Factory farms
also known as CAFO's (Central Organized Feeding Operations) have extremely
negative effects on everyone's living environment that directly affect you,
whether you realize it or not. Living close enough to them can also impact your
health and the quality of living in the community. The goal that CAFO's have involve
making a lot of food on a very small amount of land at an affordable price. The
problem with this is CAFO's will do it at any and all costs, the space that the
animals are squeezed into leads to the releasing of extreme amounts of harmful
gases from their waste products into the atmosphere and water at levels that
are extremely unsafe and unmanageable for the environment to keep up with.
Former government administrations have made it really easy for the CAFO's to
continue their path of environmental destruction, it's going to take a lot work
to undo the damage. Damage control needs to start with the population being
educated to see the harmful effects these farms are doing because most of us
live in a place that is nowhere near one and that enables us to remain
uninformed. The population can start with making the choice to purchase
products produced on sustainable farms but that will only help so much and the
choice to make the right decision unfortunately also comes with a higher price
tag that most are not willing to pay. I feel the real change needs to start
with tighter EPA regulations. Not only do they need to make these regulations
stricter the enforcement is also a major concern.
CAFO’s
destroy communities and harm the people surrounding them in numerous ways. Once
a CAFO moves into a community it starts the process of deterioration, right off
the bat property values decrease, the economy comes to a standstill, and the disgusting
order attacks and infuses itself with everything it possibly can inside your
home and no matter what you do it won’t go away. So now the community is in
economic plunder at least the inhibitors still have their health, not true this
too is now also being attacked. CAFO’s “do so by contaminating ground and
surface water, releasing harmful pollutants into the air, promoting the
development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, incubating infectious diseases,
and facilitating the continued overuse of chemical pesticides.” (Public Health)
Growing up in New York most likely doesn’t exposure you to the horrors of these
factory farms. If you travel to the outskirts you will most likely only see
small sustainable family run farms these are the ones that should be supported.
Manure,
it smells horrible, it’s the source of everything damaging, and there is a lot
of it! Factory farms often store animal waste in lagoons and it’s applied to
the land as fertilizer, but unlike human waste it is untreated. In fact “The
annual production of manure produced by animal confinement facilities exceeds
that produced by humans by at least three times” (Pew p.13) With so much manure
being produced at these CAFO’s it often leads to spills and leaks in lagoons
that are not properly maintained. Being applied to oversaturated land that
cannot possibly absorb it all is the other issue. The surface and ground water
get infiltrated by run off and that leads to the contamination of the
surrounding community’s drinking water that they so heavily rely on. This
contaminated water contains nitrates, pathogens, hormones, antibiotic-resistant
bacteria, salts and heavy metals. (Hribar) “In US counties with factory farms,
approximately 1.3 million households rely on water wells in which nitrate levels
exceed the Maximum Contaminant Level set by the EPA.” (Consumer) This
information was given by the EPA in 2002, 12 years later and its certain
nitrate levels have only gotten far worst. These high nitrate levels in
drinking water lead to a disease called “baby blue syndrome” this leads to an
infant’s blood to no longer be able to hold a normal amount of oxygen and can
be fatal if untreated. Adults can also
be affected by having extreme cases of diuresis which is the increase or excess
production of urine, increased starchy deposits, and possible hemorrhaging of
the spline. Pathogens are a higher threat to young children and the older
population and can cause diarrhea, cramps, and headaches along with other
medical problems. (Consumer) The growth hormones that are pumped into these
animals can also still be apparent in the manure and have serious health
effects that may lead to breast and testicular cancer. Salts attack drinking
water as well causing high blood pressure and in some cases levels become so
high that the water becomes undrinkable. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can
cause infections that typical antibiotics can no longer fight. (Public Health)
The animals continue to be pumped with more and more antibiotics to keep them
“healthy” instead of the CAFO’s spending money to find ways to remedy
disgusting conditions. Profit margin is their only concern. I like to think of
them as the McDonald's of animal farming. In fact factory farms were formed to
keep up with the high demands of the fast food industry so you can see why
profit margin is so important. (Fast)
So
you may think that just because you don’t live directly in these communities
you are not affected by water pollution. You would be wrong in fact
contaminates from factory farms make their way into lakes, streams, ponds, and
rivers. This renders fishing and swimming in these waters unsafe. (Public
Health) “Almost 40 percent of the nation’s surveyed waters are so polluted
they're unsafe for swimming or fishing. According to the EPA’s 2000 National
Water Quality Inventory, agricultural sources were responsible for polluting
128,859 miles of surveyed rivers and streams, 3,158,393 acres of surveyed
lakes, and 2,811 square miles of surveyed estuaries”(Public Health) Again this
information was released by the EPA in 2002, why is new data so hard to find?
