Using data from the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Services and CSG emissions data from the National Pollutants Inventory, GP Dr Geralyn McCarron's study published in the International Journal of Environmental Studies found that acute hospital admissions for circulatory and respiratory diseases increased by up to 142% between 2007 and 2014.

 

Over the same period, pollutants reported by the CSG industry which LTG says are known to cause cardiopulmonary illnesses rose by 6000%.

 

The GP said the "considerable growth" in hospitalisations for acute respiratory and circulatory conditions concurrent with the increase in toxic pollutants in the local airspace "suggests that controls to limit exposure are ineffectual".

 

Activist group Lock the Gate, which promoted the study yesterday, said the research must prompt Queensland's government to undertake 24-hour real-time air quality monitoring in and around gas fields. 

 

"The people living there deserve open and transparent information," LTG spokesperson Vicki Perrin said.

 

"Gas companies must be required to report, not just to estimate, all their harmful emissions. Independent oversight and resourcing is urgently needed to help protect people's health and prevent further harm."

 

She claimed that Queensland Environment and Heritage Protection Department ignored Queensland Health recommendations in 2013 that they monitor overall gas field emissions and the exposure of the community to those emissions.

 

Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Queensland director Rhys Turner said McCarron was as activist known for "regularly churning out pseudo-science" supporting LTG's political agenda.

 

In fact, the GP's own study appeared to acknowledge that there were limitations to the data available for consideration. 

 

"For instance it was not possible to break down admissions into demographics (age/gender) and times/dates of admission," the study stated. 

 

"Factors for which data are unavailable are the change, if any, in the population rates of cigarette smoking and obesity, and the prior health status of residents who may have moved into (and out of) the area between 2007 and 2014. 

 

"The contribution to ill health of viral epidemics is unknown."

 

Turner said the "oldest trick in the book" was to take two separate facts that occur at roughly the same time and clam that one caused the other, and expressed incredulity that McCarron states that she has no conflict of interest despite her long history with LTG.

 

"The article fails to produce any credible evidence for her claims," Turner said.

 

"McCarron is trying to frighten people and pressure governments to waste health research dollars on her political agenda."