Parke Peruses Pork Board Paper
Parke Wilde of the U.S. Food Policy blog neatly skewers the U.S. Pork Board’s report about air quality near hog farms. Waste from Industrial livestock facilities is notoriously hard on neighbors’ noses. Even the descriptions of towns near beef factories make a reader gag.
But, says Parke, the Pork Board “gushed” about the findings on local aromas near the mass-produced pigs.
Parke reads beyond the pollyanna headline, and offers an alternate synopsis based on the real findings: “In the interior of homes that are sufficiently far from a hog farm, with the windows shut, and other conditions favorable, the smell of the ammonia from the hog farm is no worse than that from the interior cigarette smoke or pet urine.”
Livestock smells, of course. But the sheer concentration of factory farm waste creates a toxic environment.
