This paper documents impacts on human health caused by exposure to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) associated with oil and natural gas development. I begin with a brief background on hydrogen sulfide, its presence in oil and natural gas, and possible emission sources from various oil and gas operations. I then present a review of literature from available public health, epidemiology, and industrial health publications, as well as of sources from regulatory and environmental agencies, that addresses human health impacts from exposure to H2S. The Literature Review section first covers studies of health effects from acute exposure to relatively high concentrations of H2S. I then review the literature documenting human health effects from chronic exposure to lower ambient H2S levels. Both kinds of exposure acute and chronic can be expected to occur near oil and gas operations. From the available souces, I construct a table of human health effects associated with different levels of hydrogen sulfide and different lengths of exposure. Reviewing studies on the effects of H2S exposure on laboratory animals is beyond the scope of this study.
Next, I present current federal and state regulations and recommendations pertaining to exposure to hydrogen sulfide. Many recommendations established to protect human health are based on crude exposure estimates or on extrapolation from animal studies. The federal government does not regulate ambient H2S levels, but many states do. Three states conduct routine monitoring of ambient H2S levels, and several others have monitored H2S as part of specific projects. I present the available monitoring data, as well as anecdotal evidence about H2S emissions and human health concerns that I obtained from conversations with staff at state environmental agencies.
I wrote most of what you are about to read in 1999, when I first issued this book as a private gift to only 35 people. More miracles have happened since then. Here are a few of them:
* When I first wrote this book and described the car of my dreams, the car of my dreams at that time was a Saturn. I’ve now upgraded my dream and my car. I’m now driving a BMW Z3 2.8 Roadster. I’ve never in my life had so much fun driving!!! As I grew in my life, and became more bold about going for my dreams, I also naturally wanted a different vehicle. I was led to the Z3, which symbolizes the major changes in my life. And it is a hoot to drive, as well! You truly can have anything you can imagine.
The biopsy diagnosis of pleural malignant mesothelioma (MM) can be problematic and requires the use of ancillary techniques more frequently than most other epithelioid tumors. In most laboratories, immunohistochemistry is today the mainstay for the pathological diagnosis of MM. 1-4 Because no single antibody has been identified with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for a diagnosis of MM, panels of antibodies that include both positive and negative markers are routinely employed: yet even the most recent and comprehensive of the published studies focus on the sensitivity and specificity of single antibodies investigated independently of the others 4, and numerous recent reviews suggesting various panels of antibodies 5-13 are based on this type of analysis.5, 6, 14 A recent attempt at meta-analysis has been made to provide guidance,9 but because of heterogeneity in the raw data in the individual studies on which the meta-analysis was carried out, the validity of this approach is limited. The same principle applies to the website STATdxPathIq (formerly known as 'Immunoquery'),15 which provides sensitivities and specificities of antibodies, based on published studies, and suggests IHC panels for differential diagnosis based on those data. Only a handful of studies have attempted to use more advanced statistical methods, including logistic regression 1, 2, 16, but the only study attempting to include stepwise logistic regression employed pleural effusion fluids and used a panel of antibodies that included predominantly positive carcinoma markers, relying on lack of labelling for a diagnosis of mesothelioma.
