A specially developed oil mixture reduced airborne
levels of particulate matter at a concentrated animal
feeding operation, or CAFO, in a study conducted by
researchers at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The researchers evaluated an oil spray developed to
reduce the airborne health hazards at industrial feeding
facilities. Chronic respiratory illnesses are a serious
concern for CAFO workers, as well as for the surrounding
communities and animals themselves. The study, published in
an online edition of Environmental Science and
Technology, measured indoor air pollution in a
mid-Atlantic swine facility. It found 10-fold reductions in
the amounts of dust and bacteria in a barn where the spray
was used compared with an identical barn where no spray was
used. In contrast, however, the oil spray did not impact
levels of ammonia, another pollutant generated from CAFO
facilities.
"From the perspective of worker and community health,
this is a step in the right direction," said Ana Rule, the
study's lead author and a doctoral candidate at the
Bloomberg School's
Department of Environmental Health Sciences. "This
technology addresses only a portion of the hazards workers
and communities face from concentrated animal feeding
facilities."
Rule said there is growing interest in technologies
that improve indoor air quality and control emissions to
reduce the public health and environmental risks associated
with raising large numbers of animals in confined spaces.
In addition to particulate matter and ammonia, recent
studies have shown that concentrated feeding operations
also produce antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The oil spray
technology provides animal producers with a tool to reduce
some air pollution hazards to workers and neighbors, and
helps them comply with local, state and federal air
pollution regulations. Although substantial improvement in
barn air quality was achieved in the Johns Hopkins study,
questions remain as to whether it is enough to protect
public health.
"We need to continue our collaboration with the
private developers of these products to not only improve
their efficacy but to also demonstrate their utility in
other agricultural operations, including poultry and
dairy," said the study's senior author, Timothy J. Buckley,
a former associate professor at the Bloomberg School who
now chairs Environmental Health Sciences at the Ohio State
University School of Public Health. "These results are
encouraging, but much work remains to be done."
The study was supported by the NIOSH Education and
Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health and the
Center for a Livable Future, both at the Bloomberg School.
Co-authors are Rule, A. Chapin, S.A. McCarthy, K.E. Gibson,
K.J. Schwab and Buckley.
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