When you hear Author David Kirby tell the stories behind the people in his latest book, you can’t help but to get caught up in his emotions. Tears welled up in his eyes several times last night as he described-often in graphic detail-to a riveted Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health audience, his experiences [...]

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Capitol Hill briefing, yesterday, on Industrial Animal Farms and Worker Health and Safety was informative and compelling. It was also contentious. While Dr. Steven Wing, University of North Carolina epidemiologist and environmental justice expert, discussed the transformation of agricultural practices over the last few decades he was interrupted by a Congressional [...]

On the heels of CLF’s Congressional Briefing Dec. 2, the Pew Environmental Group will be holding a Capitol Hill briefing tomorrow to discuss the impact on workers and communities of CAFO’s. The briefing, Industrial Animal Farms and Worker Health and Safety, is being held in collaboration with Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Co-Chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus. It is scheduled for [...]

The New York Times’ Mark Bittman poses the interesting question in yesterday’s column, “Could Industrially Raised Meat Be Illegal?” Bittman pontificates that if the EPA has classified greenhouse gases as a human health hazard “as the EPA has declared, and the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act authorizes strict regulatory action on substances if there’s a reasonable [...]

Dairy CAFOs in New Mexico are under increased scrutiny today following this morning’s report from NPR’s John Burnett. The reporter discusses the unrelenting pollution caused by large dairy operations in the state along “dairy row,” a section of Interstate 10 between Las  Cruces, NM, and El Paso, TX.  ”Everyday, an average cow produces six to [...]

Take a look at a new New York Times video, “The Danger of Livestock Waste,” produced by Brent McDonald. The many manure lagoons and field spraying in the state have led to the contamination of Idaho aquifers and private wells, causing high levels of nitrates, which have forced some families to buy bottled water. Another [...]

I accompanied Dr. Roni Neff to southern Pennsylvania last week and this week to attend a school board and committee meeting in order to share information about public health threats associated with large-scale food animal production facilities. Roni was invited by the Peach Bottom Concerned Citizens Group to present this information because of concern [...]

Alan Goldberg, Ph.D., is a former commissioner of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production and is a guest blogger today for Livable Future.
The largest pork producer in the world, Smithfield Foods Inc., says it can’t afford to go through with one of its much-ballyhooed animal welfare improvement plans. The company said that [...]

The World Health Organization is poised to raise the pandemic threat level as a deadly strain of the swine virus shows no sign of slowing down, according to a latest Reuters report. The New York Times reports that the number of people killed by the virus has climbed to 149 in Mexico and 8 of [...]

My local grocery store, like many around the country, has a pharmacy inside. This pharmacy, like many around the country, happens to be situated next to the meat section. Normally, I think nothing of this juxtaposition. That was, until I stopped by the store the other night around 11pm to pick up a few essentials. [...]