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 “It’s well known that air pollution causes lung problems, and
usually we think about air pollution from industry, cars,” said
senior author Lidwien Smit. “Until now, it’s been seen as an urban
health problem but not so much as a big problem in rural areas,” he
added.
“Our study shows that air pollution from livestock farms is causing
lung function declines in areas where people live near farms,” Smit,
an environmental epidemiologist and professor at Utrecht University
in the Netherlands, said in a Skype interview.
She and her team measured several markers of lung function in 2,308
adults who lived in 12 villages near, but not on, farms in the
Netherlands, which has one of the world’s highest population
densities as well as one of the highest livestock farm densities.
The more livestock farms that were near participants' homes - within
1,000 meters, or six-tenths of a mile - the more impairments
researchers found in how participants expelled air when they
exhaled.
The study also showed that neighboring residents’ lung function was
reduced during weeks with higher levels of farm-related ammonia air
pollution, Smit said. The effects on breathing patterns were small
but significant, she said.
Prior studies have shown that livestock farms contain high levels of
dust, which can lead to respiratory problems in farm workers, the
authors write in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical
Care Medicine.
Livestock farms also emit ammonia, an irritant gas formed by enzymes
in animal waste. When ammonia reacts with other gases, it forms fine
dust particles, Smit said.
Dr. Daniel Jackson, a pediatrician and professor at University of
Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, said the
study highlights how public policy can impact individual health.
“Decisions that can lead to worsening air quality can have very
significant impacts on health,” said Jackson, who was not involved
with the study.
“This paper highlights one potential exposure that can have an
impact on respiratory health,” he said in a phone interview.
He noted that the neighbors who appeared to be the most affected by
farm pollution were those who had chronic obstructive pulmonary
diseases, which inflame the airways. These conditions include
emphysema, chronic bronchitis and asthma.
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Jackson said the findings would not prompt him to recommend that
people living near large-scale farms consider moving, however.
“People should be aware of these exposures, and if they’re having
respiratory symptoms associated with these sorts of exposures, it’s
something to look into and have further evaluated,” he said.
The study appears at first glance to contradict a growing body of
research that suggests children who grow up on farms may be at
reduced risk of allergies and asthma, Jackson said.
But Smit said studies of children on farms have focused on smaller
operations.
“There are also benefits from a farm environment,” she said. “But it
depends on what kind of farms and pollution you’re looking at.”
Farms with 1,000 pigs, for example, create a completely different
environment for children than a small family farm.
The factory farms “are emitting large-scale pollutants and dust,”
she said. “Children are not going to play on these pig farms.”
Last week, government regulators in the Netherlands ordered poultry
farmers to cut dust emissions by half over the next 10 years, she
said.
“Farmers know something needs to be done to reduce pollution and the
risks,” Smit said. “It’s very important to have a dialogue with
farmers and the community.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2qxUGWP American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine, online May 10, 2017.
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