New Factory Farming Map Shows Where Cruel Farms are Located
New Map Shows Factory Farms
posted by Michelle BuckalewWASHINGTON, July 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's rural communities from coast to coast are living with the human health and environmental costs of factory farms that cram together hundreds of thousands of animals in filthy conditions, said Food & Water Watch today. The organization released a first- ever national map charting factory farms to illustrate how these facilities are concentrated in some regions of the country.
"People working in these animal factories or those living nearby often suffer intensely from the odors and experience a range of negative physical effects," said Food & Water Watch Assistant Director Wenonah Hauter. "People thousands of miles away from factory farms are not immune to their impacts. Consumers eating the dairy, egg, and meat products produced there are faced with the consequences of antibiotic and artificial hormone use and other food safety problems."
"Factory farms create serious human health and environmental risks the communities where they locate," said Bob Lawrence, Johns Hopkins University professor and director of the Center for a Livable Future. "The millions of gallons of manure with the toxic chemicals they emit harm human health and cause hazardous air and water pollution."
The Food & Water Watch factory farm map illustrates that confined animal feeding operations, the dominant form of livestock production in the United States, also known as CAFOs or factory farms, are found throughout the country. But some regions host a comparatively large share of intensive animal production -- Iowa and North Carolina for hogs, California and Idaho for dairy cows, Texas and Kansas for cattle feedlots, Georgia and Alabama for broiler chickens, and Iowa and Ohio for egg production.
Food & Water Watch released a companion report, Turning Farms Into Factories, that explains the forces driving factory farms, as well as the environmental, public health, and economic consequences of this type of animal production.
"As industrial animal operations spread, they drive more family farmers out of business," said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Patty Lovera. "Factory farming must end, and Congress and regulatory agencies need to make certain that food is produced in a sustainable way that does not harm people and the environment."
What you can do:See map at
http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/Support organizations that help farm animals like Farm Sanctuary and FARMUSA.
If you live in southern portion of USA, please sign up for farm animal event/walks during Tennessee Week for the Animals to help farm animals at
http://www.tennesseeanimals.org/ Visit Veg Eat on the network.
http://network.bestfriends.org/vegeat/news/