Cause and Effect Essay - Factory Farms Cause Sickness and Pollution

Cause and Effect Essay - Factory Farms Cause Sickness and Pollution There is little doubt that animals raised on small-scale diverse farms are apt to be healthier. When allowed to range freely, particularly in organically maintained yards and pastures, they receive more exercise, their diet is more varied and they are exposed to commensal bacteria that help exclude, and build resistance to, harmful pathogens. Some organic practitioners also argue that free-ranging animals actively seek out plants with medicinal properties that can build their resistance to illness, When Livestock production is carried out on a scale that suits the global market, however, huge numbers of animals are kept in tightly confined conditions, and the potential for disease outbreaks is much higher.. The important considerations of animal welfare aside, these methods lead to the rampant use of antibiotics, which poses a significant health risk, not only for the livestock, but for consumers as well, since antibiotic residues can remain in meat and milk. Roughly half the 25,000 tonnes of antibiotics produced in the United States are used in the raising of animals for human consumption. There are other reasons for concern about the overuse of antibiotics in giant livestock operations. Some 40 to 80 percent of the antibiotics used in farming are thought to be unnecessary even under factory conditions, as 80 percent of their use is as a preventative measure and for growth promotion. Overuse has already rendered some drugs ineffective and may even make some strains of bacteria untreatable. According to the Public Health Laboratory Service in Britain, a new strain of salmonella that first appeared in the United Kingdom in 1990 is re... ...rom practices all too common among industrial pig operations: transporting animals in contaminated vehicles and feeding them waste food containing infected meat. Problems like these are an inherent part of a food system that is so large that companies can increase their profits by millions of dollars simply by saving a few cents on each animal ¹s feed, or by using chemicals or processing methods that reduce costs by a fraction of a percent. We all want safe, healthy food, but we cannot rely on the global food system to provide it. The corporate food chain has grown so long and the distance between producers and consumers so vast that no one can really know how their food was grown, how it was processed, and how it was treated during its long travels. Only by localising and reducing the scale of our food systems can we once again trust the food we eat.