There are humane alternatives

"Our inhumane treatment of livestock is becoming widespread and more and more barbaric. Six-hundred-pound hogs--they were pigs at one time-- raised in 2-foot-wide metal cages called gestation crates, in which the poor beasts are unable to turn around or lie down in natural positions, and this way they live for months at a time. On profit-driven factory farms, veal calves are confined to dark wooden crates so small that they are prevented from lying down or scratching themselves. These creatures feel; they know pain. They suffer pain just as we humans suffer pain. Egg-laying hens are confined to battery cages. Unable to spread their wings, they are reduced to nothing more than an egg-laying machine."  (Senator Robert Byrd  2001 Speech to Congress on Animal Cruelty) 

• Minimal needed changes in current Canadian practice
• What's a CAFO?
• What's happening in Ontario
• What's happening in Halton
• Alternatives to Factory Farming
• Dutch Trends
• ILOs a Public Health Hazard
• The Economics of Factory Farming
• Tracing Fecal Contamination
• Mad Cow
• Links
• Environment
• More Health 
• Animal Welfare
• Regulations
• Alternatives
• Misc. News

Minimal needed changes in current Canadian practice

1. Canada should establish minimum standards for animal welfare as it pertains to livestock similar to the European Commission -. Food Safety - from the farm to the fork. Currently Canada only suggests guidelines for care of livestock. See Recommended Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animal - these are not required.

2. Antibiotics should not be used as a daily component of feed.  In the United States,  it is estimated that US livestock producers use approximately 24.6 million pounds (11.2 million kilograms) of antimicrobials for non-therapeutic purposes primarily to promote the growth of cattle, hogs, and poultry (that's 50% of all antimicrobials used). Under current Canadian legislation, antimicrobials are acceptable as feed additives, although its use is not tracked properly in Canada. "There is increasing evidence that resistant bacteria are being transferred from farm animals to humans possibly through food, water or direct/indirect contact," (Antimicrobial Resistance). The Advisory Committee on Animal Uses of Antimicrobials and Impact on Resistance and Human Health has recommended that all antimicrobials used in food animals, including all active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), should be evaluated, registered, and assigned a DIN to prevent the direct use of APIs in food animals - Health Canada Animal Uses of Antimicrobials and Impact on Resistance and Human Health, 2002).

3. Industrial Farming should be placed under the same scrutiny as other industries with regard to air emissions. Municipal Industrial Strategy for Abatement (MISA) act under the Environmental Protection Act sets emission limits for other industrial sectors and should also be monitoring industrial farms.

4. Agriculture Canada must deliver the promised national environmental management plan for the hog industry and Environment Canada should create a system to ensure hog farms are complying with environmental laws. 2005 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development 

5. Industrial farming should not be deemed normal farming practice.  

6. Farmers should be able to make a decent living raising animals in humane ways. The government should ensure that taxes, grants and subsidies promote sound environmental practices in the agrifood sector and provide increased support for farmers behaving responsibly.

7. Punishment for animal abuse should be much harsher. Enact BILL C-50. Although industrial farming practices, such as over-crowded stalls and battery cages, are also not covered by this legislation, it does begin to modernize Canada's legal code by recognizing that non-human animals are not mere property, but sentient beings.  Justice Minister Introduces Bill to Protect Animal Rights - May 31st 2005

8. See Sierra Club Canada ILO Page

What's a CAFO?

Animal factories are proliferating throughout North America.  Factory farms are intensive livestock operations or ILOs. They are also termed animal feeding operations, AFOs, confined animal feeding operations or concentrated animal feeding operations, CAFOs, (also CFOs). Although the number of animals per unit area varies,  generally, these industrialized operations confine large numbers of animals in lots, pens, ponds, sheds or buildings, in which there is no ground cover or vegetation present for most or all of the animals' lives. "Factory farming harms the environment, negatively affects human health, destroys rural communities, and needlessly causes animal suffering on a massive scale," (Letter to Halton). There is nothing wrong with large farms, there is something very wrong with factory farms.

Factory farms take "root where zoning laws are lax or nonexistent, or in states where citizens were prevented from filing suits against agricultural operations. The inevitable byproduct of huge concentrations of animals is huge concentrations of manure, which is stored in open lagoons and eventually sprayed on farmland, though there is usually far more manure than local fields can absorb. In such quantities, manure becomes a toxic substance. Spills are always a risk, as is groundwater contamination. The bigger danger is airborne contamination of water from ammonia, which rises from the lagoons and falls into low-lying rivers and estuaries," (The Curse of Factory Farms, New York Times editorial, August 31, 2002). The standards and monitoring regulations vary from country to country; state to state; province to province. 

Commission for Environmental Cooperation published Comparative Standards of Intensive Livestock Operations in Canada, United States and Mexico, which documents the trend toward livestock intensification and farm consolidation. They cite, for example, that "in 2001, the eight largest commercial pork producers in Canada owned 275,800 sows; the three largest in Mexico owned 131,500; and, the twenty-five largest in the United States owned 2,485,075. In the United States, 110 operations control 47% of the hog inventory.1 In 2000, operations with 5000 hogs or more comprised 50% of the US hog inventory. It has been estimated that 50% of Mexico’s swine production comes from intensive operations ....In Canada, the greatest concentration of AUs is in the "feedlot alley" of central and southern Alberta and along the southern tier of Ontario and Quebec."" (p. 6/147).  "Almost all of the 97 million pigs slaughtered annually for human consumption in the United States are raised in crowded, confined conditions, where they are deprived of space, fresh air, and fresh forage for the duration of their shortened lives. Many also have their tails cut off and their teeth excised as piglets," (2005, United States Humane Society). What is happening in the hog industry is reflected in the poultry and dairy industry.  Large numbers of animals, (designated by LUs or AUs for animal units or NUs for nutrient units), are maintained in as little space as possible to maximize profit, at the expense of animal welfare, the environment and public health. However, it is not just a North American phenomenon.

