Dead babies near oil drilling sites raise questions for researchers

By Nancy Lofholm
The Denver Post
Posted: 10/26/2014 12:01:00 AM MDT
Updated: 10/28/2014 04:54:57 PM MDT

VERNAL, Utah — The smartphone-sized grave marker is nearly hidden in the grass at Rock Point Cemetery. The name printed on plastic-coated paper — Beau Murphy — has been worn away. Only the span of his life remains.

"June 18, 2013 - June 18, 2013"

For some reason, one that is not known and may never be, Beau and a dozen other infants died in this oil-booming basin last year. Was this spike a fluke? Bad luck? Or were these babies victims of air pollution fed by the nearly 12,000 oil and gas wells in one of the most energy-rich areas in the country?

Some scientists whose research focuses on the effect of certain drilling-related chemicals on fetal development believe there could be a link.