Just recently back from my son’s wedding — and remembered this post.

I saw the items you quote when I read the article. Perhaps I need to think a bit more about whether those address the issue I mentioned above. I didn’t think they did, but will go over it again.

and

“The vector Xit of observable maternal and child characteristics includes indicators for child gender, maternal race and ethnicity (African-American, Hispanic, missing), mother’s age (<20, 20 to 24, 25 to 29, 30 to 34, 35+, missing), mother’s education ( ]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/12/14/30-thousand-u-s-newborns-risk-fracking-per-year/#comment-557947 Sat, 16 Dec 2017 00:24:17 +0000 https://gregladen.com/blog/?p=28523#comment-557947 In reply to Gregory Laden.

I didn’t see a direct analysis for status, but I’ll read it again.

No odd at all for this type of study. I do wonder how proximity to the sites and economic status are linked: usually sites are in lower income areas, and sorting the effects of the pollution from issues related to economic status can be difficult.

They are explicitly not examining exposure, and are clear on that.

All of the things you are suggesting are good ideas, and impossible to fund without some reason to do so.

You start with the epidemiology, like this paper.

Wind direction presumes an air carried agent. That nay be jumping the gun

If the hypothysis thingy is that various chemicals cause harm in utero , why not look at children of female employees at the sites, who would likely have the most exposure?
Of course employees may have hazard controls that minimize exposure, that nearby residents dont have, as a confounder .
Theres something a bit odd about the science in this, to my non academic eyes.
It seems haphazard and a bit lazy, in that they dont seem to have gathered data or done experiments themselves. Its more of a statistical exercise.
Its not that hard to set up monitoring stations for chemicals is it? To go into peoples homes
and swab some surfaces?
Do blood tests of women and children?
Its also not immediatly clear what the null hypothysis is.
Im in no way saying the stats or data is incorrect.
Feeling tired and niggly.