eprintid: 1739 rev_number: 11 eprint_status: archive userid: 6 dir: disk0/00/00/17/39 datestamp: 2016-09-15 12:19:06 lastmod: 2017-02-08 12:21:43 status_changed: 2016-09-15 12:19:06 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Werner, Angela K. creators_name: Vink, Sue creators_name: Watt, Kerrianne creators_name: Jagals, Paul corp_creators: Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia corp_creators: Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia. corp_creators: College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia; School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia. corp_creators: School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia. title: Environmental health impacts of unconventional natural gas development: A review of the current strength of evidence subjects: O subjects: SHU divisions: SHEER full_text_status: none keywords: Coal seam gas; Environmental health impact; Shale gas; Strength of evidence; Tight gas; Unconventional natural gas abstract: Rapid global expansion of unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) raises environmental health concerns. Many studies present information on these concerns, yet the strength of epidemiological evidence remains tenuous. This paper is a review of the strength of evidence in scientific reporting of environmental hazards from UNGD activities associated with adverse human health outcomes. Studies were drawn from peer-reviewed and grey literature following a systematic search. Five databases were searched for studies published from January 1995 through March 2014 using key search terms relevant to environmental health. Studies were screened, ranked and then reviewed according to the strength of the evidence presented on adverse environmental health outcomes associated with UNGD. The initial searches yielded >1000 studies, but this was reduced to 109 relevant studies after the ranking process. Only seven studies were considered highly relevant based on strength of evidence. Articles spanned several relevant topics, but most focussed on impacts on typical environmental media, such as water and air, with much of the health impacts inferred rather than evidenced. Additionally, the majority of studies focussed on short-term, rather than long-term, health impacts, which is expected considering the timeframe of UNGD; therefore, very few studies examined health outcomes with longer latencies such as cancer or developmental outcomes. Current scientific evidence for UNGD that demonstrates associations between adverse health outcomes directly with environmental health hazards resulting from UNGD activities generally lacks methodological rigour. Importantly, however, there is also no evidence to rule out such health impacts. While the current evidence in the scientific research reporting leaves questions unanswered about the actual environmental health impacts, public health concerns remain intense. This is a clear gap in the scientific knowledge that requires urgent attention. date: 2015-02 date_type: published publication: Science of The Total Environment volume: 505 publisher: Elsevier pagerange: 1127-1141 id_number: doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.084 issn: 0048-9697 official_url: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.084 access_IS-EPOS: limited owner: Publisher citation: Werner, Angela K. and Vink, Sue and Watt, Kerrianne and Jagals, Paul (2015) Environmental health impacts of unconventional natural gas development: A review of the current strength of evidence. Science of The Total Environment, 505. pp. 1127-1141. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.084