American Public Health Association Adopts Policy Statement Calling for a National Moratorium on New and Expanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

In light of the wide-ranging negative health and environmental impacts associated with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), as well as serious social and environmental justice concerns, the American Public Health Association adopted a new policy resolution. The Precautionary Moratorium on New and Expanding CAFOs calls for federal, state and local governments, including public health agencies, to impose a national moratorium on new and expanding CAFOs until additional scientific data on the attendant risks to public health have been collected, uncertainties resolved, and 12 action steps outlined in the resolution have been taken.

This document contains information about the 12 action steps that must be met before the APHA’s call for a moratorium will be lifted, and includes contexts, overviews of each action, and recommended policy changes.

Action Steps

1. Requiring End of Antibiotic Use in Healthy Animals
2. Requiring End of CAFO exemptions under CERCLA and EPCRA
3. Requiring Enforcement of the Clean Water Act as it pertains to CAFOs
4. Requiring Strengthening CAFO Regulations Under the Clean Air Act
5. Requiring End of Liquid Manure Handling Systems
6. Requiring Strict Oversight Protocols for the Application of Dry Manure
7. Requiring Federal Zoning Guidelines Mandating a Pre-Permit Environmental Impact Study and Health Impact Assessment
8. Requiring Removal of Exemptions for Agricultural Operations from the Occupational Safety and Health Act
9. Requiring Increased Funding for Research on and Dissemination of Good Animal Production Practices that will Benefit the Environment, Public Health, and Rural Communities
10. Eliminating Waste-Management Subsidies CAFOs Receive Under EQIP
11. Requiring that EQIP Funding and FSA Loans go to Small and Medium-Sized Operations and Requiring Environmental and Health Impact Assessments
12. Requiring that Environmental Justice and Equity Issues are Addresses in Permitting Decisions