A few transnational companies dominate the agri-food sector, (e.g. Smithfields, Archer Daniel Midlands and Cargill). They are well established around the world, including Europe. However, the Europeans have begun to try and limit factory farming abuses, (Farm Sanctuary, The European experience"; BBC, "Polish factory farms causing a stink"; UK NGO Compassion in World Farming). The European Union, in particular, has begun setting higher standards for farming practice. "The European Commission's activities in this area start with the recognition that animals are sentient beings. The general aim is to ensure that animals need not endure avoidable pain or suffering and obliges the owner/keeper of animals to respect minimum welfare requirements, " (2005, EC. Food Safety - from the farm to the fork).  The EU has also imposed far stricter standards for manure handling. In 1991, the EC passed the Nitrate Directive. The Nitrate Directive required that EU countries monitor their waterways for nitrates and establish codes of practice to reduce nitrate pollution, (read more in Dutch Farmers Leaving the Netherlands).

Nitrates are produced in great abundance on factory farms. The nitrate containing manure and urine is usually mechanically removed from the confinement areas and stored in large waste lagoons. The waste must at some point in time must be distributed elsewhere. Often it is sprayed on neighboring farmlands. You should be aware of the volumes of waste we are talking about. The average 635 kg (1,400 pounds) dairy cow produces about 62 L (16 gallons) of urine and manure or around 54 kg (120 pounds) every day, which translates to 25 kg each of nitrates and phosphates a year, (University of Wisconsin Extension Service publication A3601 -pdf; Government of Newfoundland Labrador Annual Livestock Manure Production ).  This is equivalent to the amount of waste produced by 20-40 human beings. “For example the 1600 dairies in Central Valley of California produce more manure than a city of 21 million people produce biosolids” – that’s more waste than the population of the state of Texas. One giant hog farm in Utah with the potential to produce 2.5 million sows will put out more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles." (1998, Farm Sanctuary, Farm Animal Waste).  "Livestock operations in Ontario and Quebec generate enough manure to equal the sewage from over 100 million people. And the problem of how to manage it safely is getting worse. The misuse of manure and fertilizer on farmland has damaged the ecosystem of the basin," (2001, Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Manure and Fertilizer Management).

It is easy to understand why farm runoff is the leading source of water pollution in the U.S. and Canada. Pollutants are not only from nitrate and phosphate loading, serious coliform bacteria are also a major concern from farm runoff. "While numbers vary by species, farm livestock typically shed about 10⁶ to 10⁷ fecal coliform organisms per gram of waste, or approximately 10 ⁹ - 10¹⁰ organisms per capita per day.  ... Land application of animal waste may deliver 10⁹ - 10 ¹² E. coli per acre to the land annually. Depending on subsequent precipitation, runoff, and land management, microorganisms in the land-applied waste may be available for transport and delivery to surface or ground waters.  Fecal coliform counts of 10⁴- 10⁶/100 ml in runoff from manure application areas are commonly reported." (2004, EPA Manure Management)

Mapped cattle densities correlate to serious incidence of E. coli infections in rural Ontario and routinely registered the highest rates of E. coli 0157 infection from 1990 to 1995. 
Figure 1. Yearly incidence of shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection (per 100,000 population), southern Ontario, 1996-1998.  
Figure 2. Ratio of beef cattle to human population (number of animals per person), southern Ontario, 1996).
Figure 3. Total number of cattle per square kilometers, southern Ontario, 1996.
(Maps from CDC, 2002, Associations between Indicators of Livestock Farming Intensity and Incidence of Human Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Infection

Walkerton one community in the midst of cattle country. 2300 people were sickened and 7 died from drinking water contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 and Campylobacter jejuni, in May of 2000. "A 60-page study released in November 2001 concluded that the Walkerton water tragedy cost at least $64.5 million and an estimated $155 million, if human suffering was factored in. Each household in the town of 5,000 spent about $4,000 on average as a result of the contamination, for a total of $6.9 million. The study weighed in the costs and benefits of providing safe drinking water." (excerpt and map from CBC News Online, Canada's worst-ever E. coli contamination Dec. 20, 2004)

"The contamination of water supplies by the livestock industry results in thousands of bacterial infections in Canada each year (Statistics Canada, 1999). Within the last decade, 1100 to 1600 cases of verocytotoxigenic E. coli infection were reported annually in Canada, with the majority of cases attributed to infection by E. coli O157:H7. Between 9800 and 14000 cases of Campylobacter spp. infection were reported in Canada from 1986 to 1998 (BGOSHU, 2000), " (McGill, Human health and farming).

