Research DayThe Community at Risk: Public Health Issues in Industrial Food Animal Production
Ellen Silbergeld, PhD for Lance Price, PhD; Jay Graham, PhD; Keeve Nachman, PhD; Amy Peterson, DVM; Meghan Davis, DVM; Leila Lackey, MHS; Jessica Liebler, MA; Ana Rule, PhD; Jennifer Nyland, PhD; Carol Resnick; Sean Evans The overall objective of the research in our group, supported by CLF, has been to examine the impacts of practices in industrial food animal production on public health in rural communities. We have focused on three aspects: occupational exposures for growers and farm workers; the impact of feed additives (antimicrobials and arsenicals); and pathways of exposure to antimicrobial resistant pathogens from the farm to both consumers and rural communities. Overall, we have sought to develop a synthesizing perspective on the public health impacts of industrial food animal production, inspired by the CLF Concept Model. Our underlying hypothesis is that these methods, which are rapidly replacing traditional agriculture around the world, have profoundly altered socioeconomic, ecological, and health systems at the community, regional, national and now global level. In addition to the projects supported by CLF, we have developed new activities that synthesize these perspectives with regard to avian influenza (together with FAO) and the development of industrial agriculture in China, Brazil, and Mexico. These projects are among the first to document high risks of pathogen exposure (and health outcomes) among growers and farm workers. We have used innovative methods to determine prevalence of drug resistant pathogens in food and in the environment; we have applied comprehensive and integrative risk assessment methodologies to evaluate the use of arsenicals in animal feeds as well as current practices in managing animal wastes. We were the first to report associations between antimicrobial use in poultry feeds and prevalence of drug resistant bacteria in consumer poultry products, and our findings have been replicated by FDA. We are the first to examine pathogen releases from animal transport, and we are the first to report on the role of flies in disseminating drug resistant pathogens from animal waste into the community. We are also the first to undertake a systematic economic analysis of the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters in broiler poultry production. We are the first to demonstrate the role of large scale poultry production in outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Southeast Asia. We are initiating the first research to examine the role of swine waste practices on the emergence of community MRSA in the US. We are committed to the development of policy relevant science, and we continue to engage the policy process at the international level through WHO and FAO, at the national level through USDA and FDA, and at the state level through the Maryland Attorney General’s Office and through PennFutures in Pennsylvania. Members of our group participated in support of the National Commission on Farm Animals. In 2008, we will publish four major reviews on the health and social impacts of industrial food animal production (Annual Review of Public Health, Public Health Reports, Medical Clinics of North America, and FAO Research Reports). We continue to serve as an information resource to many local and national groups, we are regularly contacted by the media, and we are frequently invited to give presentations at national meetings and at leading academic institutions, particularly Colleges of Veterinary Medicine (Wisconsin, Tufts, Penn) and Schools of Public Health (Iowa, Michigan). We collaborate with researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Hershey Medical Center, WHOI, Tufts, USGS, FAO, and the Danish Food and Veterinary Research Institute. Presenter’s Biography Dr. Ellen Silbergeld conducts research that connects environmental and occupational exposures to health risks in human populations. Her areas of current research include: environmental and human health impacts of food animal production, mechanisms of mercury immunotoxicity, and role of metals in cardiovascular disease. She received degrees from Vassar College and Johns Hopkins University. She has held scientific positions at NIH, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the University of Maryland Medical School and served on advisory committees for EPA, CDC, NRC, NIH, WHO, ILO, OECD, the World Bank, UNEP, and UNDP. She is editor in chief of Environmental Research. Her work has been recognized by fellowships and awards from the Fulbright Commission, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and a "genius" award from the MacArthur Foundation. |
