PEORIA, IL -- Here's a holiday message from Karen Hudson:
Enough is enough. That’s the message of the American Public Health Association ( APHA) regarding CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations).
The APHA us Washington, D.C.-based organization comprised of U. S. public health professionals. In November 2019 the APHA enacted a new policy statement advising public health agencies, federal, state, and local governments to impose a precautionary moratorium on all new and expanding CAFOs.
This should be a welcome news locally in Peoria County as a new CAFO installation is already blanketing existing neighbors and the town of Princeville with the toxic emissions that are scientifically proven to be a threat to health, quality of life, ecology, and property values.
Citing the threats to air quality, water, and human health as a basis for their position the APHA calls for the removal of loopholes in the reporting and monitoring of CAFO emissions and demands that the Clean Water Act be enforced.
Most importantly it calls for limits on the widespread use of medically important antibiotics in livestock on which contribute to the spread of resistant superbug bacteria in humans.
Similarly, in December 2018 the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) also advised federal, state, and local governments and related agencies to continue research initiatives and enact legislation to better manage the human and environmental health risks created by CAFOs.
And now a new first- ever national public opinion poll fielded in October 2019 by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Bloomberg School of Public Health aligns with these important policy statements. The poll reveals that the majority of registered voters voice significant concern regarding the negative health and environmental impacts caused by CAFOs, as well as a dire need for greater government oversight of them.
More than 8 out of 10 surveyed expressed concern about air and water pollution, worker safety, and health problems caused by CAFOs while 85 percent were concerned about the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock which is contributing to deadly superbugs worldwide.
This far- reaching survey is thought to be the first-ever national poll measuring likely U.S. voters’ attitudes toward CAFOs.
Now the voice of voters as well as the validation of the impacts by health professionals underscores the urgent need for local, state, and federal agencies to step up and once and for all protect public health above private profits of the livestock industry.
Karen Hudson
Illinois Citizens for Clean Air and Water
Regional Representative Socially Responsible Agriculture Project
Mapleton, Illinois
309-208-8846
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