Factory farming threatens our health, producing lower quality, less healthy food and encouraging the growth of infectious pathogens.
It’s not just farm animals that suffer from factory farming – our health is also put at risk. The provenance of our meat and dairy products can affect their quality and nutritional values. And with their focus on high numbers and confined spaces, factory farms can be the perfect breeding grounds for infectious zoonotic* diseases.
Bad meat, bad health
Some factory farmed products have been shown to be less nutritious. Recent studies1 have shown that meat from intensively farmed animals can have lower levels of beneficial omega-3 and a less favorable ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. An inadequate intake of omega-3 and an unbalanced ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 have been linked with cardiovascular disease and certain cancers2. A recent Compassion in World Farming report shows that extensively farmed animal products often contain higher levels of antioxidants, iron and lower levels of fat3. The rise of factory farming and ‘cheap’ meat has also led to significant overconsumption problems in many countries around the world; heavy red and processed meat consumption has been linked to a number of serious health-related conditions, including obesity, diabetes and cancer.
Heavy red meat consumption can increase the risk of some cancers developing by as much as 43%.
World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) (2011)4
Food-borne illnesses
The conditions on a typical factory farm – where animals are forced to live in close proximity to one another in cramped spaces – facilitate the spread of bacterial pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella. These can cause gastroenteritis in humans and, in extreme cases, death.
A large-scale UK survey found that battery-cage farms are six times more likely than non-cage farms to be infected with the strain of salmonella most commonly associated with food poisoning.
Veterinary Record (2010)5
Animals and workers crammed together
Cramming animals together in their hundreds or even thousands creates the perfect conditions for diseases to be transmitted and even to mutate into more dangerous strains (Pew Commission, 20086). Farm workers can play a role too; according to an article in Environmental Health Perspectives (20097), industrial farm workers are a key risk for zoonotic infection as a result of their ‘routine and intensive exposure’ to the farm animals, potentially serving as a ‘bridge population’ that could transfer infections from animals to the wider public.
Fifty years ago, a US farmer who raised pigs or chickens might be exposed to several dozen animals for less than an hour a day. Today’s confinement facility worker is often exposed to thousands of pigs or tens of thousands of chickens for eight or more hours each day.
Pew Commission (2008)8
Antibiotics overload
Antibiotics can form an important part of good animal husbandry, preventing sick animals from suffering. However, there is an extreme overuse of these drugs in many factory farms9. Antibiotics are often fed to factory-farmed animals to offset the disease risks posed by overcrowding – this is carried out regardless of whether the animal is infected or not. In some countries, antibiotics are even used to promote growth**. The rampant use of antibiotics in farm animals may well be harming us, driving the development of drug-resistant bacteria, which can reduce our ability to recover from a wide range of food-borne illnesses and diseases10.
Nearly 80% of the total antibiotics distributed in 2009 in the US were for farm animals.
US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) (2009)11,12
* Zoonotic diseases are those diseases that can pass between animals and humans
** The use of antibiotics to promote farm animal growth is outlawed in the EU but legal in a number of countries, including the United States
But don't just take our word for it
Eating large amounts of red and processed meats increases exposure to toxins and is linked to higher rates of heart disease, cancer and obesity.
Environmental Working Group (EWG) (2011)13
Animal waste from large factory farms is threatening our health, the water we drink and swim in, and the future of our nation's rivers, lakes, and streams
National Resources Defense Council (2001)14
Seventy-five percent of the antibiotics used on livestock are not absorbed by the animals and are excreted in waste, posing a serious risk to public health.
Worldwatch Institute (2011)15
FDA believes the use of medically important antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals for production purposes (e.g., to promote growth or improve feed efficiency) represents an injudicious use of these important drugs.
USFDA (2010)16
So what?
Factory farming threatens our health. By taking action against factory farming, we are not just creating a food and farming revolution; we are also creating a healthier world for ourselves.
How a tainted burger tore a family apart
Kevin Kowalcyk was just two years old when he died; killed by an E. coli infection that he contracted after eating a burger. Although his parents couldn't find conclusive evidence that it came from the burger that Kevin ate, a meat recall was issued shortly after his death. Some studies have found higher rates of bacterial infections in factory farmed animals. And the routine use of antibiotics in factory farms is fuelling antibiotic resistance, potentially making it harder to try and save the lives of people like Kevin1.
'Kevin Kowalcyk was only two and a half when he died. In the summer of 2001 Kevin went from bouncy blond toddler to dead in 12 days, having contracted E-coli from a tainted hamburger. His mother, Barbara, who has since become a vocal campaigner for food safety, still lives with the shock of it, not to mention the grief. "It was unbelievable this happened from eating food."'
The Telegraph, 20102
'Kevin awoke one morning with diarrhea and a mild fever. Initially, we didn't think much of it but became alarmed when he developed bloody diarrhea. We took him to the emergency room but were sent home. Kevin was hospitalized the following day for dehydration and was quickly diagnosed with E. coli O157:H7. For the next eight days, our family helplessly watched our child suffer unbearable pain, endure continuous dialysis and become so weakened that he needed a ventilator to breathe. On Aug. 11, our beloved Kevin suffered three heart attacks and died. Weeks later, we learned that Kevin died of gangrene of the large and small intestine - a brutal death... Two years after his death - and after multiple threatened lawsuits - we finally learned that Kevin matched a meat recall issued 16 days after he died.'
The Huffington Post, 20103
Our sources
- Alliance to Save our Antibiotics, 2011, Case Study of a Health Crisis
- Telegraph, 2010, The Kitchen Thinker: Corn-fed Cows
- The Huffington Post, 2010, HuffPost's Greatest Person Of The Day: Barbara Kowalcyk, Food Safety Advocate
Huge thanks to Participant Media for the image
Our sources
- Journal of Animal Science (2008), Effects of Conventional and Grass-feeding Systems on the Nutrient Composition of Beef
- Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (2002), The Importance of the Ratio of Omega-6/Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids
- Compassion in World Farming (2012), The Nutritional Benefits of Higher Welfare Animal Products
- WCRF (2011), Colorectal Cancer Report 2010 Summary
- Veterinary Record (2010), Investigation of Risk Factors for Salmonella on Commercial Egg-laying Farms in Great Britain, 2004-2005
- Pew Commission, 2008. Putting Meat on the Table
- EHP (2009), Swine CAFOs & Novel H1N1 Flu: Separating Facts from Fears
- Pew Commission, 2008. Putting Meat on the Table
- Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics (2011), Case Study of a Health Crisis: How Human Health is Under Threat From Over-use of Antibiotics in Intensive Livestock Farming
- WHO (2011), Antimicrobial Resistance
- USFDA (2009), Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals
- USFDA (2009), Sales of Antibacterial Drugs in Kilograms
- EWG (2011), Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health
- NRDC (2001), Cesspools of Shame
- Worldwatch Institute (2011), Global Meat Production and Consumption Continue to Rise
- USFDA (2010), The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals
Huge thanks to Participant Media for the image