Peggy Chadwick Ledwon RN, Mercy Hospital
John Andrew Leon MD, Bassett Healthcare Network, Cooperstown
Gerson Lesser MD, New York University School of Medicine
Linda Lovig MSN CNM NP, Certified Nurse Midwife and Ob/Gyn Nurse Practitioner, Syracuse, NY
D. Rob Mackenzie MD, Schuyler County
Michele Manisoff MA OTR/L, Physicians for Social Responsibility, New York
Marge Marash MD, private practice, psychiatry
Catherine Mason MD
Arnold Matlin MD FAAP, Linwood, NY
John May MD, attending physician, Bassett Healthcare Network
Ellen McHugh MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Upstate Medical University
Michelle McNamara RN
Victoria Meguid MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Golisano Children’s Hospital, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Mary Menapace RN, Women’s Services Upstate Medical University
Renee E. Mestad MD MSCI, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Jacque C. Millar MSN NP-C, Owego, NY
Michael Millar RN
Nancy Miller RN CNM PA-C
Richard K. Miller PhD, Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology, of Environmental Medicine and of Pathology, University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester
Lisa K. Mooney, MD FAAP, pediatrician, Bassett Healthcare
Paula Moore CNM RN MSN, Associate Professor of Nursing, Tompkins County Community College
David M. Newman MD, Evergreen Family Medicine, PC, Brockport, NY
Kiran Nakkala MD MPH, Attending Physician, Gastroenterology, Bassett Medical Center
Kathleen Nolan MD MSL, Regional Director for the High Peaks Catskill Mountainkeeper – Woodstock
Michael R. O’Brien MD, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program Fellow, Yale University
Luis M. Oceguera MD, surgeon, Bassett Medical Center
Beth Olearczyk MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Attending Physician, Department of Medicine, Bassett Healthcare
Carmi Orenstein, MPH
Komron A. Ostovar MD FHM, Senior Attending Physician, Division of Hospital Medicine, Bassett Medical Center
Robert Oswald PhD, Professor of Molecular Medicine, Cornell University
Graham Ottoson CNM NP MSN
Colleen Parsons RN, Pine City, NY
MaryLouise Patterson MD
Jerome A. Paulson MD FAAP, Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Environmental & Occupational Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC
Rohan Perera MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY
Simona L. Perry PhD, c.a.s.e. Consulting Services
Nina Pesante MD, Functional Medicine-certified Practitioner
Norman C. Pfeiffer MD
Charlotte Phillips MD, pediatrician, retired
Nina Pierpont MD PhD, Malone, NY
Naomi Pless MD
E. Louis Priem MD, Intensivist at Bassett Healthcare
Joan Puritz DVM, Oneonta Veterinary Hospital
Jonathan Raskin MD
Marilyn Raudat RN BSN MS, Elmira, NY
Phoebe Reese FNP, Bassett Pediatrics, Oneonta
Nina Regevik MD FACP ABIHM
Steven Resnick MD, Cooperstown
Elizabeth J. Robinson NPP
Thomas P. Rodgers MD, Arnot Health
Robert Roth MD, Kingston Family Practice Center
Paul D. Russo OD MB, FAAO, Board Certified, American Board of Optometry, Division of Ophthalmology, Bassett Medical Center
Carol S Ryan RN BSN, MPH, Sundown, NY, Town of Denning
Pouné Saberi MD MPH, Physicians for Social Responsibility, National and Philadelphia Board Member
Elizabeth G. Salon RNC MS FNP, Integrative Health Family Nurse Practitioner
William R. Sawyer PhD, D-ABFM, D-ABFE, TCAS, Toxicology Consultants and Assessment Specialists, LLC
Charles Schaeffer MD, Cooperstown NY
Jane Schantz FNP, Hospicare & Palliative Care Services of Tompkins County
Ted Schettler MD MPH, Science and Environmental Health Network
Stephen S. Schneider MD, Oral And Maxillofacial Surgeon (Retired)
Barton Schoenfeld MD FACC, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Hudson-Mohawk Chapter
Shirley Schue PNP
Coby K. Schultz BSN RN MICU, Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY
Peter Schwartz MD
Avniel Shetreat-Klein MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
Maya Shetreat-Klein MD, Pediatric Neurology, Assistant Clinical Professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Seth B. Shonkoff PhD MPH, Executive Director, Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy
Susan Sikule DVM, Guilderland, NY
Don Simkin DDS, Youngsville, NY
Jeffrey Snedeker MD, Northeast Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Ithaca, NY
Sarra Solomon MD
Carol A. Somers ScD RN, Lakeshore Hospital, Irving, NY
Ken Spaeth MD MPH, Assistant Professor, Occupational and Environmental Health Hofstra University School of Health Sciences and Human Services
Matthew Spencer MD, Bassett Healthcare
Staff of the Ithaca Health Alliance
Sandra Steingraber PhD, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Ithaca College; Concerned Health Professionals of New York
Kristin Stevens Ob Gyn NP, IthacaMed
Nancy B. Stewart MD, Integrative Medicine Center, Department of Family Medicine, Cayuga Medical Center
Wilma Subra MS, MacArthur fellow, former vice-chair of the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology, and president, Subra Company
Paul C. Tirrell MD PhD, Bassett Healthcare
Jose A. Torrado MD FACOG Attending physician in private practice and Fellow of the American College of Obstetrician/Gynecologists, Ithaca, NY
Walter Tsou MD MPH, past president, American Public Health Association; former health commissioner for Philadelphia; Adjunct Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower RN, East Meredith, NY
Mary Jane Uttech RN MSN, Retired Deputy Director of Public Health, Cortland County Health Department
Lois Van Tol MD, TouchStone Family Medicine, Rochester, NY
Barbour S. Warren PhD
Barbara Warren RN MS, Executive Director, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition
William Wassel MD, Bassett Medical Center
Jennifer Watts RN MSN
Ellen Webb MPH, Center for Environmental Health
Gregory A. Weiland PhD, Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine Cornell University
Theodore J. Weiner DVM
Richard Weiskopf MD, volunteer faculty, Upstate Medical University
Mary E. Wheat MD, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center
Brian F. White DO
Gerri Wiley RN, Southern Tier Solar Works
Allison Wilson PhD, The Bioscience Resource Project, Inc, Ithaca, NY
Geniene Wilson MD AAHIVS, Clinical Professor of Family and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University; Mid-Hudson Regional Family Practice Residency, Institute for Family Health
David Wirtz MD MPH, Medical Staff President, Cortland Regional Medical Center
Barb Wood FNP, Cayuga Family Medicine
Andrea Worthington PhD, Professor of Biology, Siena College
Max Yarowsky MD, The Bioscience Resource Project, Inc.
Margo A. Yntema RN
Lauren Zajac MD MPH, Physicians for Social Responsibility / NYC Chapter
Joseph Zanfordino MA CCC/SP
Cynthia A. Zehr OD
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