Birth Right?

A very substantial study of pregnancies in California over decades has established that living within 10k of an oil or a gas well results in lower birth weights than people living further away (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/03/living-near-oil-and-gas-wells-linked-to-low-birthweight-in-babies). It is, of course, well established that a low birth weight is a serious risk factor for a whole range of medical and developmental problems. One should, of course, warn that people who are forced by circumstances to live near such developments are also more likely to be socio-economically deprived (which would not help in utero development of the baby). It would be interesting to see if this pattern is also seen in other parts of the world with major hydrocarbon industries. At the very least, it seems yet another good reason to reduce extraction of oil and gas.