Livestock farms will always produce odor - this is a normal part of farming practice. However with megafarms comes megaodor. According to recent studies, people living miles away from factory farms suffer odor problems. The bad smell isn't just unpleasant. Odors come from chemicals in the air. The chemicals that make these odors are complex.  Even worse are the dust-like particles from barns -- moulds, fungus, fecal matter, skin cells and bacteria. These particles collect chemicals and spread them over long distances.  The animals, their feed, their manure and urine generate gases like hydrogen sulfide and ammonia (both toxic and potentially lethal), volatile organic compounds, like the known carcinogens benzene, toluene and xylene, and bioaerosols, which include bacteria, fungi and their byproducts like endotoxins and glucans.  Emissions originate from the housing ventilation air, manure storage units, and during land application of manure and blow where ever the wind will carry them. These substances can not only produce offensive odors, making it unpleasant for people to enjoy their homes and communities, but these substances can also affect human health, causing nausea, headaches, sleep disturbances, upset stomach, loss of appetite, depression and more. Air emissions around CAFOs have not been well studies. We do know that 25 percent of CAFO workers are diagnosed with chronic bronchitis and non-allergic asthma - lung disease is a growing concern. Study after study show that neighbours of large-scale swine operations have higher rates of respiratory illness as well as other health problems as compared with those living near minimal livestock production. [(2005, Environ Health Perspect Exposure to diluted air); (2002, Ottawa Citizen,  Hog farms are a health menace); (2002, Environmental Integrity Project Raising a Stink);  (2001, Thu, Neighbor health) ; (2000, E. Pip, A review of the effects of the livestock industry on the environment and human health); (2000, Wing and Wolf, Environ Health Perspect, Intensive Livestock Operations, Health, and Quality of Life among Eastern North Carolina Residents)] Factory farms are industries and their emissions should be monitored in just the same fashion as a chemical plant or any other polluting industry is monitored.

Because of the mounting evidence that industrial farming is bad for the environment and bad for human health, the Canadian Medical Association believes that provinces should halt expansion of at least the hog industry before more research is done, (CBC News, Aug 2002, Doctors want moratorium on new hog farms). The province of Quebec has called for a moratorium on hog operations. The American Public Health Association (APHA) has also issued a resolution urging government health agencies to impose a moratorium on all new CAFOs,  (see APHA document pdf also see Jan. 09 2004, APHA urges moratorium on new factory farms). 

In his book, entitled Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, Matthew Scully, a senior speechwriter to the current President Bush, urges that all factory farming be banned as cruel and unchristian behavior. Most people believe in the humane treatment of animals and are simply unaware of the cruel treatment of farm animals. Many organizations are working to stop the growth of factory farming. Humanefood.ca
produced by the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals (CCFA), is dedicated to promoting the welfare of animals raised for food in Canada through public education, legislative change and consumer choice. Humane farm animal care is a Vermont based NGO providing humane certification. The Grace Factory Farm Project has one of the most extensive databases. They provide information and links to help you understand the issues and take action, including a useful Guide to Confronting CAFO's.  The Humane Society of the United States, "the nation’s largest animal protection organization with over seven million members and constituents, is calling on consumers, communities, government officials and farmers to band together to end the suffering of millions of hogs raised every year in factory farms across the United States."  They have initiated a campaign to Halt Hog Factories. Waterkeeper Alliance, Families Against Rural Messes and  Farm Aid are also actively working to stop factory farms. The Sierra Club publishes a Factory Farm information page and a page on Clean Water and Factory Farms.  These are but a few of the resources now available through the Internet.

Our laws have no bite.

In 2003, animal welfare workers  turned up heaps of dead animals piled behind barns, thousands of dead piglets in manure tanks and cannibalization at five farms operated by Wood Lynn Farms Ltd. in Ontario: Charges laid as officers find thousands of decaying pigs (National Post, Oct. 15, 2003), Farm investigation reveals heaps of dead, dying pigs  (Toronto Star, Oct. 15, 2003) Animal-cruelty charges laid in deaths of thousands of pigs (Globe and Mail, Oct. 15, 2003).  Jim Long, President, Baconmaker Genetics/Wood Lynn Farms, Inc, was charged along with seven other men for causing unnecessary pain, causing unnecessary suffering, willful neglect and abandoning an animal in distress. Baconmaker was a the time one of North America's largest seed stock (pigs) businesses.  Wood Lynn Farms filed for bankruptcy and was absorbed by Genesus/Keystone Pig Advancement, where Jim Long presumably continues is pork raising practices, while writing a a weekly pork commentary carried by Pork Industry sites across the Americas.  According to the National Pork Board's survey " when it comes to picking out meat products, consumers are more concerned about price and quality than about animal welfare and antibiotics. That's good news ..." Pork Magazine writer, Jane Messenger suggests. Good news apparently that the public has trusted producers and no one is scrutinizing how pigs are raised. When pigs are seen only as units of profit or pork chops in the meat counter, humane care for these animals is apparently easily neglected. 

In Ontario, Inspectors and agents of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) can and do lay charges under the Criminal Code in cases of severe cruelty or neglect. Part XI Wilful and Forbidden Acts in Respect of Certain Property of the Criminal Code states that it is a federal offence to "wilfully cause or permit to be caused, being the owner, unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal or by wilful neglect, cause damage or injury to animals while they are being driven or conveyed." The punishment for those who are convicted under the Sections 444-447 of the Criminal Code range from a maximum of 6 months imprisonment, a maximum of $2,000 and a prohibition of owning an animal for a maximum of two years. Additional charges for cruelty can come from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is responsible for enforcing the regulations of the Health of Animals Act. Penalties under the Health of Animals Act are light - with a serious violation typically netting a $400 fine.

