More about the fracking sand use in hydraulic fracture

Crystalline silica is commonly used in hydraulic fracturing. See videos of this “sand” as industry likes to call it boiling into the air.

Crystalline silica deposited in the lungs causes epithelial and macrophage injury and activation. Crystalline silica translocates to the interstitium and the regional lymph nodes. Crystalline silica results in inflammatory cell recruitment in a dose-dependent manner. Neutrophil recruitment is florid in rats exposed to high concentrations of quartz; marked, persistent inflammation occurs accompanied by proliferative responses of the epithelium and interstitial cells. In humans, a large fraction of crystalline silica persists in the lungs, culminating in the development of chronic silicosis, emphysema, obstructive airways disease and lymph node fibrosis in some studies. In-vitro studies have shown that crystalline silica can stimulate release of cytokines and growth factors from macrophages and epithelial cells; evidence exists that these events occur in vivo and contribute to disease. Crystalline silica stimulates release of reactive oxygen and nitrogen intermediates from a variety of cell types in vitro. Oxidative stress is detectable in the lungs of rats following exposure to quartz.
Source: http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol68/volume68.pdf