• Factory dairy farms produce dusts that may pose a greater risk than other types of dust. The dust from dried manure from dairies is agricultural organic dust, which can contain microorganisms, endotoxins, and aero-allergens. Inhalation of these can lead to several disease conditions in humans. Dairies can create dust from increased traffic due to constant deliveries of milk and supplies on rural roads.²
• Evidence suggests that microbial pathogens of hogs can be carried and spread through the air by bioaerosols (animal dander, feed, excreta and bedding). A recent study of bioaerosol distribution patterns from factory hog farms in the Midwest found that significant levels of staphylococci and fungus from the farms had aerosolized and traveled down wind. These contaminants were found in nearby residences. Also discovered outside the factory farms were antibiotic resistant bacteria. Neighbours who lived close to these factory farms complained of serious odors emanating from the facilities, personal discomfort due to the odors, loss of sleep, possible allergic manifestations, and respiratory difficulties. This study underscores the potential dangers of factory farms and their impact on public health. The researchers summarized that animal confinement facilities should be sited with consideration of the location of human habitation. ³
• An Iowa study by J.A. Zahn shows that aerial transfer of antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacteria from swine confinements may represent an important and previously overlooked mechanism for transfer of antibiotic resistance to humans and the environment.⁴
• Animal waste at factory farms is stored in waste lagoons where it decomposes. The decomposition of waste in hog lagoons and manure disperses as many as 160 compounds.⁵ One of the compounds produced is hydrogen sulfide. This gas has been proven to be a potent neurotoxin and has been linked to causing permanent and irreversible brain and nervous system damage, even at low ambient levels.⁶
• According to Dr. Kaye H. Kilburn, MD, “Even moderate occupational exposure and insidious downwind environmental occupational exposure to Hydrogen Sulfide can cause permanent impairment…Well beyond calling for epidemiologic studies, these findings imply that neighborhoods near refineries and other industrial sites where Hydrogen Sulfide is released deliberately of inadvertently are unsafe.”⁷
• Hydrogen sulfide can do harm before a person knows something is wrong. In high concentration, it quickly paralyzes the sense of smell so people are not always aware of any risk. Symptoms include eye and upper respiratory irritation, headaches, and dizziness. Higher concentrations can cause severe eye and respiratory tract irritation, acute conjunctivitis, watering of the eyes, and difficulty breathing, as well as a sudden loss of consciousness.⁸ People exposed to Hydrogen Sulfide at nuisance levels for prolonged periods - showed chronic neurobehavioral impairment (loss of balance, memory and reaction time) months to years afterwards.⁹
• During agitation of liquid manure, the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the breathing zone of workers can climb to lethal levels within seconds.¹⁰
• Hydrogen sulfide gas can travel far beyond the confines of a facility and potentially damage human health.¹¹ A Minnesota Pollution Control Agency study using a computer model found that hydrogen sulfide levels could be expected as far as five miles downwind from confinement sites.¹²
• A study done by the University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health on human health effects of living near industrial hog operations found that people living near large hog farms suffer significantly higher levels of upper respiratory and gastrointestinal ailments than people living near other farming areas."¹³
• Symptoms of exposure to hog gases include, "more tension, more depression, more anger, less vigor, more fatigue, and more confusion." –Susan Schiffman, Duke University
• Unsolicited complaints from residents living next to a five-building swine production facility reflected such physical symptoms as breathing difficulties, burning sensations in the nose and throat, nausea and vomiting, headaches, sleep problems and others.¹⁴ Residents living within 2 miles of a 4,000 hog confinement reported significantly more respiratory problems than other residents.¹⁵
• When ambient air quality standards for livestock are exceeded, neighbors may experience: eye, nose, and throat irritation, headache, nausea, diarrhea, hoarseness, sore throat, cough, chest tightness, nasal congestion, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, stress, drowsiness, and mood alterations.¹⁶
• Residents in the vicinity of an approximately 6,000-head hog confinement reported increased occurrences of headaches, runny nose, sore throat, excessive coughing, diarrhea, and burning eyes as compared to residents of the community with no livestock operations.¹⁷

References

1. Schiffman, Susan. Duke University Swine Odor Task Force.

2. Arnold, Stephen, PhD. "Dairy Herds and Rural Communities in Southern New Mexico." July/August 1999, Environmental Health, p 15-6.

3. Scarpino, P.V. and H Quinn. “Bioaerosol Distribution Patterns Adjacent to Two Swine Growing Finishing Housed Confinement Units in the American Midwest.” Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45221-0071 Source: Abstracts of the 14th Annual Scientific Symposium of the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education, Oct. 14-16, 1998.

4. Zahn, J.A. “Evidence for Transfer of Tylosin and Tylosin-Resistant Bacteria in Air from Swine Production Facilities using Sub-Therapeutic Concentrations of Tylan in Feed.”

5. Thu, Kendall, PhD. Et al. eds., “Impacts of Large Scale Swine Production.” Proceedings from an Interdisciplinary Workshop, DesMoines, Iowa, June 29-30, 1995, pp. 47.

6. Testimony of Kaye Kilburn, Ph.D. and Marvin Legator, Ph.D., presented at American Public Health Association meeting, November11, 1997, Indianapolis, Indiana, included in Hydrogen Sulfide letter to EPA, 1/25/99.

7. AFFADAVIT of Kaye Kilburn M.D. University of Southern California School of Medicine Environmental Sciences Laboratory Los Angeles California: Civil Action File No.: 970-CV-238.

8. Safety Net, UC Davis Environmental Health and Safety, 2-1993.

9. Southern Medical Journal, 1997.

10. University of Iowa, 1995.

11. Beeman, Perry. “New Fears From Hog Lots: Odor May Spread Illness.” DesMoines Register 10/25/98.

12. Des Moines Register, 10-25-98.

13. Kansas Rural Papers, May 1999.

14. State of Michigan Department of Health, 1990.

15. Institute for Rural and Environmental Health, Univ. of Iowa, 1997.

16. Minnesota Department of Public Health, 2001.

17. School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, 1999.