On May 16, 2005 the federal Minister of Justice, the Hon. Irwin Cotler introduced BILL C-50, the amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada that deal with cruelty to animals. Although industrial farming practices, such as over-crowded stalls and battery cages, are also not covered by this legislation, it does begin to modernize Canada's legal code by recognizing that non-human animals are not merely property.  In addition, the courts could order the convict to pay for the cost associated with the animal's loss or injury. Justice Minister Introduces Bill to Protect Animal Rights - May 31st 2005 

In Ontario

" Since the end of the Second World War, agriculture has become increasingly industrialized.... For instance, between 1951 and 1998 the number of dairy farmers in Ontario dropped from approximately 40,000 to 7,200; the number of pork producers went from 93,000 to 5,500." OMAF 2000 Discussion Paper on Intensive Agricultural Operations in Rural Ontario.

What are we doing? Wondering how close is safe. We have established minimum distance separation. - MDS. This allows ILOs to operate and maintain manure storage facilities:

• 125 -250 m from the nearest residential area. 

• 50 m from any surface water

• 15 m from all field tiles

• 100 m from a municipal well, 30 -90 m from all other wells

• above the 1-in-100-year flood line mapped by the municipality or conservation authority

• Nutrient Management Act: Siting Regulations for Manure Storage Facilities

OMAF - Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Areas regulates ILOs. The  Normal Farm Practices Protection Board created under the Farming and Food Production Protection Act (FFPPA), defines normal farm practices, including manure storage, handling and spreading. As long as ILOs meet minimum distance separation (MDS) and nutrient management guidelines, they are exempt from nuisance complaints.  OMAF has published Nutrient Management Act: What Rural Neighbours Can Expect From Large Livestock Operations.  Among other things neighbors can expect is odor - a nuisance and not a health issue. Not all farms need a NMS strategy.

The Ontario Farm Animal Council, which represents Ontario’s 35,000 livestock and poultry farmers plus many other agricultural groups and businesses involved in animal agriculture and food production, are the ones making recommendations for animal care: Recommended Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animal - these are not required and quite vague. Fact sheets prepared by OMAF suggest adult chickens can be housed in 20 x 20 cm cages (64in²) Poultry Care but offer little specific guidance for pigs and cows. 

On February 23rd 2005, the municipality of East Hawkesbury prohibited the creation or establishment of, the possession, maintenance or operation, directly or indirectly of an intensive hog operation in the county. The term “Intensive Hog Operation” is defined as follows: An agricultural installation which implies the reproduction, breeding, custody, lodging care or maintenance of pigs exceeding 500 living animals. (Citizens for the Environment and Future of Eastern Ontario). Several other municipalities have tried to place moratoriums or restrictions on the development of CAFOs: Mono Clarence-Rockland, Tweed , Altred, Champlain, Haldimand, Middlesex, Nation, Mississippi mills, Port Colborne, Norfolk County . 

For more Ontario policies see OMAF: Legislation and Farming Practice

In Halton Region

Census of Agriculture (2001) states that their are 619 farms in Halton covering 967square km,

• 177 farms raise 11,581cattle and calves

• 13 farms raise 6,254 pigs

• 82 farms have 447,321 birds on inventory (2001)

• 53 farms raise 2075 sheep/lambs

(The only farm associated facility reporting Releases and Transfers is Neilson Dairy on 279 Guelph St in Halton Hills NPRI ID: 4540. Total Reported Releases & Transfers with Combined Air Release in 2003 were 91,580 kg in 2004 this decreased to 39,300 kg. Click link to see more information.)

Alternatives to Factory Farming

Alternatives that are efficient, humane and environmentally friendly do exist. The Rodale Institute is one organization working to improve farming methods. Visit their Pig Page.  Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) promotes better methods of raising livestock and poultry. Like the Humane Society, they are working to "improve the welfare of farm animals, increase the safety of meat, milk, and eggs, broaden economic opportunities for family farmers, and reduce environmental pollution."  FACT's On-Farm Programs demonstrate the  profitability of humanely raised food products. There are many humane alternatives. Nocafos.org provide a useful page on sustainable alternatives.

These pictures from the Humane Society's website, show hogs raised in hoop farms. Hoop Systems are one of many humane alternatives. The Animal Welfare Institute has created an Alternative Farming Database, which "provides published and online information for farmers, consumers, students, and educators who are concerned about factory farming and are seeking humane alternatives. It has a comprehensive  bibliography that includes information on various sustainable systems of livestock production such as rotational grazing for dairy cattle; outdoor, Swedish and hoop systems for swine; free-range and pastured poultry systems for chickens as well as research articles on animal behavior." In addition, Rodale's New Farm provides a useful list of websites and organizations discussing responsible alternatives on their Pig Page.

Get Involved. Let officials know that you would like factory farms banned. Eat more humanely - try to buy humanely raised animals. Ask your grocery chain to establish humane handling policies for their suppliers. Contact officials and make your concerns known. HumaneFood.ca provides ideas for letter writing and information to incorporate in your letters.

LINKS OF INTEREST

Learn more about factory farming by visiting these sites:

• Animal Welfare
• Environmental Impact
• Rules and Regulations
• Health Issues
• Programs, Research and Alternatives
• News Stories
• Bovine Encephalitis - Mad Cow

General:

Corporate Agriculture: The Hollow Men

This is an excellent documentary which aired on CBC's Nature of Things in January 2004. It examines the growth of corporate factory agriculture – an industry that generates severe environmental, social and cultural problems.

