A River Of Waste: The Hazardous Truth About Factory Farms
April 06, 2013
Story at-a-glance
The vast majority of the food produced in the United States
comes from factory farms or CAFOs (concentrated animal
feeding operations) that put profits above all else
Massive rivers of waste that pollute surrounding waterways
with toxic bacteria and release noxious gasses into the air
commonly stem from CAFOs’ “waste lagoons”
CAFOs serve as ideal breeding grounds for diseases ranging
from influenza viruses to antibiotic-resistant superbugs,
which can infect the animals, farm workers and the general
public
Like many other industries, agribusiness uses intensive
lobbying, strong-arm tactics and other abuses of power to
keep regulations well in their favor
The "bigger is better" food system has reached a point where
its fundamental weaknesses are becoming apparent, and it’s
time for each of us to make a decision about what type of
food system we’re willing to support
By Dr. Mercola
There’s a good chance you’ve never personally seen a factory
farm or CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations) — and
there’s a reason for this.
CAFOs are traditionally hidden from public view. Certain
states (like Iowa, where big agriculture rules the roost
economically and politically) are even considering making
undercover videos taken on such farms — which often show
shocking scenes of animal cruelty and filth — illegal.
Quite simply, they don't want you to see what's really going
on, because if you did, you would probably turn away in disgust
at the mere thought of eating the foods produced there.
Yet, the vast majority of the food produced in the United
States comes from these industrial-sized CAFOs.
In the documentary film above, A River of Waste: The
Hazardous Truth About Factory Farms, you can see first-hand
the toll that the modern industrial system of meat and poultry
production has on human health and the environment, and realize
why a prompt call to action is urgently needed.
Waste From CAFOs Compared to 'Mini Chernobyls'
When you raise tens of thousands of animals (and in the case
of chickens, 100,000) under one roof, you’re left with a load of
waste. That manure, which traditionally was regarded as a
valuable fertilizing byproduct when produced on a much smaller
scale, has become one of the most polluting substances in the
United States (even though federal legislature forbids animal
waste from being defined as “hazardous”).
The problem is, when it’s produced in massive quantities, it
certainly is hazardous. In a report of the Pew Commission on
industrial farm animal production (IFAP),1
it’s explained:
“Animal waste in such volumes may exceed the capacity
of the land to absorb the nutrients and attenuate pathogens.
Thus, what could be a valuable byproduct becomes a waste
that must be disposed of in an appropriate manner.
The annual production of manure produced by animal
confinement facilities exceeds that produced by humans by at
least three times. Manure in such large quantities carries
excess nutrients, chemicals, and microorganisms that find
their way into waterways, lakes, groundwater, soils, and
airways.
Excess and inappropriate land application of
untreated animal waste on cropland contributes to excessive
nutrient loading and, ultimately, eutrophication of surface
waters.
IFAP runoff also carries antibiotics and hormones,
pesticides, and heavy metals. Pesticides are used to control
insect infestations and fungal growth.
Heavy metals, especially zinc and copper, are added
as micronutrients to the animal diet. Tylosin, a widely used
antibiotic (macrolide) for disease treatment and growth
promotion in swine, beef cattle, and poultry production, is
an example of a veterinary pharmaceutical that decays
rapidly in the environment, but can still be found in
surface waters of agricultural watersheds.”
The waste, which is typically stored in massive “lagoons,”
often leads to rivers of waste that flow from factory farms into
the surrounding environment. As the film described, just one
environmental consequence of this is the quick spread of
Pfiesteria, a microscopic organism that feeds off the
phosphorus and nitrogen found in manure.
Pfiesteria, Harmful Gasses Linked to Toxic Storage Lagoons
Pfiesteria is a lethal toxin harmful to both humans and fish.
In states with CAFOs, it’s not unusual for the bacteria to
overwhelm waterways, killing fish and causing human health
problems ranging from nausea and fatigue to open sores, memory
loss and disorientation. The manure also leads to the production
of at least 160 different gasses, including ammonia, carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane and hydrogen sulfide.
According to the Pew Commission:2
“Possibly the most dangerous gas common to IFAP
facilities is hydrogen sulfide. It can be released rapidly
when the liquid manure slurry is agitated, an operation
commonly performed to suspend solids so that pits can be
emptied by pumping. During agitation, hydrogen sulfide
levels can soar within seconds from the usual ambient levels
of less than 5 ppm to lethal levels of over 500 ppm. Animals
and workers have died or become seriously ill in swine IFAP
facilities when hydrogen sulfide has risen from agitated
manure in pits under the building.”
There are also problems with ammonia release, which,
according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), “can
be carried more than 300 miles through the air before being
dumped back onto the ground or into the water, where it causes
algal blooms and fish kills.”3
Corporations primarily use the CAFO system because efficiency
and profits are valued above all else, even though this
frequently violates natural laws and increase the risk to people
eating the food they produce. The environmental assaults that
follow are considered a cost of doing business, but as River
of Waste poignantly shared, we should perhaps be heeding
this Native American Cree prophecy before it is too late …
“Only after the last tree is cut down, the last of
the water poisoned, the last animal destroyed … only then
will you realize you cannot eat money.”
CAFOs Contribute to the Spread of Human Disease
The film also sheds some concerning light on how easily CAFOs
serve as breeding grounds for disease — not only amongst the
animals housed there and the farm workers, but also to those of
us in the general population. River of Waste mentions
H5N1, aka the bird flu, specifically. Although it doesn't
spread easily among humans, its capability to mutate has
scientists worrying whether it could mutate enough to cause a
human pandemic. CAFOs serve as the ideal place for this to
happen, as there are millions, if not billions, of host birds
among which the virus can flourish.
