CAFO Environmental Effects

Alongside the growing failures of manure lagoons, the manure carries bacteria and viruses that are harmful to humans if they come into contact through consumption of contaminated water. Also, according to Columbia University, "run offs from CAFOs are believed to have contributed to the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay and other East Coast estuaries" (Cho). Some of the many reasons that CAFOs are causing dead zones in large bodies of water is that they can affect the life of both the humans and life in the water that is contaminated. When the water is contaminated by CAFOs there is not only a contamination of viruses and bacteria, but also of chemicals, antibiotics and hormones used in the production of meat. According to Columbia
University, "Nitrates derived from the nitrogen is the most common agricultural contaminate found in well drinking water, and can cause methemoglobinemia, Blue, in infants and pregnant women" (Cho). Methemoglobinemia is a potentially fatal blood disorder that causes a reduction of oxygen-carrying capacity in the blood. It is more fatal to infants and pregnant women due to the compromised immune system of the pregnant woman, or the still developing immune system of the infant. Not only does it contribute to Blue Baby Syndrome, but it also contain e-coli, cryptosporidium and other serious diseases that can cause harm to any person who consumes contaminated drinking water from manure lagoons or the spray they use for fertilizer. If these industries do not find a better way to store or expose of the vast amount of manure that is produced by large meat production industries, the problem of surface water and groundwater contamination is going to increase along side with the increase for more meat. Therefore, the growing rate can cause harm to humans health due to the contamination of surface water and groundwater from failing manure lagoons and over use of fertilizer, but also by the deadly diseases and chemicals that are within the manure of the animals from the meat production industries.
Increasing growth of industrialized meat production has contributed to the increase of farm land for both the use of animals, and feed for the animals used to meat. In order to have the amount of meat to be produced for the human population to consume meat industries require larger areas of farming land. According to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, "It takes up to 10 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat, and in the United States alone, 56 million acres of land are used to grow feed for animals"
(Meat). For the amount of grain to be grown for just the animal to eat to produce significantly less amount of meat to feed the human population.
People might ask why grow that much grain just for the animals to eat, when it could be grown for the human population to consume? Majority of the crops grown for the animals such as cattle, poultry, pigs and sheep are fed soybeans. This crop is widely used to feed the animals of meat production industries because soybeans are a cheap and easy source of protein. However, the growing rate of land needed for animals to be kept the industries also need land to grow the feed for the animals. According to the U.N. Convention, "Only 4 million acres of land are producing plants for humans to eat" (Meat). Why is it that the number of acres for crops grown for animals to consume is significantly higher than the number of acres grown for humans to consume? The reason for that question is that in order for the industries to keep up with the high demand for meat, there must be an increase in crops grown specifically for the animals to consume. However, once the animal is butchered the output of meat per pound is much less than the output of crops such as wheat and
soybeans. Why grow this vast amount of crops just for the animals to consume when they are unable to have an output of the same amount of feed they were given? Unfortunately, significant amounts of acres of plants are grown for the consumption animals of meat production industries, and the growing rate of land used for both the animals to be kept and the crops to be grown are continuously increasing.