HumaneFood.ca 

HUMANEFOOD.ca is produced by the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals (CCFA), dedicated to promoting the welfare of animals raised for food in Canada through public education, legislative change and consumer choice. CCFA supporters are animal-protection organizations across Canada representing over 120,000 Canadians.

Nutrient Management Around the World

This is an Ontario, Canada government site. It provides a good overview of the world situation with respect to livestock practices.

STOP the HOGS  

This is a coalition  of concerned citizens from Manitoba who have joined together to try and stop industrial hog farming they host a helpful forum - Factoryfarm forum.

Saskatchewan Eco-Net Intensive Livestock Operations 

 Good general links with a Canadian perspective on ILOs.

Grace Factory Farm Project

This is an extensive site of resources and information.

Environmental Resource Program's Hog Site

North Carolina's Health and Environment Center has put together this comprehensive collection of resources. North Carolina has had extensive experience with this industry and its associated problems. This site is ideal for educators. 

Comparative Standards of Intensive Livestock Operations in Canada, United States and Mexico

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation prepared this extensive report comparing industry standards and environmental issues.

OFAC

The Ontario Farm Animal Council represents Ontario’s 35,000 livestock and poultry farmers plus many other agricultural groups and businesses involved in animal agriculture and food production.

 

Animal Welfare:

European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes.

The EUs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) policy has been revised. Under the new CAP subsidies are linked to farmers' delivery of certain public goods, such as land management, environmental protection, food safety and animal welfare. (See BBC 2002 Farm reforms.) Animal Welfare is defined by Five Freedoms' 
* Freedom from hunger and thirst - access to fresh water and a diet for full health and vigour,
* Freedom from discomfort - an appropriate environment with shelter and comfortable rest area,
* Freedom from pain, injury and disease - prevention or rapid treatment,
* Freedom to express normal behaviour - adequate space and facilities, company of the animal's own kind,
* Freedom from fear and distress - conditions and treatment which avoid mental sufferings.

USDA Animal Welfare Center: Farm Animal Page

This is an exceptional resource with a comprehensive collection of links to federal policies and guidelines, disaster planning, publications, databases and sites related to the welfare of farm animals, (just keep scrolling down - it's big).

Humane Society of the United States

As discussed above, HSUS is trying to Halt Hog Factories as an inhumane activity. HSUS is asking you to "Urge your U.S. Representative to sign a letter being circulated by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) that seeks increased funding to improve AWA and Humane Slaughter Act enforcement, needed to prevent suffering by millions of animals. Urge your two Senators to sign a parallel letter being circulated by Sens. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and John Kerry (D-MA). Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121."

Humane Farm Animal Care

• Allow animals to engage in their natural behaviors
• Raising animals with sufficient space, shelter and gentle handling to limit stress
• Making sure they have ample fresh water and a healthy diet without added antibiotics or hormones

Welfare and Efficiency: Can they be put together in piglet production?

Professor Bo Algers is Professor of Animal Hygiene in the Department of Animal Environment and Health at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His research has combined the use of ethology, physiology and health measures in studying how different housing systems affect the health and welfare of cattle, pigs and poultry. 

Consumer Driven Animal Production

Farm animal welfare has been an issue in several countries around the world for well over 35 years. Concern about animal welfare was sparked in the UK following the publication of the book "Animal Machines" by Ruth Harrison in 1964.Harrison’s book had less of an impact in North America. Animal welfare initiatives in Canada have been voluntary. 

Animal Rights and Wrongs

Ken Midkiff director of Sierra Club's clean water/CAFO campaign writes,"No, no, no, the Sierra Club has not been converted into an animal rights organization, but the Clean Water/CAFO Campaign has recently developed a fact sheet dealing with the humane treatment of farmed animals. There is a direct connection between raising animals in concentrated industrial systems and the pollution of air and water." December 2003.

Animal Welfare Institute

 AWI has created an impressive Alternative Farming Database.

Livestock Behavior Research Unit 

This is a USDA funded facility that is focused more on productivity issues than welfare.

Food Animal Concerns Trust

Fact's Nest Eggs Project, Rambling Rose Brand Veal Project, Humane Hog Project are being developed to demonstrate that farm animals can be humanely raised and still be profitable. 

Bovine Growth Hormone (banned in Canada)

CAFO dairy cattle are often administered recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in the United States. "The veterinary experts cited an increased risk of mastitis of up to 25%, of infertility by 18%, and of lameness by up to 50%. These increased risks and overall reduced body condition lead to a 20-25% increased risk of culling from the herd." This is one of the reasons Canada and Europe have banned rBGH. See also MSNBC Reopens Debate on Safety of Bovine Growth Hormone in Milk.

Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s largest farm animal rescue and protection organization. They run FactoryFarm.com.

Environmental Impact:

Sierra Club

As discussed above, the Sierra Club is actively campaigning against the Factory Farm.

Stop the Hogs

Family farmers of Saskatoon are campaigning to keep factory farming from expanding in their communities.

The Ground Water Protection Council Project

GWPC is working to protect the nations groundwater. Their July 2002 Recharge Report focused on the risk to groundwater posed by CAFOs and the tough stance being taken in communities across the country and the world to prevent this industry from further harming water supplies.

