Visiting Bournemouth on a glorious bank holiday weekend, I read with interest in your newspaper on May 27 the story on the prospects of the ‘Fracking’ of shale gas in Dorset.(“Eco group concerned about fracking”) Last month the Institute of Directors’ published a new report “Getting Shale Gas Working,” which gives unqualified backing for shale gas recovery in the UK.

But the IOD authors state in an introductory note to their 188 page report: “In order to remain focused, this report does not examine the safety of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), either in the UK or overseas.”

This deliberate exclusion may be convenient to be able to promote a gushing advocacy, but is it prudent?

To do so, means the IOD overlook one aspect of fracking that has received no press coverage at all in the UK: the prospective human health hazard of using fracked shale gas.

Heath minister Anna Soubry told Labour MP Paul Flynn in a written answer last month Public Health England (formerly the Health Protection Agency) “is preparing a report identifying potential public health issues and concerns, including radon (release/emissions) that might be associated with aspects of hydraulic fracturing, also referred to as fracking.

“The report is due out for public consultation in the summer. Once released for public consultation, the report will be freely available from the PHE website.” (Hansard, 20 May: Column 570W) PHE is concerned to evaluate the potential risks of radon gas being pumped into citizens’ homes as part of the shale gas stream.

Unless the gas is stored for several days to allow the radon’s radioactivity to naturally reduce, this is potentially very dangerous.

Radon is unquestionably the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers. Initially radon released from its virtually sealed underground locations will be in monatomic suspension, but then it accretes onto dust particles, pipework, etc, and some of it may remain suspended in the gas and come out in our cookers.

The current concern about how much radon is likely to be piped into people's kitchens was spurred by a report last year by Dr Marvin Resnikoff, of Radioactive Waste Management Associates, now based in Vermont, but for many years based in Brooklyn, New York.

Dr Resnikoff estimated radon levels from the Marcellus gas field – the nearest one being exploited to New York– as up to 70 times the average.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) last autumn released a report measuring actual levels at a handful of Marcellus wells, having been apparently upset by Dr Resnikoff’s charge that USGS had been a “tool” of industry” in downplaying possible hazards.

I am all for creating new jobs in the energy sector, as long as they are sustainable.

The public surely will demand the unadulterated facts on fracking. Public Health England's forthcoming report is eagerly awaited.

Both local Bournemouth MPs, Conor Burns and Tobias Ellwood should surely press ministers for the facts.

And local authorities in Dorset should obtain further details of radon risk from Dr Resnikoff in the US before deciding on applications for planning permission from fracking companies.

Dr David Lowry, Environmental policy and research consultant, Clandon Close, Stoneleigh, Surrey