Web Research: Dowd Wrong on Pig Odor Research. Call Pending
I’m waiting for a callback from the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Inspection, but a little web research and some good ol’ common sense tells me that Dowd’s wrong on pig odor as well. In fact, she may be deliberately misstating the problem, as she did by identifying the USDA’s Honey Bee Research Center as a honey bee “factory”.
So i did some research of my own, and found this fascinating report from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services about hog farm odor control and why it’s important.
Honestly, it doesn’t take a genius to understand why you’d want effective odor control from an induistrial hog far, but we’ll play along with Maureen for now. Hold your nose everyone!
A University of Iowa researcher, Kelly Donham, and his co-workers have extensively studied air pollutants and odor sources, their components, and health impacts on people working in hog confinement buildings. Numerous sources of air contaminants in indoor confinement facilities have been identified. The hogs themselves shed various proteins from their saliva, skin, urine and feces. Feed particles, pollens, molds, bacteria, fungi, endotoxins, other various microbial proteins and grain mites and other insect body parts can be detected in confinement houses. (Donham, 1993). Many of these particles are of respirable size (<10um) and may be inhaled into the small airways and alveoli of the lungs (Hill, Kenworthy, 1970). Dust particles may absorb toxic irritating gases such as ammonia, as well as bacteria, endotoxins and other proteins and transport these to the alveoli and small bronchioles. A literature review by O’Neill and Phillips (1992) on odorous chemicals in livestock waste and the air around them identified 168 different compounds. The most commonly reported compounds in the literature review were volatile fatty acids (acetic, propionic, butanoic and pentanoic), phenol, p-cresol and ammonia. Clayton and Clayton, (1993) have identified some of these compounds as respiratory tract, skin or eye irritants. These biological and chemical compounds and dust particles comprise the potential agents of exposure to humans working in hog operations and possibly living adjacently to hog operations.
MMMM! YUMMY YUMMY! Why does Maureen Dowd want you to inhale ammonia, bacteria and edo-toxins? But wait, there’s MORE!
Many studies have reported the health effects experienced by people working in hog confinement buildings. Donham et. al. (1989) reported the following acute symptoms and prevalence rates in a study of hog confinement workers:
* cough (67%)
* phlegm production (56%)
* scratchy throat (54%)
* runny nose (45%)
* burning and watery eyes (39%)
* headaches (37%)
* chest tightness (36%)
* shortness of breath (30%)
* wheezing (27%)
* muscle aches and pain (25%)
Schwartz et. al. (1990) reported that chronic effects are manifested as bronchitis, where airway obstruction was present affecting up to 25% of hog house workers. Long term lung damage may occur as pulmonary function tests indicate air trapping in lungs and a persistent leukocytosis. …The fact that some of the non-confinement workers experienced the same symptoms as some of the confinement workers indicates that exposure to substances associated with hog production may cause symptoms in open-air situations. This raises the question as to whether gases and/or particles from swine operations occur in sufficient concentrations to induce similar respiratory symptoms in neighboring residents. The fact that plumes of odor from large hog operations travel for several miles indicates that neighbors are being exposed to some unknown extent to odor causing substances from hog facilities.
Why does Maureen Dowd want people in Iowa to have respiratory disorders and persistent lung trouble? Maybe she wants them to have the same nasty lungs as people who live in New York City. I’ll have more when i get a call back from the FDA!
