They are simply injecting it. Someone else is claiming that it's safe.

So, they're knowingly injecting toxic and carcinogenic chemicals into the water supply. Thank you for the clarification.

Toluene, found in pine oil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... [wikipedia.org]
Xylene, found in wood tar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X... [wikipedia.org]

The pine trees in my back yard probably put as much of these in the creek as they detected in the paper.

You've convinced me.

We should just let the oil industry do whatever they want, because everything's toxic so what's the harm in a few hundred people getting wealthy beyond dreams of avarice before we all die?

And we're not talking about "parts per trillion" here. We're talking about concentrations up to 200 times the amount considered safe by the FDA.

Have you seen the nasty things salt does to metals and plants? Yet you happily eat that every day.

Because people have eaten salt for millennia without negative effects.

How long have people been drinking benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene? Not to mention the substances that we don't know about that are in fracking fluid because they're "trade secrets".

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind...

I don't know where you got the idea that the only levels of these chemicals showing up around fracking sites are in the parts per trillion. Because it's not true:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind...

YOU FIRST. If you're going to make them drink it, go for it yourself.

Why would I drink it? I'm not the one injecting it into the water supply and claiming it's safe as milk.

It is also approved by the U.S. FDA to be used as direct and indirect food additives

Now you've REALLY made me feel better!

So, basically, this stuff can be found pretty much EVERYWHERE and pretty much everywhere in or around a home.

Thank you. That makes me feel a LOT better.

The chemical, which is also commonly used in paint and cosmetics, is known to have caused tumors in rodents, though scientists have not determined if those carcinogenic properties translate to humans.

Those are some of my favorite weasel phrases in this type of article.

"Just because the chemical strips paint and causes mammals to dissolve into puddles of toxic goo does not mean it's unsafe for humans."

So drink up, Mr Koch.

I guess the logic goes that the fracking folks are evil

Yes, that's the logic.

If you're one of those freaks that cares about logic.

"You're drinking it wrong!"

since 2001, which was at least 14 years ago.

I hate it when people show off their mad math skills.

While some are claiming this means

I don't know who the "some" are in that sentence, but no one at the link provided in the story is saying this means NASA created a warp drive.

Stop, already.

In a deliberative body that's chock-full of dumb sonsabitches, Louis Gohmert stands head and shoulders above them all.

Here's my favorite Louis Gohmert quote.

On gays in the military:

"I’ve had people say, ‘Hey, you know, there’s nothing wrong with gays in the military. Look at the Greeks. Well, you know, they did have people come along who they loved that was the same sex and would give them massages before they went into battle. But you know what, it’s a different kind of fighting, it’s a different kind of war and if you’re sitting around getting massages all day ready to go into a big, planned battle, then you’re not going to last very long. It’s guerrilla fighting. You are going to be ultimately vulnerable to terrorism and if that’s what you start doing in the military like the Greeks did as people have said, ‘Louie, you have got to understand, you don’t even know your history.’ Oh yes I do. I know exactly. It’s not a good idea."

Want another?

Regarding caribou and the oil pipeline:

"So when caribou want to go on a date, they invite each other to head over to the pipeline. ... So my real concern now is if oil stops running through the pipeline ... do we need a study to see how adversely the caribou would be affected if that warm oil ever quit flowing?"

I remember my father having to get out the suitcase of a portable computer that work had assigned him, set it up on the dining room table, and dial-in to the mainframe to fix broken batch jobs on weekends occasionally.

I had one of these.

http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com...

Still have it, out in the garage next to dried up paint cans and copies of Argosy magazine. And before you ask, no, "dried up paint can" is not a euphemism for my first wife's corpse.

well, nice to know we can still throw around insults unjustifiably and misrepresent my views on things....

Now brother, you know I wasn't endorsing any 100% taxation policy, and yet you purposely tried to represent my comment in which I specifically said I wasn't endorsing said policy as supporting it.

I get a little touchy.

100% is ridiculous. As we've seen during the prosperous 1950s, 90% is a perfectly good top tax rate, and with the steadily falling deficit, we'll be OK as long as we don't elect Hillary Clinton or any of the Republicans. Because make no mistake, either of those alternatives will lead us back to war and recession before the cement is dry at the Obama library.