Swine Flu Outbreak -- Nature Biting Back at Industrial Animal Production?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/swine-flu-outbreak----nat_b_191408.html

This is one of the reason why these industrialized farms need to be held accountable for their pollution into the air as well as in the water. The animals need to be cared for more closely as well as the workers.

Confined Animal Feeding Operations Cost Taxpayers Billions, New Report Finds

http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/cafo-costs-report-0113.html

"CAFOs aren't the natural result of agricultural progress, nor are they the result of rational planning or market forces," said Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist in UCS's Food and Environment Program and author of the report. "Ill-advised policies created them, and it will take new policies to replace them with more sustainable, environmentally friendly production methods."

"CAFOs Uncovered: The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations" enumerates the policies that have allowed CAFOs to dominate U.S. meat and dairy production. For example, it found that from 1997 to 2005 taxpayer-subsidized grain prices saved CAFOs nearly $35 billion in animal feed, which comprises a large percentage of their supply costs. Cattle operations that raise animals exclusively on pasture land do not benefit from the subsidy. (To read the full report, go to: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/sustainable_food/cafos-uncovered.html)

The report also details how other federal policies give CAFOs hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to address their pollution problems, which stem from the manure generated by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of animals confined in a small area. The report estimates that CAFOs have received $100 million in annual pollution prevention payments in recent years through the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which was established by the 2002 Farm Bill.

"If CAFOs were forced to pay for the ripple effects of harm they have caused, they wouldn't be dominating the U.S. meat industry like they are today," said Margaret Mellon, director of UCS's Food and Environment Program. "The good news is that we can institute new policies that support animal production methods that benefit society rather than harm it."

Protection of Children From Environment Health Risks and Safety Risks

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/eo/eo13045.htm

Executive Order 13045--Protection of Children From Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks

[Federal Register: April 23, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 78)][Presidential Documents][Page 19883-19888]From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov][DOCID:fr23ap97-130]

(a) shall make it a high priority to identify and assess environmental health risks and safety risks that may disproportionately affect children; and

(b) shall ensure that its policies, programs, activities, and standards address disproportionate risks to children that result from environmental health risks or safety risks.2-203.

``Environmental health risks and safety risks''mean risks to health or to safety that are attributableto products or substances that the child is likely tocome in contact with or ingest (such as the air webreath, the food we eat, the water we drink or use forrecreation, the soil we live on, and the products weuse or are exposed to).

Research on air quality in Maricopa

http://www.85239.com/OPINION/OpinionArticleDetails.aspx?mid1=439&&ArticleID=5893


By James Hull, Ph.D.
May 18, 2009

Public concerns about the environmental effects of air emissions from livestock operations have grown as the population continues to move into what has been largely a rural farming area. Increasingly, there is a growing public awareness of the health and nuisance impacts caused by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) with significant concern not only to new residents but also to many long-time residents. Conflicts over resource use are bound to arise with competing interests and density of growth.

Ask almost any Arizona native about the five C's, and you'll most likely hear a recitation of "copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and climate" as the traditional components of the state's economy. For several decades, agriculture has flourished in the western half of Pinal County on the broad, flat alluvial plains associated with the Gila and Santa Cruz river basins. Cattle, cotton, and
limate has retained an important role in defining western Pinal County’s character and heritage.

Feedlot Stakeholder Process

http://pinalcountyaz.gov/Departments/AirQuality/Pages/FeedlotStakeholderProcess.aspx

Public participation is a vital role in the stakeholder process. Stakeholders have the ability to shape their environment. This process was initiated to allow stakeholders an opportunity to learn about PM10-Feedlot issues facing Pinal County and to participate in formulating a response. Participants may include: Arizona Cattle Feeder’s Association, Arizona Home Builder’s Association, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Environmental Protection Agency, local municipalities, individual companies, concerned citizens, local dairies and feedlots. Meeting agendas, presentations, and resource materials will be posted as they become available. If you would like to request further information, or have questions regarding posted information, please contact us.

Editorial:PM10 issues in Pinal County and City of Maricopa

http://8523mine.com/?p=522#more-522

It’s not me; it’s not thee; it’s not the others behind the tree!
Public concerns about the environmental effects of air emissions from livestock operations have grown as the population continues to move into what has been largely a rural farming area. Increasingly, there is a growing public awareness of the health and nuisance impacts caused by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) with significant concern not only to new residents but also to many long-time residents. Conflicts over resource use are bound to arise with competing interests and density of growth.

James Reynolds Hull, Ph.D. - Friend of H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Polluted Environment)

Raising standards from county to city has put Planning Department in the line of fire

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18956110&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=517487&rfi=6

When developers began eyeing Maricopa as a potential boomtown there was only Pinal County Planning Department between them and anything they wanted to do. The city didn't incorporate until October 2003, so most of what now stands in Maricopa or is still on the planning boards, was approved prior to that by the county.

Antibiotics and Industrial Farming

http://www.ncifap.org/

Every day, doctors use antibiotics to treat thousands of sick children and adults. Humans depend on these life-saving medicines for their personal health. But did you know that as much as 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are being fed to cattle, swine, and poultry on industrial animal farms, for purposes other than treating disease? Click here to learn more about how antibiotic use in food production threatens human health in the Human Health and Industrial Farming program by The Pew Charitable Trusts
www.saveantibiotics.org

Group forms to fight pollution

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20307679&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68561&rfi=8

Buying a brand new home in a brand new community seemed like a dream to most people who bought into Maricopa, AZ. There seemed to be so many promises of greatness and growing. The farms were being sold the cows were being moved out. There was going to be a hospital and an over-pass over the tracks. So much hope that turned out to be false hope. The farms and the cattle, "Cowtown" and all are here to stay! This is where the dream became a scare.