does anybody know the health issues associated with working in a hog confinement.

-- Tim Gruber (herbs@computer-concepts.com), January 24, 2002

Answers

Response to hog confinements

I don't know about your health, but in some of the big hog operations around here you have to take a shower before entering so you don't transmit any diseases to the hogs.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), January 24, 2002.

You might look at this site, Factory Farm, http://factoryfarm.org/majorstories_may2001.htm

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 25, 2002.

factoryfarm.org might be just a little extreme to gather useful info from. :)

A confinement barn may have high moisture & dust levels, as well as the whole manure issue. As with other factories & industries that have a lot of dust & dirt, it can be hard on some people that are sensitive to lung ailments - alergies, cronic colds, etc.

This is no different than my friends who work at a 3M plant - some people have a hard time working in the dusty depts, others have a hard time standing on a concrete floor all day in other depts.... It just depends on your personal build. I was in a plant that made ice melting pellets. Wow! I was hacking up flem after being in there 15 minutes. On the other hand, I was talking to people who had worked there 15 years, no masks, no problems. Same deal with a hog barn.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), January 25, 2002.

Perhaps an article from Countryside would be more information friendly, like the article in Vol. 84 No.1, titled "Is the pork you eat raised in a sewer?", A discussion of the science linking sewer pipes and hog confinment buildings. It lists five or so referenced articles, but don't know if they are avaialble on the internet.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 25, 2002.