The WaterKeeper Alliance

As founder and president of WKA, Robert Kennedy Jr. is heading an effort to clean up factory farms that are polluting the nation's waterways. (See Industrial Agriculture is Poisoning Our Waters, Poisoning Our Communities). Kennedy believes that hog industries are a threat to American democracy. He has identified three companies that have been particularly irresponsible in the way they raise and sell pork: Iowa Beef Processors, Tyson Food and Smithfield. These hog factories have nothing to do with farming or animal husbandry but are instead industries. He said the animals are treated "with unspeakable and unnecessary cruelty. (They are) kept alive with growth hormones and antibiotics. The waste stream is enormous." (Kennedy Blasts American Hog Industry) 

Iowa Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) Air Quality Study

This study by the Iowa State University and The University of Iowa Study Group examines the evidence linking CAFO emissions to harm of human health. It recommends that hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and odors be regulated, including by developing ambient air quality standards. It also makes some recommendations for reducing emissions from CAFOs.

Richard Dove's speech

 Dove gave and informative speech to Senate in March of 2002 regarding the negative impact of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and EPA’s failure to regulate such operations is well worth the read. He describes the devastation due to Pfiesteria piscicida, the "cell from hell," which been directly linked to nutrient pollution from CAFOs, (see The Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology for an in-depth description of this organism). 

Feedlot runoff disrupts reproductive systems of wild fish

 important findings in a study by The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, published in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP, Dec 2003).

Air Pollution from Large Livestock Operations: Recent Developments

Manure Management for Water Quality: Costs to Animal Feeding Operations of Applying Manure Nutrients to Land This United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) study  entitled shows that large factory farms have been over-applying manure to the land with significant environmental consequences.

 

Rules and Regulations:

A review of selected jurisdictions and their approaches to regulation intensive framing operations

This Ontario Government site provides a good basic overview of Canadian, U.S. and European regulations.

County of Perth, Bylaw 2573

Here is an example of a Canadian Community bylaw that regulates nutrient management for certain livestock operations. It was passed in 1998 and has withstood court challenge.

Some existing state laws affecting CAFOs

Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota and Vermont have passed some innovative laws minimize the impact of animal feeding operations on air, water and or the community.

Health of Animals Act ( 1990, c. 21 )

An Canadian Act respecting diseases and toxic substances that may affect animals or that may be transmitted by animals to persons, and respecting the protection of animals

Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations

These are the Canadian penalties for contravention of a provision of the Health of Animals Act or the Plant Protection Act.

Health Risks Associated with Factory Farming:

Intensive Livestock Operations- A Public Health Risk

This statement was directed to the Halton Region Planning Commission with regard to their Livestock Guidelines. It points to some of the best sources of information on the health risks associated with CAFOs.

The Canadian Medical Association asks for a moratorium on expansion of the hog industry

At its annual meeting in Aug 2002 the CMA expressed its concern over the public health risks posed by intensive hog operations and asked the federal, provincial, and territorial governments for a moratorium on industry expansion.

A Review of the Effects of the Livestock Industry on the Environment and Human Health also available as pdf

Dr. E. Pip, University of Winnipeg presented this report during the 2000 Manitoba livestock hearings.

European Food Safety Authority EFSA

EFSA has eight scientific panels including one on animal feed and one on animal welfare, that conduct risk analysis. Based on risk assessments, the EU has passed legislation to ban the use of antibiotics as growth promoters by 2006. See Antibiotics in Animal Feed for links to EU research and legislation. See also Friends of the Earth Europe's website

American Medical Association urges partial ban on antibiotics

June 2001 the AMA joined a long list of groups urging limitations of antibiotic use in the livestock industry.

The National Center for Disease Control

The CDC has begun a to take a serious look at the chemical and microbial contaminants associated with CAFOs. Although their report is not yet available, they provide information from sources outside the CDC on Animal Feeding and Health.

Center for Animal Health Monitoring

"To benefit producers and consumers of animal products, the Center for Animal Health Monitoring (CAHM) delivers timely, factual information and knowledge about interactions among animal health, welfare, production, product wholesomeness, and the environment."

American Public Health Association

APHA calls for a moratorium on animal feed operations until more scientific data on risks has been collected, calls for research on the environmental effects of such operations, especially in regard to exposure of infants and children. The APHA 2003 policy statement #7 on CAFOs can be read in full at: http://www.apha.org/legislative/policy/2003/2003-007.pdf 

Antibiotic Resistance Union of Concerned Scientists

On August 3, 2000, the Union of Concerned Scientists sent this letter to the U.S. EPA urging them to limit the use of antibiotics in factory farm effluent, warning that bacterial resistance is becoming a critical problem.

CAFO: Public Health and Community Impacts

Iowa's center for Agricultural Safety and Health produced this well documented brochure (2002).

Farm Workers Health Problems Related to Air Quality Inside Livestock Barns

This report is produced by the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture

CAFO Operations: Public Health Impact (brochure) 

Iowa Center for Agricultural Health and Safety found that people living near CAFOs have higher incidence of respiratory and diarhheal illnesses, neurological and mood problems.

Iowa Concentrated Feeding Operations Air Quality Study

This University of Iowa report was published in 2002.

The North Carolina Division of Public Health

This site provides general information and access to two studies: The Association of Health Effects With Exposure to Odors From Hog Farm Operations and Intensive Livestock Operations, Health and Quality of Life Among Eastern North Carolina Residents.

Human Health Issues Associated with the Hog Industry

 Melva Okun of University of North Carolina outlines the issues in this January 1999 report.

Temporal and geographical distributions of reported cases of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection in Ontario.

Epidemiol Infect. 1999 Apr;122(2):193-200.

