Animal agriculture and pollution
An Environmental Article from All-Creatures.org

From

Lorena Mucke
July 2006

The exploitation of animals raised for food is causing not only unimaginable misery for these animals, but also pollution that sickens people and contaminates the environment.

As stewards of God’s creation, one of our responsibilities is to keep our environment as healthy and clean as possible. Being obedient to God’s will glorifies Him. However, the exploitation of animals raised for food is causing not only unimaginable misery for these animals, but also pollution that sickens people and contaminates the environment. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the U.S. generate some 500 million tons of animal manure a year. That is three times more waste than humans in the U.S. produce.

What is even worse, is that of the approx. 18,800 CAFOs in the U.S., only about 8,500 currently have permits. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a new requirement, that CAFOs obtain permits if animal waste from their facilities enters local bodies of water.

However, the great concern is that the proposal allows CAFOs to define what constitutes a polluting discharge, and thus decide whether a permit is even needed.


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