America's animal factories: how states fail to prevent pollution from livestock waste

Abstract

Factory farms, which mass-produce animals in assembly-line fashion, have harmed aquatic life, human health and ecosystems across the nation. As industrial-sized farms stagger under the vast burden of manure they are generating, environmental disasters are inevitable. The scale of this unprecedented outpouring of animal waste is staggering: 130 times the waste generated by humans in this country each year. This section details how animal waste is poisoning our water and air. It also explains why more disasters are likely to occur unless the nation takes serious steps not only to regulate the way animal factories currently handle their waste but also to turn towards more benign methods of raising animals and managing the wastes they generate.