Public Health Effects: Kids• Children who go to school nearby CAFOs have a

significantly higher prevalence of asthma1

• Young people living on hog farms are also more likely to have asthma, and significantly more so where antibiotics are fed to the animals2

• Hydrogen sulfide emissions impact children more significantly than adults (resulting in nausea, headache, and dizziness) because H2S is heavier than air and therefore more likely to settle in their breathing zone3

Public Health Effects• Higher incidence of diarrhea and respiratory illness occur

neighboring a CAFO1

• A range of symptoms occur - headaches, runny noses, sore throats, nausea, burning eyes, depression, and fatigue2

• Gas masks necessary from sealed houses to cars

• Reduced property values statistically significant in downward economic spiral for adjacent residents3

American Public Health, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine all urge a U.S. EPA moratorium from health effects

of long-term exposure to air pollutants

Jim Norman, Mississippi cotton farmer Dr. Steven Wing, Professor of Epidemiology

"Sometimes when I walk outside, I end up vomiting, this stench can give you diarrhea and sinus head aches…it's like living

inside a gutter'' - plaintiff in a CAFO class-action lawsuit1

"Quality of life, as indicated by the number of times residents could not open their windows or go outside even in nice

weather, was…greatly reduced among residents near the hog operation”

-, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2

"They're stealing our fresh air from us"

"Odors emanating from this industrial site are gut wrenching and prolonged …we have even witnessed manure

and urine from its lagoons being pivot irrigated in 40-50 mph winds …

neighbors have literally been covered with this effluent when

driving in their cars on nearby roads''

- Karen Hudson, Peoria County, Illinois resident, member of the Peoria County Board of Public Health, neighbor of a Murphy Smithfield hog

operation and one of the largest dairies in the state of Illinois2

Confined hogs destroyed catastrophic storm events

Photos taken from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and United States Geological Survey post-storm event environmental analysis documentation

Regulatory Standards of Proof• A 1998 study found that the level of enforcement of environmental laws and regulations, even more than their stringency, had a direct influence on the growth of the hog

industry3

• “Weak state agencies are the primary consideration in siting the industry’s new facilities…the more lenient a state’s

enforcement program, the more likely it is to see growth in the hog industry”2

• Once a CAFO has been built near residents “citizens are then shouldered with the ‘burden of proof’ when they

experience health effects and other problems associated with this industry”1

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Disproportionate Impacts

University of North Carolina found hog farms disproportionately located in areas with higher levels of

poverty and higher proportions of non-white people - with the highest disease rates and the least access to

medical care1

“located in rural states where they can easily dominate the political landscape…hog factories also tend to locate in minority communities where opposition is

considered by the industry to be more easily silenced” - Waterkeeper Alliance2

CAFOs often speak of being one of the “most highly regulated”

EPA and industry often exempt CAFOs from Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-

Know Act (EPCRA) reporting requirements

H.R. 4341 and S. 3681 are examples of attempts to excuse CAFOs manure from Superfund and other

associated regulations

•Industry engages in a “race to the bottom” in which those states that are weakest in regulation or

enforcement bear an inordinate portion of facilities1

• Without the proper role of regulation from governmental

sources, situation has devolved to “regulation through private litigation”2

• "Long term, states cannot supplant the role of the federal government in addressing these issues” -

a voluntary program for CAFO emissions

The EPA has commissioned the National Academy of Science (NAS) to research air emissions, review

existing data and establish protocols for estimating CAFO air emissions and in 2005 it created a voluntary program for CAFOs to monitor their own air pollution

and supply their results to the EPA in exchange for relief from liability for

environmental violations

a voluntary program for CAFO emission

Energy consumption of animal and plant-based diets broadly demonstrate that the green house gas emissions of various diets vary by as much as the difference between owning a

sedan versus a sport-utility vehicle under typical driving conditions.

Pressing global climate change relate to rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases; atmospheric

concentrations of CO2; observed mean temperature and climatic changes, is evidence that most of the warming

observed over 50 years attributes to human policy (switching transportation to less CO2-intensive modes personal, daily-life

choices: the vehicle one drives, personal diet).

Diet, Energy, and Global Warming Gidon Eshel Pamela A. Martin

Comparative Energy Consumption David and Marcia Pimentel

Estimated energy efficiency of protein in animal products varies from 0.5% for lamb 5% for chicken to 3% for beef (reflecting different

reproductive life histories, feed, genetic ability to convert nutrients to body protein, intensity of rearing, heat, cold humidity.

Mean efficiency of red meat (beef, pork, lamb) fish, and poultry 9.32% (is readily comparable with 60% for tomatoes, 170% for oranges and

potatoes, 500% for oats).. 

Compared with driving diet transition produce 0 methane nitrous oxide emissions in enteric fermentation by ruminants.

Per unit protein, meat requires 6 to 17 times the land use of soy. Approximately 74% of the total nitrous oxide emissions come from

agriculture due to nitrogen fertilization for cattle, poultry, sheep.

Comparative Energy Consumption David and Marcia Pimentel

1 calorie of protein from soybeans takes an est. 2 calories of fossil fuel, compared to 3 to 1 calorie of corn or wheat.

For beef it takes 54 calories of fuel to make 1 calorie of protein.

Worldwide animal manure creates for 20% annual methane emissions, 7% of nitrous oxide, 10% total greenhouse gases

Brazilian animal feed for export affect local diet and vast forest species at a cost of £1.5 - £2 billion per annum. This includes

damage to atmosphere (£316 mil), water (£231 mil), biodiversity (£126 mil), soils (£96 mil) and human health (£77 mil).

Not all external costs of agriculture attribute to livestock, but high pollution estimates external costs of US agriculture at £13 bill/yr.