Air pollution from farms = 17,900 US deaths/year . . .

Air pollution from farms = 17,900 US deaths/year . . .

Postby Oscar » Sun May 16, 2021 8:01 pm

Air pollution from farms leads to 17,900 U.S. deaths per year, study finds

[ https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- ... D4PN5oP2AA ]

The first-of-its-kind report pinpoints meat production as the leading source of deadly pollution

(PHOTO: A hog farm in Vanceboro, N.C., is surrounded by floodwater in the aftermath of 2018's Hurricane Florence. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg News))

By Sarah Kaplan May 10, 2021

The smell of hog feces was overwhelming, Elsie Herring said. The breezes that wafted from the hog farm next to her mother’s Duplin County, N.C., home carried hazardous gases: methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide.

“The odor is so offensive that we start gagging, we start coughing,” she told a congressional committee in November 2019. Herring, who died last week, said she and other residents developed headaches, breathing problems and heart conditions from the fumes.

Now, a first-of-its-kind study (Air quality–related health damages of food - May 18, 2021 [ https://www.pnas.org/content/118/20/e2013637118 ]) shows that air pollution from Duplin County farms is linked to roughly 98 premature deaths per year, 89 of which are linked to emissions directly caused by hogs. Those losses are among more than 17,000 annual deaths attributable to pollution from farms across the United States, according to research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. . . . .

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Re: Air pollution from farms = 17,900 US deaths/year . . .

Postby Oscar » Tue May 25, 2021 3:34 pm

U.S. ag pollution study has Canadian implications

[ https://www.producer.com/opinion/u-s-ag ... le=carouse ]

Farming, like most industrial activities, generates byproducts from its operations. Those can generate headlines. It can be difficult to determine which byproducts and which headlines are important for the sector to address.

A recently released study [ https://www.pnas.org/content/118/20/e2013637118 ], the first of its kind, has generated headlines across North America about American livestock operations located in highly populated areas. The threats to human health from these activities are real and so are the threats to agriculture from the headlines these generate.

Air pollution from agriculture is linked to as many as 17,000 deaths in the United States annually, according to research published by the American National Academy of Sciences.

The study shows that animal agriculture is the worst agricultural emitter and 80 percent of deaths from pollution related to food production come from this area of the industry.

Gases related to manure and to fertilizer for growing livestock feed, along with particulate matter, can drift on the wind into densely populated urban areas where their damage is magnified.

Even more dangerous to human health are effects from tiny dust and ash particles, the study said. Less than 2.5 microns in width, particles in this form of pollution can enter the lungs and the bloodstream, where they contribute to cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Researchers said these emissions now account for more annual deaths each year than polluting byproducts from coal power plants because the latter emissions are monitored and regulated by governments. There are few regulations on air quality effects from farming in most jurisdictions. . . . .

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LINK TO STUDY: "Air quality–related health damages of food"

View ORCID ProfileNina G. G. Domingo, Srinidhi Balasubramanian, View ORCID ProfileSumil K. Thakrar, View ORCID ProfileMichael A. Clark, View ORCID ProfilePeter J. Adams, View ORCID ProfileJulian D. Marshall, View ORCID ProfileNicholas Z. Muller, Spyros N. Pandis, View ORCID ProfileStephen Polasky, View ORCID ProfileAllen L. Robinson, Christopher W. Tessum, View ORCID ProfileDavid Tilman, View ORCID ProfilePeter Tschofen, and View ORCID ProfileJason D. Hill
See all authors and affiliations

PNAS May 18, 2021 118 (20) e2013637118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013637118 . . . . .
Oscar
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