Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: Hazards, Environmental and Health Risks as the Latent Products of Late Modernity

CAFOs raise tens of thousands of animals in confined cages and feedlots, feed them high calorie diets, and ship them to slaughter in record time. These factory farms (as they are sometimes called) devastate neighboring environments with the releases of toxic methane gas and animal waste. Progress in modernized agricultural production has enabled us to feed the growing population but unintended consequences for human health and neighboring communities are happening. This study examines environmental and human health impacts of CAFOs on Central Mississippi residents. Through analyses of existing studies and data and telephone surveys, the objectives will be met. Risk society theory is used to explain the increase of diseases and environmental risks associated with CAFOs in late modernity. The results do not indicate that neighboring residents of CAFOs in Central Mississippi are more likely to have ill health, a negative quality of life, or environmental degradation, overall