primer: community impacts 11
Living near CAFOs often means coping with flies, odors, polluted air, contaminated water, and an
environment populated by disease-causing pathogens. Studies suggest bacteria, harmful gases,
and other environmental contaminants may spread from CAFOs to surrounding communities,
increasing risk of disease to the people who live nearby. Contaminants may be brought into
communities by workers, blown out of ventilation systems, introduced into drinking and
recreational waters, and spread by flies, birds, and other animals. People living closer to these
operations often have higher rates of illness, including respiratory problems.
These facilities and the problems they bring are often unwanted in communities. Proposals
for the construction of new facilities are often met with strong opposition from local residents.
However, CAFOs are disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities
of color, where residents may have less political influence to oppose them.
primer: worker justice 12
Who is responsible for the health and ecological problems of CAFOs? Blame is sometimes
targeted at the people who raise the animals. In many cases, however, they are as much a
victim of an industrial system as they are a part of the problem. In industrial swine and poultry
production, for example, farmers (or “growers”) are often pressured into signing contracts with
corporations that dictate how the animals must be raised. Signing a contract often means taking
out loans to build the required facilities. Debt can further pressure growers to accept the terms
mandated when it comes time to renew the contract. As one poultry grower said, “When you
have that kind of debt load over you … you’re going to choose to sign the contract. You feel that
there’s no other option when you owe … a million dollars.”
People who raise animals in CAFOs also face numerous health risks. Crowded conditions present
many opportunities for animals to share disease-causing organisms with each other and to other
workers, which can then spread to their homes and communities.
Workers may also be exposed to a range of airborne hazards which come with a heavy health
burden: at least one in four workers in an indoor confined animal operation is estimated to have
a respiratory illness such as asthma.
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