Proposal Argument using a persuasive strategy Topic : Industrial Animal Agriculture in the U.S - Essay Example

Intensive confinement of animals in large farms and other industrial settings leads to rapid disease transmission which actually has the capacity to wipe out the whole animal population of animals in the farm (Martin). According to information from the Humane Society of the United States, the EPA or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stated that animal feeding operations, or AFOs, “congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a [relatively] small land area” (“An HSUS Report”).

This is definitely overwhelmingly not good for the health of the animals because waste products such as feed, urine and manure are guaranteed breeding grounds of bacteria and other deadly microorganisms that can sooner or later infect the whole animal population. Moreover, considering that there are around 450,000 AFOs in the United States, it is therefore possible that such unhealthful practices may occur in all 450,000 AFOs (“An HSUS Report”). Furthermore, animal confinement is actually brought about by a number of factors.

First, there is the steady installation of large confinement operations in order to replace the smaller ones. This means that as time goes by, production increases in size and therefore requires larger and larger confinement operations that may otherwise be poorly managed. . Fourth, there is less and less space for operations in high production areas, as naturally an AFO cannot just expand its space indefinitely (“An HSUS Report”). All these factors contribute to animal confinement, and indirectly cause the breeding of diseases that eventually destroy large populations of animals in the industrial complex.

The intensive confinement of animals also brings about other effects. Animal and human communities located near huge industrial animal farms may also suffer from contamination of water and air by farm wastes (Martin). CAFOs, in particular, are labeled by the U.S. EPA as a “significant contributor of pollutants to waters of the United States” (“An HSUS Report”). Moreover, with 18,800 known registered CAFOs all throughout the country, it is therefore clear that water pollution in the country is very much inevitable.

Furthermore, water contaminated with chemicals and animal wastes are one of the most potent ways by which disease-causing microorganisms can potentially infect all those who consider the infected river, lake or stream as their primary source of potent water. Moreover, still according to data from the Humane Society of the United States, approximately 500 million tons of manure are produced from these AFOs and CAFOs, or concentrated animal feeding operations, every year, and these large quantities of animal waste naturally either pollute the air or the rivers as well as other surrounding bodies of water (“An HSUS Report”).

Once they reach freshwater reservoirs, then it is inevitable that they would cause a variety of microbial diseases. The immediate aquatic environment will also most likely suffer from the