Legislative Update
Well, this is getting to be an annual occurrence: Three CAFO bills die in committee (Star Press):
Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, chairman of the Senate Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee, let a trio of CAFO bills die this week, including a CAFO moratorium bill filed by fellow Republican Sen. Allen Paul of Richmond. Thursday was the deadline for bills to come out of committee during the short session. “I will file this again next year,” said Paul, whose district includes Wayne, Randolph and Jay counties, all of which have livestock CAFOs.
See Marcia Oddi’s coverage on CAFO’s starting here, including this link to a Purdue University site with access to CAFO scientific papers, like Manure Storage Systems, The Possibility for Reducing Water Pollution Resulting from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and the Impact of Phytase (PDF), Emissions and Respiratory Health of Neighbors(PDF) or The Fate of Unabsorbed Antibiotics.
Or, if you are tired of CAFO’s and the legislature, you can read about IDEM’s newly issued permit for Duke Energy’s new coal power plant (Indy Star).
January 26th, 2008 21:00
[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by Kemplog [...]
January 27th, 2008 07:56
[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by Kemplog [...]
January 28th, 2008 02:56
The Purdue University CAFO site is very selective and narrow when it comes to presenting the accepted body of literature out there on CAFOs. There is plenty of peer reviewed scientific studies that truly get to the heart of the matter. Google CAFO for your self and see what is out there.
I applauded Purdue’s table of contents on their CAFO web site. They have done well to identify most of the central issues concerning CAFOs, but there is no depth to the literature. There also is a real lack in the updating of content on the site, monitor it for yourself. It has hardly changed since its launch several months ago and there is the ever present and perpetual “Coming Soon” banner posted under all topics.
The end effect of this neglect of updating and lack of depth in know published literature, is to leave the readers of the site with the impression that there just isn’t much peer reviewed data out there. This is false.
One example is the issue that was used in promote the web site: Schools and school children and their health in proximity to CAFOs. This issue was cited in promoting the Purdue CAFO site to the public but then was never address in the content of the web site. This leads one to conclude that there must not be any published research on the topic or worse, it is not an issue. This again would be a false impression to give as there are studies that have been published recently in “Journal of American Chest Physicians” and also in the “Journal of Pediatrics”,…. to name a few. I’m proud to say that these are two well respected main stream scholarly journals that are fullfilling the publics’ expectation of full and accurate information on the topic.
Another example of a basic article on the topic of CAFO and Property Values:
The Appraisal Journal
July 2001, Volume LXIX Number 3
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Proximate Property Values
By John A. Kilpatrick
This is a scholarly industry trade journal used to educate Real Estate Appraisers across the country.
January 28th, 2008 15:03
Here is how Purdue promoted their web site. “Let’s say a zoning board has to make a decision about allowing a producer to build a CAFO within 5 miles of an elementary school,” Paul Ebner, Purdue Extension expert said. You will not find info. on this issue on their web site. I encourage you to go to their site and look for your self. You won’t find it even though the studies have been done. See below.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/08/28/purdue_launches_cafo_web_site/5781/
ScienceRSS Feed
Purdue launches CAFO Web site
Published: Aug. 28, 2007 at 4:16 PM
Print story Email to a friend Font size:WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 28 (UPI) — Purdue University has launched a Web site featuring scientific information about concentrated animal feeding operations.
“We wanted to develop a source of information that is based on science, not sentiment,” said Alan Grant, head of the university’s department of animal sciences.
The Web site is designed to aid zoning boards, planning commissions, agricultural Extension educators, as well as citizens and farmers by covering environmental issues, public health concerns and general information.
“Let’s say a zoning board has to make a decision about allowing a producer to build a CAFO within 5 miles of an elementary school,” Paul Ebner, Purdue Extension expert said, noting much of the information given the board might be biased and based on strong emotions.
“Now, the zoning board can visit the CAFO Web site and read about the environmental and public health issues of animal agriculture that could potentially affect children attending the school and sort myth from fact,” he said.
The Web site is available at http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/CAFO.
CAFO AND SCHOOL STUDIES NOT FOUND ON PURDUE’S SITE:
Asthma Symptoms Among Adolescents Who Attend Public Schools That Are Located Near Confined Swine Feeding Operations
Maria C. Mirabelli, PhDa, Steve Wing, PhDa, Stephen W. Marshall, PhDa,b,c and Timothy C. Wilcosky, PhDa,d
PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 1 July 2006, pp. e66-e75 (doi:10.1542/peds.2005-2812)
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/118/1/e66
RESULTS For students who reported allergies, the prevalence of wheezing within the past year was 5% higher at schools that were located within 3 miles of an operation relative to those beyond 3 miles and 24% higher at schools in which livestock odor was noticeable indoors twice per month or more relative to those with no odor. Our findings should be used by public health personnel who are interested in understanding possible adverse respiratory health consequences of an important rural environmental exposure.
School Proximity to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Prevalence of Asthma in Students*
Sigurdur T. Sigurdarson, MD, MPH and Joel N. Kline, MD, MSc, FCCP
Chest. 2006;129:1486-1491.)
© 2006 American College of Chest Physicians
http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/content/abstract/129/6/1486
Setting: Two rural Iowa elementary schools: the study school is located one-half mile from a CAFO, and the control school is distant from any large-scale agricultural operation.
Participants: Children, kindergarten through grade 5, who attended either the study school or the control school.
Results: Children in the study school had a significantly increased prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma (adjusted odds ratio, 5.71; p = 0.004).
Conclusions: This study supports a role for exposure to rural environmental toxicants in the etiology of asthma, and suggests a need for further study of this relationship.
January 28th, 2008 19:02
That goof Senator Gard needs to be voted out.By the way she kinda looks like Dustin Hoffman in the movie TOOTSIE ! eeek!
January 28th, 2008 22:42
Trace the history of all past CAFO bills in the legislature. Many have had support by both parties but, all have hit a road block in one place, Sen. Gard. Let the facts and history speak for it self.
Gards time has come and gone, and hopefully with a new Governor.
April 11th, 2008 12:51
[...] Link. Gard served as the chair of the senate Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee and presided over the death of 3 CAFO bills in the last session, including Allen Paul’s bill (Link to prior coverage). [...]