How Factory Farms Affect Human Health

Factory farms and the contamination that they produce cause illnesses in humans that range from brain damage and depression to miscarriage and birth defects and from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections to respiratory problems.

Brain Damage and Depression

Scientists have shown that there is a link between exposure to the toxic chemicals found in animal waste and the development of neurological problems, including brain damage and depression. According to University of Southern California toxicology professor Dr. Kaye H. Kilburn, the “coincidence of people showing a pattern of impairment and being exposed to hydrogen sulfide arising from lagoons where hog manure is stored and then sprayed on fields or sprayed into the air” has a “practically undeniable” connection to neurological disorders in communities around the farms.¹⁹

In an investigative report published in The New York Times, Ohio resident Robert Thornell discussed the permanent brain damage he suffered when a factory farm was built near his home. “It’s like I have a 2.1 gigahertz body with a 75 megahertz mind,” he said. “I feel like collateral damage.”²⁰ When Thornell’s wife was also diagnosed with brain damage, the couple was forced to move away from their home in order to prevent further deterioration of their health.²¹

Fumes from manure pits have also been linked to severe depression. In a speech at the American Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Kelley Donham, director of the University of Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, cited numerous studies that found unusually high rates of depression and anxiety among people who live near factory farms.²² A North Carolina study also found high rates of depression and fatigue in the neighbors of a pig farm.²³

Read more about the link between factory farming and miscarriage and birth defects.