Medical groups, experts call for 3 to 5 year New York fracking moratorium

ALBANY, N.Y., May 28 (UPI) -- Medical organizations, hundreds of doctors and other health experts are scheduled to call on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state of New York for a three- to five-year fracking moratorium.

The health groups and experts are scheduled to hold a news conference Thursday in Albany, N.Y., to call for the governor and Dr. Howard A. Zucker, acting state health commissioner, to support a moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, and to discuss the latest health data concerning this type of natural gas well.

"The call from the broad coalition of medical organizations and experts comes in response to the growth in the body of the science and the disconcerting trends in the existing and emerging data," Dr. Larysa Dyrszka and Dr. Kathy Nolan of Concerned Health Professionals of NY; Dr. Barton Schoenfeld of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Hudson-Mohawk Chapter; Dr. Barton Schoenfeld of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Hudson-Mohawk Chapter; Dr. Sheila Bushkin-Bedient, member of the Institute for Health and the Environment and vice-chairwoman of the Medical Society of the State of New York; and Yuri Gorby and Howard N. Blitman of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., said in a statement.

"This will also mark the first time the broad coalition of medical experts are approaching acting health commissioner Zucker on this important issue."

Medical organization and peer-reviewed researchers on high-volume hydraulic fracturing involved in the effort include: American Academy of Pediatrics, District II New York state; American Lung Association in New York; Concerned Health Professionals of NY; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy; Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project; David Brown; Dr. David O. Carpenter, director, Institute for Health and the Environment University at Albany; Madelon Finkel; Dr. Jerome Paulson and Dr. Walter Tsou.

A moratorium in New York state on fracking has been in place since 2008.