That is the title of an article appearing in Current Environmental Health Report (2015) 2:259-271 authored by academics from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, George Washington University, Denmark, and others.

I assume it was peer reviewed. But when I read it I wondered.

For in the abstract, the authors state that after a thorough literature review, they “identified four health outcomes consistently and positively associated with living near Industrial food animal production (IFAP).”

They are:

1. Respiratory outcomes

2. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

3. Q fever, and

4. Stress/mood

When I was the State Health Officer for Nebraska, the Health and Human Services System received several petitions asking for action to be taken to prevent any further development of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or, as the article cited above calls them, IFAPs.

My top environmentalists and toxicologists searched the current literature and what we found was that for numbers 1 and 4, respiratory outcomes and mood swings, you could pretty much find scientific articles to support your position, no matter what it was.

And industry has made huge strides in reducing the environmental impact of CAFOs, so I won’t go there today.

MRSA is getting to be a tired old target used by those who want to misinform and alarm the public and policy makers. Suffice it so say that in the United States, not one case of livestock associated MRSA has been reported in a human being.

Yes, colonization rates are higher in workers in the industry, but colonization does not translate into a life-threatening infection such as MRSA acquired from a health care setting can be.

Two percent of you are colonized with MRSA. So what?

But number 3, Q fever, being listed as one of the four “health outcomes consistently and positively associated with living near IFAP?”

Give me a break, please.

Q fever is caused by Coxiella burnetti, a Rickettsia-like bacteria found in mammals such as cows, sheep and goats. But also can be found in your child’s pet dog or cat.

This infection is a mandatory reported illness, reporting to the CDC.

In 2010, the last year I can find a CDC report, the number of illnesses were 131, and 20 percent of those were chronic.

That is roughly 0.4 cases per one million Americans. That is not a public health threat, and that does not translate into a consistent and positive association from living near an IFAP.

In fact, of those 131 cases, all most all were farmers, ranchers and DVMs that assisted animals with the birthing process where there can be extensive contact with the animal’s blood and bodily fluids.

It is papers like this one from supposedly renowned institutions and faculty, proclaiming some ridiculous associations between human and animal health, that makes me not want to trust anything else they say or write.

And it is papers like this one distributed to elected and appointed government officials and health officials on the Delmarva Peninsula that provided me with the opportunity to go testify last Wednesday at a public hearing in Parksley, Va., regarding chicken grow-out facilities in Accomack County.

So glad I went to medical school so I could enjoy retirement this much.

Industrial food animal production and community health

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