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Factory Farms: Killing the World Around Us Living in a small midwest town like Tama, Iowa I have been around the farm my whole life. I have seen hundreds of animals get shipped onto the stock trailer to get ready for their death, and they don’t come back until they end up on your dinner table. All these animals were raised by young farmers that work with their family. Working on the farm is a big part of many peoples lives.They are the foundation of America. Then you have a large factory farm that doesn’t care for the livestock and treat them unfairly. The workers on those farms deal with very harsh conditions. Anyone could agree that factory farms are not very safe.

Factory farms are large farms that produce a very enormous amount of todays food. They produce eggs, various meat cuts from cattle and swine, corn, beans and turkey. While they are producing the food that you think is delicious, that farm is harming the environment, animals and even humans. Small family farms may seem small, and they may not raise the same amount of food, but they can come close to it while keeping humans, animals and the environment safe. That is why family farms are more safe than factory farms.

Imagine going to work every single day with thousands of livestock. You may think that just one calf smells bad just alone. Now think of that one smell times a thousand. The odor of that many livestock can cause people to get sore throats, stomach aches, and chest pains. Also disease can be spread from the animals to people. That can lead to death. The livestock can get very frustrated easily and get mad. If you slipped and fell while in a pen with cattle or swine people can get trampled to death, and that is not a good deal. It is clear that factory farms have unsafe working conditions.

Over the past decade, there has been number of disease break outs in food. In 2008, a farm in Iowa produced eggs that contained salmonella poisoning. Salmonella can cause a fever, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Other diseases factory farms may cause are Swine Flu (H1N1), Avian Influenza (H5N1), Hoof and Mouth Disease, and Mad Cow Disease. Crowded conditions with close animal contact on the farms are what contract these. Many pesticides that are used on crops have a chance of giving you something as life threatening as cancer. Birth defects and mutations are also likely. Factory farms increase the likelihood of you getting sick.

Humans are not the only thing being harmed by factory farms, livestock are being killed living in poor conditions. Diseases among the animals are also lingering from stall to stall too, that is something that crowded conditions can also cause. The livestock are in small confined spaces with very little feed. Most of the livestock on the farms are malnourished, similar too concentration camps of World War II. Just like how the Jews were treated with little food and small space. Those poor living conditions cause 696 million animals to die, their lives ended unnaturally and harshly. Animals must be treated with care, unlike how large factory farms treat them.

The environment in another thing being harmed by factory farms. Animal waste releases methane and nitrous oxide. Antibiotics found in animal waste leak into the environment can contaminate water. Imagine yourself swimming in a pond or lake that is filled with dangerous pesticides and animal waste. Thats just disgusting. Almost 75% of the antibiotics used on animals can risk public health. Billions of pesticides are used annually. In 2009 80% of all antibiotics sold were used on animals, while a small 20% were devoted to human use. That is not something we want in our environment, but sadly those farms that seem so dependent are killing our earth.

Even though they seem small, family farms still produce a large quantity of food. They raise the same livestock as factory farms. Family farms do all that while treating all animals with equality and keeping them healthy, not highly polluting the environment and they have safe working conditions. These farms have a very little amount of odor also. The livestock are getting a fair amount of space while being fed with proper nutrition compared to factory farms.

Any smart person could agree that factory farms are un safe. They kill the environment, livestock and even people.So how can you stop the madness of factory farms? Next time you go to the grocery store look for products locally grown by family farms. Also look at farmers markets and roadside stands. Buying food from factory farms can just give the risk of you and your loved ones getting ill. Family farms are always the safer choice.