Giant factory farms produce an enormous amount of manure and other pollutants. People don’t want to live, breathe, or eat near them because of the many ways they pollute the environment and ruin quality of life. After recently reviewing all the problems they create, the American Public Health Association (APHA) called for a moratorium on new factory farms. The idea is not without precedent. North Carolina
imposed a statewide moratorium on new factory farms in 1995, after a local hog farm spilled 25 million gallons of manure — more than twice the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez — killing 10 million fish and contaminating more than 350,000 acres of coastal shellfish habitat.
We second APHA‚ call for a national ban on new or expanded factory farms, and commend the important fights other groups are undertaking on the local and state level. We know this is going to be a long fight and we need your help!
Resources on the Public Health Impacts of Factory Farms
Factory Farm General Health Information
- Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins University
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Food and Health Section
Air Emissions/Odor
- Chapin A, Boulind C and Moore A. 1998. Controlling Odor and Gaseous Emission Problems from Industrial Swine Facilities: Recent Laws and New Ideas. Yale Environmental Protection Clinic.
- Thorne PS. 2002. Air quality issues. In: Iowa Concentrated animal feeding operations air quality study, Iowa State University and the University of Iowa Study Group. 35-44.