Oil Spills, Gas Flaring and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Oil spills and gas flaring are major environmental problems and pose major source of adverse health outcomes to communities hosting oil wells and natural gas. As oil is spilt and gas is flared; air, soil and water in affected communities are polluted. Due to this, members of these communities are exposed to higher health risks. One vulnerable group that is usually affected in this regard is pregnant women. This systematic review identified and reviewed past studies on oil pollution and different types of pregnancy outcomes within a twenty-year gap, which is between 1999 and 2019. The review also discussed the exposure pathways of oil pollution. From a literature search on scientific databases conducted in August 2019 for articles relating to the objectives of the review, data were extracted from articles which met the inclusion criteria and contents were systematically analyzed based on types of pregnancy outcomes. This review showed that oil spill and gas flaring may put pregnant women at high risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus, maternal depression, miscarriages via three pathways. This review may be of some use in making policy in this area.

The carbon emission and life expectancy nexus: mediating roles of agriculture and foreign direct investment in Nigeria

“…Despite these facts and figures, there is a huge dearth of studies on the linkage of health outcomes (in terms of life expectancy) with environmental pollution and economic variables like FDI and agricultural output. Most of the studies done in Nigeria have focused solely on oil spill and gas flaring pollutants in the Niger Delta region (Giwa et al, 2019;Nriagu et al, 2016;Oghenetega et al, 2019;Osuoha and Fakutiju, 2017;Seiyaboh and Izah, 2017), and studies outside the Niger Delta regions are mainly micro-based (Aliyu et al, 2019;Aliyu and Botai, 2018;Ogbonna et al, 2018;Oguntoke et al, 2019;Olalekan et al, 2018;Yakubu, 2018). This study, therefore, improves on earlier studies by estimating the direct and indirect effects of air pollution on life expectancy on a macro scale.…”

“…, 2019; Nriagu et al. , 2016; Oghenetega et al. , 2019; Osuoha and Fakutiju, 2017; Seiyaboh and Izah, 2017), and studies outside the Niger Delta regions are mainly micro-based (Aliyu et al.…”

Exposure to oil pollution and maternal outcomes: The Niger Delta prospective cohort study

“…Environmental pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are released when oil is spilt, and gas flared [1]. Several authors have reported that living in areas polluted by oil have adverse effects on human health [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

Air pollution trajectories and life expectancy in Nigeria

“…Despite these ironical and worrisome statistics, there is a huge dearth of studies on the relationship between air pollution and life expectancy in Nigeria. Again, most of the studies done in Nigeria have focused specifically on oil spill and gas flaring pollutants in the Niger Delta region using survey research design, without controlling for economic variables like FDI and agricultural output (Aliyu et al, 2019;Aliyu and Botai, 2018;Giwa et al, 2019;Nriagu et al, 2016;Ogbonna et al, 2018;Oghenetega et al, 2019;Oguntoke et al, 2019;Osuoha and Fakutiju, 2017;Seiyaboh and Izah, 2017). This study, therefore improves on earlier studies by employing the dynamic vector autoregression modeling to estimate the relationship between air pollution and life expectancy, and extended the Grossman's health stock theory with the help of pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) and the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC).…”