Concentrated Livestock’s Impact on Infant Health
Stacy Sneeringer of Wellesley College produced a study released in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics linking large increases in livestock production in a give county to increases in infant mortality in the first month of live:
A 100 percent increase in livestock production in a county being associated with a 7.4 percent increase in infant mortality. Most of this effect occurs within the first twenty-eight days of life. Sneeringer interprets her results as reflecting damage to the fetus, as evidenced by higher rates of neonatal infant mortality, causes of death related to problems in the perinatal period, and lowered Apgar scores.