The EPA is still around, but what have they been doing for 12 years? This
information will be looked at further later in my paper.
Water
pollution is just the beginning to the damage these large CAFO’s pose to the
environment. Air pollution is also a major concern as some of the effects are
burden for everyone not just the communities surrounding them. CAFO’s hurt the
surrounding communities through the reduction of air quality. This happens in a
few ways, the movement of animals result in particle emissions, gas emissions
occur through the decomposition of animal waste in lagoons and also when its
spread to fertilize land, heavy traffic of trucks constantly going in and out
of the farms also contribute to air pollution. (Hribar) Although the
transportation industry causes traffic and releases harmful pollutants into
communities surrounding factory farms and all over the world, in its entirety
the contribution is less to global warming than CAFO’s.
Along
with particle matter the typical air pollutants found around factory farms
include the gases ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and methane. All are extremely
dangerous and only one out of the four cannot hurt you directly. Ammonia gas is
a respiratory irritant chemical burns cause damage to the respiratory tract
along with the skin and eyes this leads to a severe cough and chronic lung
disease. These gases are released when the breakdown of the manure happens
which is also true for hydrogen sulfide. (Hribar) Health effects from hydrogen
sulfide vary and depend on how long and how much you are exposed too. Some mild
symptoms include fatigue and headaches, gradually you will loose your smell and
severe damage to the eyes occurs, extreme levels lead to a quick death that can
happen instantly or take thirty to sixty minutes depending on the level of
exposure. (Hydrogen) In this case the workers on the farms are more at risk
then the community when it comes to a fatal exposure.
Particle matter
is a major issue as it seems to be able to affect the surrounding communities
greatest as it is able to travel longer distances. The source of these
particles comes from a variety of things that include animals bedding material,
dry manure, unpaved soil surfaces, animal dander, and poultry feathers. Fecal
matter, bacteria, fungi, skin cells, and silicates attach themselves to the
particles and the wind carries them away from the farms into the neighboring
areas. Health effects consist of chronic bronchitis, chronic respiratory
symptoms, organic dust syndrome, and significant declines in lung function.
(Hribar) Unfortunately the demographic most effected by particle matter happen
to be children as take in 20-50% more air than adults making them more
susceptible to lung disease. Studies done in North Carolina that consisted of
226 schools showed that factory farms increased asthma in the surrounding
communities as the children closest to these farms had the highest rates.
(Hribar)
Methane and
nitrous oxide gases are harmful “greenhouse” gases and directly contribute to
climate change and global warming. Think back to ten or fifteen years ago the
seasons changed and temperatures did along with them. Everything seemed to have
a schedule, now one day its seventy degrees out and the next day it’s
thirty-five. Just because its winter doesn’t mean its cold out, the summers are
getting hotter and the winters longer and harsher. Global warming is real and
as the days go on it’s becoming more and more apparent. “Globally, livestock
operations are responsible for approximately 18% of greenhouse gas production
and over 7% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (Massey & Ulmer, 2008). While
carbon dioxide is often considered the primary greenhouse gas of concern,
manure emits methane and nitrous oxide which are 23 and 300 times more potent
as greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide, respectively. The EPA attributes
manure management as the fourth leading source of nitrous oxide emissions and
the fifth leading source of methane emissions (EPA, 2009).”(Hribar) CAFO’s are
amongst the leading contributors to global warming and they need to be
regulated and controlled. You can’t ask one to voluntary monitor its gas
emissions, doing so cost money. You need to demand it and make it a law to
properly see what is really going on.
