Post on 24-May-2015
description
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
By: Cara Niemela (Hobbs)
CAFOs are industrial-sized livestock operations
CAFOs were created for the demand in cheaper
and faster food.
CAFOs have low sanitary levels due to the confined spaces and exceedingly high numbers
of animals
They can house anywhere from hundreds to millions of animals.
Did you know ?
CAFOs discharge millions of tons of contaminants from animal manure into the environment.
This manure contains pathogens, antibiotics, drug-resistant bacteria, hormones, heavy metals and other compounds that can seriously impact
human health, aquatic life, and wild life.
CAFO owners and operators resist
investing in technologies and
practices to properly treat the
wastes that are by-products of this industry
The waste is typically flushed from barns into open-air lagoons, and later sprayed on fields as
fertilizer.
Gases and odors that come from the lagoons can cause:
• Vomiting• Headaches• Depression• Shallow breathing• Coughing• Upset sleep• Upset stomach• Gastric ulcers• Stomach cancer• No appetite• Irritation of the eyes, nose and
throat
More impacts include:• Social and ethnic issues• Foreign immigrant workers• Ammonia• Acid rain• Acid mist• Greenhouse gases
Diseases are not uncommon among CAFOs and in order to prevent them the animals are pumped with
antibiotics
Not only does this create direct health problems for the animals but the people who consume their meat
are guaranteed that its full of preservatives and antibiotics
What can we do??
Fight Back!
Do it for them.
Resources:
http://michigan.sierraclub.org/issues/greatlakes/articles/cafofacts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_Animal_Feeding_Operations
http://www.epa.gov/region7/water/cafo/index.htm
www.google.com/images