Report: Block hog lots for health
IOWA - Iowa should call a moratorium on construction of livestock confinements to protect people's health, and eventually should limit how many animals can be in a given area, a team of leading researchers says in an international report.
27 November 2006
2 minute read
The scientists from North America and Europe also supported local control of livestock farm permits, an idea gaining support in Iowa but still dead on arrival at the Legislature.
A team led by University of Iowa toxicologist Peter Thorne held a summit on confinement issues in Iowa two years ago. The scientists' final report and recommendations were published in the latest online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives.
"Although sufficient research exists to support action to protect rural residents from the negative community health impacts of (confinements), additional research could be conducted to further delineate mechanisms of effects and impacts on susceptible subgroups," said one of six reports from work groups. The scientists, assembled in Iowa City in March 2004 and now reporting peer-reviewed results, were financed by the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health.
Source: Des Moines Register