Health Effects from Aerial Emissions of Animal Production and Waste Management

White Paper from S.S. Schiffman, Duke University; B.W. Auvermann, Texas A&M University; R.W. Bottcher, North Carolina State University

Respiratory Disorders of Hog Confinement Workers

Susan Essan University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Air Emissions from Intensive Livestock Operations: Current Knowledge; Future Needs (2003)

Created by the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR) and the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (BEST). Response to this document by William Weida.

Air Quality in Livestock Barns

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs began documenting problems related to the health of farm workers  in this 1993 article.

Concentrated livestock operations: Tackling occupational and community health risks

Dr. Kelley J. Donham urges more research and cooperation between the livestock industry and public health community.

Human Health Issues Associated with the Hog Industry

Environmental Resource Program, School of Public Health, 1999

Associations between Indicators of Livestock Farming Intensity and Incidence of Human Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Infection

Health Canada demonstrated a higher incidence of human STEC infection in rural areas of Ontario, as opposed to urban areas, and a spatial association between the incidence of human STEC infection and cattle density. (2002)

National Agriculture Safety Database : Beware the Manure Pit

Farmers, family members, or farm employees can be asphyxiated or succumb due to to toxic gases emitted from manure pits. This site identifies gases and symptoms.

Julie Jansen's Battle for Clean Air

"In the fall of 1994 two large-scale swine operations with lagoon systems were built south of my home. In March of 1995 my family and neighbors started to experience health effects such as headaches, blacking out, nausea, coughing, lung congestion, bloody noses, leg cramps, body aches dizziness, stomach cramps and diarrhea just to list a few, as the months rolled on we remained seriously ill off and on..." 

The Risk for Disease Transmission From Manure to Humans

Doctor Olson from the University of Calgary's Microbial and Infectious Diseases prepared this easy to follow presentation on the risks of mishandling manure.

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS ON SWINE FARMS

Farmers raising swine in confinement are exposed to numerous hazards daily. 

Pfiesteria: Natural Resource and Human Health Concerns

This 1997 Congressional Report 97-872 outlines the the problem with this dangerous algae and identifies runoff or discharges from animal production facilities as a major contributor to the problem. See also Richard Dove's speech to the Senate in March of 2002.

Preventing Deaths of Farm Workers in Manure Pits

Factory Farms are hazardous places for workers as well as livestock. "The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) requests assistance in preventing deaths of farm workers in manure pits. An urgent need exists to inform farm owners and workers about the dangers of enter such pits, where oxygen-deficient, toxic and/or explosive atmospheres often result from fermentation of the wastes in confined areas. These hazards have been known for several years. However, recent NIOSH investigations conducted under the NIOSH Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Program suggest that farm workers are unaware of the danger, and many deaths continue to occur as a result of entry into manure pits." See also: NIOSH Warns: Manure Pits Continue to Claim Lives.

Agricultural Chemical Use Estimates for Swines in 1999

"Piperonyl butoxide, at 16,749 pounds, was the top active ingredient used on swine with respect to total quantity used, followed by amitraz at 12,260 pounds and malathion at 8,270 pounds. These three active ingredients accounted for 75 percent of the U.S. total pounds of active ingredients applied to swine in 1999." [Note that farm livestock handlers are not protected by EPA's Workers Protection Standard when using pesticides and that these pesticides enter our food chain.] From the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service Agricultural Chemical Usage site. See also our Pesticides page.

Human Health and Hydrogen Sulfide

H2S is an dangerous gas produced by manure pits. This poisonous gas, usually associated with a "rotten egg" smell, has caused symptoms such as nausea, headaches, blackout periods and vomiting in those living near CAFOs. Difficult to detect in the human body, it can be deadly.  This site provides general information and numerous links, see also ASTRA Public Health Statement on Hydrogen Sulfide.

Ammonia Exposure

Larger amounts of ammonia can be released in the air near farms and industries. Exposure to  concentrated levels (above 25 ppm) can cause headaches, nausea, and intense burning of the eyes, nose, throat, and skin.

Literature Review of the Health Effects Associated with the Inhalation of hydrogen sulfide

Exposure to hydrogen sulfide caused people to report more headaches, depression, tiredness and nausea.

Programs, Research and Alternatives:

Free Farmed Certification Program

The Free Farmed Certification Program is a voluntary service available to producers of animals raised for food to certify that the animals were treated according to animal welfare standards developed by the American Humane Association. This is a new introduction similar to a very successful program launched by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals in Great Britain called Freedom Food.

Rodale Institute's New Farm

The Rodale Institute®, a global leader in regenerative agriculture, is devoted to innovative agriculture research, outreach and training through The New Farm® programs. The Institute works with people worldwide to achieve a regenerative food system that renews and improves environmental and human health, working with the philosophy that "Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People ®.”

Scientists Seek to Improve Farm Animal Conditions

The USDA is hiring animal ethologists like Donald C. Lay in Indiana to work at ARS Livestock Behavior Research Unit on Animal Well-Being and Stress-Control Systems.

A Summary of the Regional Economic Effects of CAFOs

This 2001 report by Dr. William Weida argues that CAFOs do not offer economic advantage to the communities in which they locate.

Time to Act

The USDA's National Commission on Small Farms warns that unless present policies and programs are changed the trends toward ever-larger farming operations will result in the increasing loss of small farms and market competition.

Manure Net

This Canadian Agricultural Site contains numerous links to information about intensive livestock operations.

Fecal Contamination Source Tracking

Journal of Water and Health (Dec. 2003)

JWH devoted the December issue to microbial source tracking techniques. Comparative analysis of techniques suggested that virus-based source tracking methods is currently one the most useful tracking techniques.

