Answers to the tough questions of how oil and gas drilling is affecting Coloradans health havent come easy in recent years, and there wasnt much more clarity offered for members of the Colorado Oil and Gas task force on Thursday.

It was as simple as the goods on the table that sat before the 21-member task force assembled at the 4H Building at Island Grove Regional Park.

Members giggled a little as Dr. Larry Wolk, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, presented them with products hed picked up at local stores: a bottle of Coke, a bottle of beer, a pack of cigarettes, a bag of Skittles, a quart of motor oil, some marijuana and a cup of caffeinated coffee.

Which is really the worst for your health? he asked. Which would be worse if you ate it? Or would it be worse if we aerosoled it and breathed it? Which would be worse if you were pregnant, a child, or elderly, or just had one Skittle versus 12 (bottles of Coke)? Is it better to smoke the marijuana or eat it?

Its about exposure we want it to be simple, and we want a simple answer to the question. This is a complicated question.

Wolk was one of four health care experts presenting before the task force in the groups fifth meeting to determine recommendations to solve resident concerns of increased urban drilling. About 200 people attended Thursdays meetings in Greeley.

Residents have fears that close proximity to oil and gas drilling and storage is dangerous to their health. Studies in recent years suggest increased risk in closer proximity to facilities, but nothing definitive. Its dependent on topography, temperature, wind direction, genetics, and length of exposure, among others.

While the four collectively seemed to agree that more study is needed to discover solid health effects, none said they had enough information to recommend to the task force a setback, or a minimum distance drilling should be from residential structures or schools.

I dont think we know quite enough for me to recommend a number, said Gabrielle Petron, a researcher at the University of Colorado, and a contractor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who has been part of team conducting air studies along the Front Range for about seven years.

Oil and gas opponents throughout the state last year sought to increase the distance from oil and gas operations and residential structures to 2,000 feet up from the current 500 feet in law today. The task force was formed as a compromise by Gov. John Hickenlooper to avoid a public vote on the matter. The task force will take up that discussion in more detail today.

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Health care experts address oil, gas concerns at Greeley meeting of Colorado task force