Aside from various strains of influenza or other viruses,
feeding livestock continuous, low-dose antibiotics — a common
practice on CAFOs -- creates a perfect storm for widespread
disease proliferation — and, worse yet, antibiotic-resistant
disease. Just one of several now-resistant
pathogens, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA),
is responsible for more than 94,000 infections and 18,000 deaths
in the United States each year!
CAFO animals do require more drugs, as disease is
rampant due to cramped and unsanitary living conditions. It's a
natural consequence of raising tens or hundreds of thousands of
animals on one farm. For the sake of efficiency, CAFO animals
are crammed into tiny spaces and treated in ways that are truly
shocking to most people who are just learning about how CAFO's
are run. Due to these living conditions, a variety of drugs,
including antibiotics, are routinely administered to all
animals, whether they're sick or well, in order to keep as many
of them as possible alive until it's time for slaughter.
Low-Dose Antibiotics Commonly Used to Boost Animal Growth… and
Profits
Low-dose antibiotics are also routinely used to boost
growth of the animal, and this is purely a financial
concern. Larger, fatter animals equate to greater profits. The
ultimate price, of course, is that you end up getting a dose of
antibiotics and other drugs in each and every steak and chicken
wing. An even lesser known issue is the problem with
antibiotic-laden manure from CAFOs further contaminating the
rest of your food supply. That's right — even your lettuce may
contain antibiotics! These are all powerful reasons for choosing
organically raised, drug-free, grass-fed or pastured animal
products instead.
Agribusiness Industry Wields its Power to Control Government and
Public Perceptions
Like many other industries, agribusiness uses intensive
lobbying, strong-arm tactics and other abuses of power to keep
regulations well in their favor. As reported by Occupy for
Animals:4
“Federal legislature currently forbids animal waste
from being categorized as hazardous. In addition, on the
economic level, many corporations are multi-state and can
simply move to another state if local laws become too
restrictive for their tastes.
Other strong-arm tactics include abuse of power at
the highest levels, industry lobby money poured into
political campaigns in exchange for less restrictive laws,
control of academic resources, and delaying tactics. Perhaps
the most damning example of political abuse is the ability
of certain corporations to claim immunity to the federal
Clean Air Act.”
Not surprisingly, the U.S. government has a history of
supporting these industrial CAFO operations, both by looking the
other way when abuse or contamination occurs, and by directly
subsidizing cheaply produced beef, and corn and soy used for
feed. As it stands, 2 percent of U.S. livestock facilities
produce 40 percent of farm animals,5
and these large, corporate-owned CAFOs have been highly promoted
as the best way to produce food for the masses. The only reason
CAFOs are able to remain so "efficient," bringing in massive
profits while selling their food for bottom-barrel prices, is
because they substitute subsidized crops for pasture grazing.
Factory farms use massive quantities of corn, soy and grain
in their animal feed, all crops that they are often able to
purchase at below cost because of government subsidies. Because
of these subsidies, U.S. farmers produce massive amounts of soy,
corn, wheat, etc. -- rather than vegetables -- leading to a
monoculture of foods that create a fast food diet.
FDA Refuses to Impose Stricter Regulations on CAFOs
Even the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
continually made it clear that its loyalties lie with industry,
not public health. Instead of enforcing stricter regulations,
the agency has simply asked food producers to voluntarily
limit their use of certain antibiotics. In fact, on December 22,
2011, the agency quietly posted a notice in the Federal
Register6
that it was effectively reneging on its plan to reduce the use
of antibiotics in agricultural animal feed — a plan it had been
touting since 1977!
It’s a vicious cycle, and both you and the animals bear the
brunt of the consequences. In the film, a report card is given
for the U.S. regulations for CAFOs, and wouldn’t you know it,
they received failing grades in every category, from ammonia
levels and antibiotics use to disease, sewage and waste …
There is a Better Way: Buck the System to Get REAL Food That
Doesn’t Destroy the Environment, Animal Welfare or Your Health
Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms is a pioneer in sustainable
agriculture and has mastered the art of raising healthy, happy
chickens, pigs and cattle. I recently visited
Joel Salatin at his farm in Virginia. He practices the
local, sustainable model of food production, which is in stark
contrast to the more prevalent model of large-scale mass food
production that's seen today. The "bigger is better" food system
has reached a point where its fundamental weaknesses are
becoming apparent, and it’s time for each of us to answer a very
important question: what kind of food system do YOU want?
As Joel discusses in the interview above, there are basically
two different models of food production today, and there's
growing conflict between them. The first, and most prevalent, is
the CAFO model that takes a very mechanistic view toward life,
whereas the other—the local, sustainable farm model—has a
biological and holistic view.
I encourage you to support the small family farms in your
area, particularly organic farms that respect the laws
of nature and use the relationships between animals, plants,
insects, soil, water and habitat to create synergistic,
self-supporting, non-polluting, GMO-free ecosystems.
Whether you do so for ethical, environmental or health
reasons — or all of the above -- the closer you can get to the
"backyard barnyard," the better. You'll want to get your meat,
chickens and eggs from smaller community farms with free-ranging
animals, organically fed and locally marketed. This is the way
food has been raised and distributed for centuries ... before it
was corrupted by politics, corporate greed and the blaring
arrogance of the food industry.
You can do this not only by visiting the farm directly, if
you have one nearby, but also by taking part in farmer's markets
and community-supported agriculture programs. The following
organizations can also help you locate farm-fresh foods in your
local area, raised in a humane, sustainable manner:
Local
Harvest -- This Web site will help you find
farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of
sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy
produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.
Eat Well
Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals --
The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably
raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores,
restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online outlets in the
United States and Canada.
FoodRoutes
-- The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect
with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food
possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing
for local farmers, CSA's, and markets near you.