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Oil Companies Using Nearly 200 Dangerous Chemicals in California Wells

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A new study has found that oil companies use huge numbers of highly hazardous chemicals to acidize wells in California, making water contamination worse, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Researchers at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability found that at least 28 of these substances are F-graded hazardous chemicals — carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxins, developmental toxins, endocrine disruptors or high acute toxicity chemicals, the release said.

Hydrofluoric acid is acutely toxic, and exposure to fumes or very short-term contact with its liquid form can cause severe burns, the release noted.

"The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) study… has national significance because it seems to be the first ever to examine the toxicity of acidization chemicals," the release said on Friday.

The study found that almost 200 different chemicals have been used in the process, which is frequently employed in urban areas of Los Angeles County, the release stated.

"This disturbing study is a wake-up call to every Californian living near an oil well," CBD attorney Hollin Kretzmann said in the release. "The oil industry’s use of cancer-causing chemicals to acidize near homes and schools is an unacceptable threat to public health."

 

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