House Speaker Sam Smith said Thursday it’s “outrageous” for doctors to suggest that Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus Shale law could gag them from talking to their patients about chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process. The Jefferson County Republican said the chemical disclosure provision of the law was pushed by environmental groups and replicates language used on the federal level for decades. Some doctors, including the president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, say the provision could have a chilling effect on research and on doctors’ ability to diagnose and treat patients who have been exposed. “Doctors will be able to provide all of the information needed to discuss any patient ailment,” Smith said. “It is outrageous to think, let alone for anyone to portray, that the state would actually ‘gag’ a doctor in treating a patient. It is irresponsible for an organization to try and create such hysteria.”

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