PITTSBURGH — University of Pittsburgh researchers say a groundbreaking study focusing on southwest Pennsylvania released Wednesday shows that pregnant women living near natural gas fracking wells are more likely to have babies with lower birth weights.

Dr. Ellen Wells says: A quick glance suggests that there are many other differences between those living closer to wells vs those living farther away from wells … the authors would have needed to be very careful to be able to eliminate those as potential confounders. This is interesting, but I’d like to see more than this to make up my mind about the issue.