Bacterial Source Tracking an EPA Review (pdf)

This is an good power point presentation from a group at the University of Mississippi that can show you what these techniques look like,  (Dec. 2002). 

Bacterial Source Tracking 

The Soil & Water Conservation Society of Metro Halifax  provide a short, general review of techniques  (Mandaville, S.M. 2002 updated 2003).

Microbiologists on the Trail Of Polluting Bacteria 

This is an interesting brief article that appeared in Science Magazine. (David Malakoff, March 2002, pdf). 

Bacterial Source Tracking

This website called  BST provides numerous links for those interested as well as a subscription to their newsletter.  

News Stories and Misc.

Note news stories are often archived after two weeks and will not be easily accessed online.

Property Values

Numerous studies examine the impact of CAFOs on property values :  Kilpatrick, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Proximate Property Values,  Appraisal Journal, July 2001; Ready and Abdalla, The Impact of Open Space and Potential Local Disamenities on Residential Property Values in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Penn State, June 2003; Palmquist, Roka, and Vukina, Hog operations, environmental effects, and residential property values, Land Economics, v73, 1997, pp. 114-124;  Mubarak, Johnson, and Miller, The Impacts of Animal Feeding Operations on Rural Land Values, Report R-99-02, College of Agriculture, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999.

Down on the Factory Farm

6 part report on industrial livestock operations in the Dayton News (archived on FARM's website)

Animal Rights and Wrongs, December 2003, by Ken Midkiff director of Sierra Club clean water/CAFO campaign. 

Factory Farm Bureau’s Arrogant Agribusiness Attitude. Karen Hudson

The supersizing of America's livestock farms: For cheaper grocery prices, are we risking our health, the environment and squeezing out small farmers? By Mike Wagner and Ben Sutherly, Dayton Daily News, Dec. 1, 2002.

Stephanie Pflasterer 

In a letter to the Winchester Gazette, Oct 16, Pflasterer corrects Hendrickson's assertion that CAFO urine and manure presents no greater risk that that from normal farming practices. 

Another horrific CAFO tragedy in Ontario: Charges laid as officers find thousands of decaying pigs (National Post, Oct. 15, 2003), Farm investigation reveals heaps of dead, dying pigs (Toronto Star, Oct. 15, 2003) Animal-cruelty charges laid in deaths of thousands of pigs (Globe and Mail, Oct. 15, 2003)

Animal welfare workers said yesterday an investigation of five farms operated by Wood Lynn Farms Ltd. turned up heaps of dead animals piled behind barns, thousands of dead piglets in manure tanks and cannibalization. Jim Long, President, Baconmaker Genetics/Wood Lynn Farms, Inc, was charged along with seven other men for causing unnecessary pain, causing unnecessary suffering, willful neglect and abandoning an animal in distress. Baconmaker claims to be North America's largest family owned seed stock (pigs) business.

Raising a Stink: The controversy over pig farms

"It's a neighbour so offensive to most residents in a quiet Acadian community, they have formed a citizen's group in opposition." This W5 article typifies community responses to CAFOs - the associated videos are worth watching.

Letter to Municipality of Halton

This letter was written to the Regional Planning Committee of Halton, Ontario to request changes in zoning bylaws that would prohibit of limit the operation of intensive animal operations in the region.  

Bovine Encephalitis - Mad Cow

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is a disease that affects adult cattle. BSE attacks the brain and central nervous system of the animal and eventually causes death. Worldwide there have been more than 180,000 cases since the disease was first diagnosed in 1986 in Great Britain. BSE belongs to the family of diseases known as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE's). These diseases are caused by a virus and an abnormal prion protein, but the process of infection is not well understood. TSE's include scrapie (which affects sheep and goats), transmissible mink encephalopathy, feline spongiform encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease of deer and elk, and in humans, kuru, Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (CJD), Gerstmann- Straussler syndrome, and fatal familial insomnia. 

"Since 1989, the FDA and other federal agencies have had ongoing regulatory measures in place to prevent BSE contamination of U.S. food and food products since 1989. Following the identification in a Washington state dairy herd of the BSE-positive cow imported from Canada, the USDA has issued four new regulations containing additional safeguards to further minimize risk for introduction of the BSE agent into the U.S. food supply. These safeguards include:

1. A ban on use of live, but non-ambulatory cattle from entering the human food supply
2. A ban on use of organs, from cattle older than 30 months, in which infectious prions occur and the tonsils and small intestine of cattle of all ages for human food
3. Restrictions on techniques to mechanically remove meat from bones, and
4. Meat from tested animals will not be certified as USDA-inspected until test results are final."Commonly Asked Questions About BSE in Products Regulated by FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)

"Factory Farming practices such as grinding up left-over bits of sheep and cows and feeding them to other cows contribute to the spread of Mad Cow disease." (Mad Cow Disease: Information & Resources) ``Action needs to be taken now to initiate plans for the genuine long-term eradication of BSE,'' three scientists said in a letter to European Union food safety Commissioner David Byrne. ``We would urge that the EU should both promote, and provide substantial funding for an expansion of extensive and organic systems of beef production...and a scaling down of industrially farmed beef throughout Europe.'' (1999, Reuters Limited, Stop factory farming and end BSE, UK scientists say)

Links:

• CDC's BSE and CJD Information and Resources
• Human BSE Foundation
• The UK Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit
• FDA Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy  (BSE)

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