[ CAFO INVESTIGATION 8] Misery endured by pig factory farm neighbors - 14 July 2009  
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Misery endured by pig factory farm neighbors.

In a phone interview with David Leifheit of the Concerned Residents Against Pig Confinements in Illinois, USA, Supreme Master Television found that life in his self-built dream home of 31 years had been turned upside down when a pig factory farm was built a quarter mile from his house in November 2006. He was immediately afflicted with an onslaught of health problems that were confirmed by experts to be linked to the pig farm, also known as a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO).

David David Leifheit – Pig factory farm neighbor, Member of Concerned Residents Against Pig Confinements, Illinois, USA (M): I’ve never had allergy problems before. I got my prescript-xion about a little bit over two years ago, so shortly after the hog confinement was put into operation. My eyes start to water and itch, shortness of breath, my throat starts to burn. Basically I find it difficult to breathe and of course the nose runs like you can't believe, like having a very bad cold.

My daughter’s been sick with MRSA, which we know now is related or can be related to hog confinements and hogs. [MRSA] is a resistance to Staph infection and people have died from this.

VOICE: Besides affecting their health, the CAFO also ruined the family’s quality of life. 

David Leifheit (M): For us to see our grandchildren, we have to go visit out of our home. We used to have flowers; we don't have those anymore, because you don't know if you’re going to be able to go outside at all, especially to do any type of gardening. We have apple and pear trees, and you can't eat those because they're covered with what I call “fur,” but I suggest that they're probably epithelials from the hog confinement.

VOICE: People living near hog farms are often subjected to atmospheric dust, which contains epithelium, or dried pig skin particles, as well as manure and bacteria from the factory farms. Large fans are used in the CAFOs to keep the pigs from instantly suffocating on their own fumes. But they also blow these toxic particles far and wide.

David Leifheit (M): Last summer, a father and son both died from entering that CAFO that wasn't ventilated properly and it was out of suffocation and/or exposures to noxious or hazardous gases. Those fans are blowing those out into the atmosphere, the pigs' epithelials, on the table and on your fruit. It's sticky, and kind of makes like a gooey skin out of it.

VOICE: Along with no longer being able to eat from their fruit trees or even drink their own water, the household has also lost its former atmosphere of fresh country air and instead is surrounded by the stench of poisonous hydrogen sulfide and burning ammonia.

David Leifheit (M): So if you can imagine sitting in your house with all the windows and doors closed and no air-conditioning during what we just witnessed this last week of 100 degree temperatures, it’s not very settling.

And we know that because of the proximity to the hog confinement, we’ve lost the value
of our property. Even if we wanted to sell our property, there is no way anybody in their right mind would buy it. So we’re basically prisoners in our own home.

VOICE: The current swine flu pandemic, another public health threat that has originated in the filth of livestock raising conditions, also continues its devastation. The official tally has confirmed 114,569 cases in at least 134 countries, with at least 572 fatalities.

The UK has just recorded her 15th fatality, which is also the first in the country where an otherwise healthy person succumbed within days of showing symptoms. A 15-year-old teenager who appeared perfectly fit also perished from swine flu last month in New York, USA, proving the dangerous nature of this virus. Moreover, fatalities rose over the weekend in places like Thailand and Argentina, which has now lost more than 90 people to the illness.

Mr. Leifheit, we thank you for sharing yet another aspect of factory farming’s tragic toll on lives, which surely must be shared by many such neighbors of livestock raising conditions worldwide. Our prayers for the current swine flu patients and loved ones, who are also victims of today’s animal raising system. May we hasten to alleviate this suffering by ending animal agriculture and choosing health and happiness through the organic vegan diet.