Factory Farms – Disease Affects to Humans & Environment

Increased Human Health Risks
Humans have traditionally, and unsatisfactorily, been sentinels of low-grade infections in zoonotic livestock DZs; preventive measures, such as sampling and control strategies, may be curbed during intense agriculture (Agr) resulting in larger, sudden, human DZ outbreaks which shall also taint surrounding localities.
Newly urbanized zones, forced migrations & refugee camps, where populations are in turmoil, intensify vector-pest-insect/rodent problems. Management of developing infectious health issues, already complex to control, are potentially complicated with inter-woven disease (and food-security) by industrialization.

• Risks increase with intensified human-animal contacts under industrial meat production pressures from inadequate professional oversight, low quality feeds, poor PM controls and stressful labor conditions.
• Disease surveillance is often a significant deficiency. As a detriment to expanding profit-driven meat industries, surveillance may ignore PM cautions, as investment earnings outpace PM priorities, e.g., surveillance and PM draws assets from the production line and labor PM/PPM is compromised.
• Inadequate oversight/control of slaughter, processing, transport and segregation of meat products yields cross contamination, decreasing infection control and facilitates DZ evolution.
• Weaponized agricultural and zoonotic infections stand to become an important factor impacting health, economies, international relations and stability of nations. Measures to anticipate and address this threat can protect market strength and economic growth, jobs, food security, and solidify human health efforts.
• Microbial threats persistently widen, e.g., corn-feed excessively increases E. coli in cattle.
• Ubiquitous non-medical use of antibiotics in Agr, to increase production and profits, is now proving to cause microbial mutations that not only affect livestock health, but threaten human health in numerous and not-yet-thoroughly investigated ways.