So what can we do about the harm these CAFO’s are doing, when it comes to
the government who is really on our side? “The Environmental Protection Agency
is obliged under the Clean Water Act to monitor America’s waterways and shield
them from the toxic runoff from factory farms. But the growth of that industry,
and its courtroom tenacity, has far outstripped the E.P.A.’s efforts to
restrict runoff from manure lagoons and feedlots.” (nytimes) It seems to me
that past administrations have taken the wind out of the EPA’s sails. They have
had significant cutbacks in their work force and funding and unfortunately
continue to experience them thanks to republicans which now control the
majority. In 2012 two proposed rules that the E.P.A. had proposed were
withdrawn. The first rule would gather basic information from all factory farms
and the other would have expanded the amount of farms that are required to have
a national pollution discharge permit which enables them to dump waste into the
water at certain times. In 2013 fewer than 60% did. (NY times) With all those
negative things happening in 2013 I believe one positive has come one has
happened. Gina McCarthy was made the EPA administrator
after a long delay by republicans, seeing how bad they didn’t want her to be in
charge is a good sign that President Obama picked the right person for the job.
This is a good start, the problem is getting enough of the public informed and
motived by the information they see to elect someone that is going to do
something about it. I fell that’s the only way things will change, boycotting
McDonald’s, altering you’re eating habits, and only buying from sustainable
farms is not going to have an significant impact on CAFO’s.
Unfortunately it seems that factory farms will
always be a somewhat of a necessity. Even if informed not everyone can afford
to make the right choice of buying organic free range produce and raising
animals the “right way” takes longer and occupies more space, if all the
factory farms were free range there wouldn’t be enough space to house the
amount of animals that CAFO’s do. The sad truth is our society consumes
entirely too much meat, it’s always been our first choice ever since the beginning
of time and it will always be that way until there is no choice given. If we
have gotten to the point where we can’t live without CAFO’s then the next step
needs to be informing the public to the damage they are doing so that they can
elect officials that will actually work on a solution and enforce it. The
problem is CAFO’s are extremely good at keeping the public uneducated and they
go through great lengths and massive amounts of money to keep it that way. They
have been sculpting the EPA for years to make sure things go their way and that
has helped keep the public uninformed and ignorant, their favorite type.
Work Cited
Bunton, Bryan, et al. "Monitoring And Modeling Of
Emissions From Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: Overview Of
Methods." Environmental Health Perspectives 115.2 (2007):
303-307. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 May 2014.
“Consumer Factsheet on: NITRATES/NITRITES” Epa.gov. 20 May. 2014
“How Factory Farms Impact You” factoryfarmmap.org. Food & Water Watch. Web. 21 May 2014.
Hribar, Carrie, MA. “Understanding Concentrated Animal
Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities” National Association of
Local Boards of Health. (2010). Web. 21 May 2014.
“Hydrogen Sulfide” osha.gov.
Safety and health hazards. Web. 22 May. 2014
Kaplan, Ariel R. "Cafos: Five Essential Tools For Local
Regulation." State & Local Law News 35.4 (2012):
10-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 May 2014.
Lavin, Chad. "Factory Farms In A Consumer
Society." American Studies (00263079) 50.1/2 (2009):
71-92. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 May 2014.
Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. “Putting
meat on the table: industrial farm animal production in America.” April 2008 at
23 Web. 21 May 2014.
Pluhar, Evelyn. "Meat And Morality: Alternatives To
Factory Farming." Journal Of Agricultural & Environmental
Ethics 23.5 (2010): 455-468. Business Source Complete.
Web. 21 May 2014.
“Public Health” Sustainabletable.org.
Food Program. Web. 20 May. 2014
“The E.P.A. Backs Off
on Factory Farms” Nytimes.com. Web.
14 June. 2013
Weeks, Jennifer. "Factory Farms: The Issues." CQ
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