HARRISBURG, Pa. (NEWSnet/AP) — Children who lived closer to natural gas wells in heavily drilled western Pennsylvania were more likely to develop a relatively rare form of cancer, according to a research report issued Tuesday.

In the meantime, nearby residents of all ages had an increased chance of severe asthma reactions, researchers said.

The taxpayer-funded study by the University of Pittsburgh adds to a body of evidence suggesting links between the gas industry and certain health problems.

In the reports, the researchers found what they called significant associations between gas industry activity and two ailments: asthma, and lymphoma in children, who are relatively rarely diagnosed with this type of cancer.

The researchers were unable to say whether the drilling caused the health problems. Instead, the researchers combed health records to try to determine possible associations based on how close people lived to natural gas wells, while industry groups pointed to what they say are weaknesses of the studies’ assumptions and the limitations of its data.

The reports were released at the start of a public meeting Tuesday to discuss the findings, hosted by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and the state Department of Health, on the campus of Pennsylvania Western University.

In the cancer study, researchers found that children who lived within 1 mile of a well had five to seven times the chance of developing lymphoma compared with children who lived 5 miles or farther from a well. That equates to 60 to 84 lymphoma cases per million children living near wells, versus 12 per million among kids living farther away.

For asthma, the researchers concluded that people with the breathing condition who lived near wells were more likely to have severe reactions while gas was being extracted compared with people who don’t live near wells. However, researchers said they found no consistent association for severe reactions during periods when crews were building, drilling and fracking the well.

The state’s former governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, in 2019 agreed to commission the research under pressure from the families of pediatric cancer patients who live in western Pennsylvania.

The gas industry has maintained that fracking is safe.

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