Living near gas flaring sites may increase risk of preterm birth, study shows

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Women living near oil and gas production sites where natural gas is flared may be at a higher risk of giving birth preterm, a team of California researchers reported on Wednesday.

Analysis of more than 23,000 birth records from 2012 through 2015 reveals a 50% higher chance of preterm birth for women living within three miles (5 km) of Texas’ Eagle Ford shale basin than for women who lived farther away, according to the study.

“Our study finds that living near flaring is harmful to pregnant women and babies,” said co-author Jill Johnston, an environmental health scientist at the University of Southern California.

The research, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, adds to evidence linking pollution with poorer pregnancy outcomes. Another study in June found a correlation between air pollution or higher outdoor temperatures and increased chances of having a preterm or stillborn baby.

Those findings, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, resulted from analyzing 70 studies covering 32 million births. It also found that black women were disproportionately at risk.

In the new study, by scientists at USC and UCLA, the association between preterm births and flaring proximity was seen only among Hispanic and Latina women, who made up 55% of the study population. No effect was seen among non-Hispanic White women, who comprised 37% of the total. Preterm babies are at higher risk of respiratory and cardiovascular illness, as well as developmental delays.

The team said it was the first to look at birth outcomes in relation to oil and flaring, which has seen a sharp increase in southern Texas’ Eagle Ford and other U.S. shale hubs.

Flares can release chemicals such as benzene, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, along with fine particulate matter, heavy metals and black carbon.

The U.S. drilling industry flared or vented more natural gas in 2019 for the third year in a row, amid soaring production and a lack of regulatory efforts to curb the practice, according to state data and independent research estimates.

When oil prices are low, or when oil fields lack pipeline access, drillers tend to vent or flare gas, which can burn for weeks at a time.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Katy Daigle and Marguerita Choy)

Spain’s population grows for second straight year due to immigration

FILE PHOTO: The border fence separating Spain's northern enclave Ceuta and Morocco is seen from Ceuta, Spain, June 22, 2018. REUTERS/Juan Medina/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s population rose for the second straight year in 2017, after having fallen between 2012 and 2015 in the midst of an economic downturn, as an increase in foreigners offset a fall in the number of Spaniards, official data showed on Monday.

The figures come as Europe grapples with a rising influx of migrants, mostly from north Africa and war-torn countries such as Syria, after Mediterranean arrivals spiked in 2015. Sixteen EU leaders met for emergency talks in Brussels on Sunday to find a “European solution” to the issue.

The population of Spain increased to 46.66 million to Jan. 1, 2018, a rise of 132,263 people than a year earlier, the highest since Jan. 1 2013, the National Statistics Institute reported.

Spain saw a net increase of migrants arriving in the country of 146,604 people, after the arrival of almost half a million people last year, the largest migrant influx in 10 years, the data showed.

The total number of deaths in Spain in 2017 outpaced the number of births at the fastest pace since records began in 1941, data showed last week as the number of births dropped 4.5 percent while the number of deaths rose 3.2 percent.

The largest increases in migrants came from Venezuela, Colombia, Italy and Morocco, while the largest decreases were from Romania, Britain and Ecuador, INE said.

(Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Jesús Aguado, William Maclean)

Miami hospitals prepare for surge in births during Hurricane Irma

Miami hospitals prepare for surge in births during Hurricane Irma

By Julie Steenhuysen and Jilian Mincer

(Reuters) – While many Miami hospitals are shutting down as Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida, some are offering shelter to their pregnant patients, bracing for the increase in births that often accompanies these large storms.

At least three of the city’s hospitals have plans in place to care for women with advanced or high-risk pregnancies.

They could be busy.

When Houston was hit by Hurricane Harvey, the number of women who gave birth spiked. According to a Memorial Hermann Health System representative, at least five of the not-for-profit system’s 11 Houston-area hospitals with labor and delivery units reported increases in the number of deliveries during Hurricane Harvey. In three, deliveries doubled.

The reason may have something to do with a drop in barometric pressure that accompanies a hurricane. A 2007 study published in the Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics noted a causal relationship between low barometric pressure and spontaneous delivery.

But overall, the evidence is inconclusive, said Dr. Shannon Clark, an associate professor in the division of maternal fetal medicine at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico.

“There’s some studies that show an association and some that don’t. It’s kind of mixed,” Clark said in a telephone interview.

Even so, she said, “It’s still worth it to forewarn pregnant women in areas that are going to get hit that there could be a potential complication.”

In Miami, Jackson Health System alerted women who are at least 34 weeks pregnant or who have a high-risk pregnancy that they may take shelter in one of three of its hospitals, as long as they have registered with the hospital in advance. These women are allowed to bring in one guest, but no pets.

Tania Leets, a spokeswoman for the public health system which serves Miami-Dade County, said they offered the same service last year during Hurricane Matthew.

Baptist Health South Florida offers shelter to women in Miami who are at least 36 weeks pregnant or who have a high-risk pregnancy in one of its four area hospitals. A pregnant woman and one adult companion can set up camp in a waiting room area; those who come must bring their own food, water and bedding. The shelter opens at 8 a.m. on Saturday and closes when the storm has passed, Baptist Health South said in a statement.

Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach will likewise shelter women who are at least 36 weeks pregnant or those with high-risk pregnancies, according to a statement on its website.

At Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital in Houston, deliveries started to soar two days before Hurricane Harvey arrived, requiring five managers to help with patient care.

“We all know in this business – full moons and storms are a problem,” said Kim Kendall, director of the hospital’s family birth center.

Staff made an effort to close the shades, redirect the conversation and focus on the delivery. “We tried to maximize the experience and minimize the hurricane,” said Kendall.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Jilian Mincer; Editing by Richard Chang and Jonathan Oatis)