Rachel Smith
Period 2
Pg 140 Essay September 26, 2014

The FOWL Movement

Factory farming is a modern agricultural practice that mass produces animals to meet the food consumption of humans. Factory farms, also known as “CAFOs” (Confined Animal Feeding Operation), house large numbers of animals to be raised for food in a confined space of farm to minimize operation cost. Although CAFOs offer a plethora of chapter food to prepare, factory farming is a harmful agricultural practice. Restrictions should be made against CAFOs due to their impact on the environment, humans, and animals.

Many studies have been done on industrial farming and its impact on the environment. From these studies one can deduce that CAFOs do indeed affect the environment. The USDA reports that animals cycled through the meat industry product 61 million tons of waste each year. According to scientific principle, matter cannot be created nor destroyed, so where does it all go? Well, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken, and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated ground water in 17 states. Factory farming is also one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. It is safe to say that CAFOs contribute greatly to pollution and negatively impact the environment.

Not only do industrial farms impact the environment, they also affect the health of the public. CAFOs discovered that antibiotics enlarge animals and help produce more food, which has led to the overuse of antibiotics in animals. This subsequent over-mediation creates preconditions for bacteria that are increasingly resistant to conventional antibiotics. This is causing it to be harder to treat life-threatening diseases in humans because of the transfer of these antibiotics from animals to humans. There are also growth hormones such as Reveler H containing oestrodial, a human carcinogen, that are fed to the animals and are inherently inimical to public health.

Along with the impact on the environment and public health, factory farming involves animal cruelty. Overcrowding of the animals involved puts them in a state of unnatural stress and supports industrial attitudes of treating the livestock as mere objects. The animals in industrial farms often become aggressive due to discomfort in tight spaces. The animals are so tightly packed that they begin to attack each other. Farmers also cut the tails off of hogs and the beaks off of the chickens without medication, in order to fit them in tighter spaces without biting each other. This is very unsanitary and painful for the livestock. Although animals will be killed for food no matter what, there could be restrictions on CAFOs to prevent the cruel torture of the animals beforehand.

In conclusion, industrial farms have many negative impacts and need to have